USEFUL INFORMATION
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MARKET DAY: Saturday in Valeggio sul Mincio
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PORT: Porto Centrale - Piazza Maestro Giulio
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PHARMACIES: Centrale - Piazzale Vittorio Veneto, 11; Perina - Via Girolamo Gottardi, 30; Salionze - Via del Garda, 34, Valeggio - Piazza San Rocco, 15
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HOSPITAL: P. Pederzoli - Via Monte Baldo, 2
HISTORY
Borghetto sul Mincio is considered one of the most beautiful villages in Italy and has become a popular tourist resort.
It is a small fairy-tale village characterised by fortifications and medieval houses and mills located on the crossroads between the waterway formed by the river Mincio and the land route.
Its known history begins at the dawn of civilisation from 3,500 B.C. thanks to the discovery of a pile-dwelling village and the Etruscans in the Iron Age. A large Celtic necropolis testifies to the presence of the Cisalpine Gauls from the 4th century B.C., while the Romans created road links between the Postumia, Gallica and Claudia Augusta roads and developed the wonderful Roman bridge.
The historical centre is Longobard 6th-7th century A.D., from which the toponym 'Borghetto' or fortified centre derives. The small monastery of Santa Maria from 1145 offered assistance to the many needy people passing through the area and later became a preceptory of the Templar orders.
The Scaligero Castle and La Diga of 1393, built by the Visconti with its length of 650 metres by 25, were intended to ensure the impenetrability of the borders. While the Venetians made the village a milling centre by exploiting the hydraulic power of the river, it became much sought after by the noble Veronese families.
In June, Borghetto comes alive with the 'Nodo d'Amore' (Love Knot) festival, a symbol of the typical Valeggio tortellini born from a legend with a happy ending in the 14th century, the result of an impossible love between a captain of soldiers and a nymph.
