Torricelle
The Torricelle are the hills that surround the city of Verona to the north. The hills have been an integral part of the urban landscape since the founding of the city, whose first settlements in pre-Roman times saw the light of day on these very heights. From an orographic point of view, the Torricelle are the extreme southern offshoot of the Lessini Mountains included between Valpolicella and Valpantena; they therefore belong to the sector of the Venetian Prealps. In addition to various places of worship, villas and private homes, part of the Veronese city walls of the Scaligeri era are developed on the Torricelle, and various military fortifications built during the Austrian domination can still be found, which have become today a characteristic element of the Veronese hill and city landscape.
Origins of the name
The name by which the Veronese refer to the hills north of the city, Torricelle, is said to derive from the four Maximilian towers erected between 1837 and 1843 by Franz von Scholl, director of the Imperial Royal Office of Fortifications in Verona. The towers, which still exist, were built to enclose the complex hill defense system built by the Austrian Empire to the north: from there, artilleries could strike the Valpantena, Valdonega and the Avesa valley. The four round towers stand on the Santa Giuliana ridge and were at that time visible from the city, the vegetation being less dense, so much so that the Veronese called the entire hillside area by this name.Physical geography
Boundaries and landscape
As difficult as it is to define a clear boundary between the hills north of Verona and the broader complex of the Lessini Mountains, the term Torricelle generally designates the hilly area located entirely within the municipal territory of Verona between Valpolicella to the west and Valpantena to the east, and more specifically the reliefs between the built-up area of Parona and the Borgo Venezia district. The area is divided into several cordons of hills that, starting from Monte Comun near Montecchio, fan out in a north-south direction towards the plain. As with the entire Lessinia, the reliefs are interspersed with narrow valleys, called vaj, crossed by streams, called "progni," that flow into the Adige River after crossing the city: their course is often silted up in the more densely urbanized neighborhoods.Proceeding from west to east after the built-up area of Parona, one encounters the hill of San Dionigi, Mount Cavro with the Hermitage of San Rocchetto, the Quinzano valley, Mount Villa, and Mount Ongarine, which separate the Quinzano valley from the Avesa valley, the Avesa valley traversed by various streams including the Borago and Lorì, Mt. Arzan dividing the Galina valley from the Valpantena, the hill of Santa Giuliana and Monte Calvo dominated by Fort San Mattia, and further south the Colle San Leonardo with the sanctuary of the Madonna of Lourdes, the Valdonega, the Colle San Felice and that of San Pietro, where the first inhabitants of Verona settled, the valley of San Giovanni in Valle which houses the Romanesque church of the same name, and Monte Castiglione which separates the Veronetta district from the Biondella district and from the Valpantena, which closes the Torricelle area to the east.
The proximity of these valleys and hills to the city of Verona fostered their anthropization to the point where they became an integral part of the urban landscape, especially after the annexation of several autonomous municipalities in the hillside metropolitan belt to the City of Verona in 1927.
Geology
From a geological point of view, the Torricelle consists of limestone rocks whose date ranges from the Middle Eocene to the Upper Eocene. Like the nearby Lessini, this is a once submerged area whose emersion occurred between the Oligocene and lower Miocene. Paleokarst phenomena are present in the area, evident in the numerous cavities, caves, sinkholes, and underground tunnels, some inhabited since prehistoric times, and by streams flowing from karst springs. In the median belt, there are cores of igneous rocks: a basaltic seam crosses the Borago valley north of Avesa.The valley area around Avesa has been affected in the past by intense mining of materials used in construction, such as Avesa Stone and Gallina Stone, the latter characterized by fossil deposits such as the better-known Veronese ammonitic red. Quarries, now abandoned, can still be seen on the sides of the Ongarine and Arzan mountains. The hills also yielded the so-called "yellow earth" of Verona, an ochre used for frescoes in the Renaissance period.
Hydrography
The Torricelle area has karst phenomena with surface streams of limited flow and intense subsurface water circulation. In the Avesa Valley, a foothill karst spring is the Lorì, a small watercourse that originates from resurgences near the hamlet and then develops its course only partially on the surface until it crosses underground the districts of Ponte Crencano and Borgo Trento and flows into the Adige near the Garibaldi Bridge. In Roman times, the waters of the Lorì were conveyed to the heart of the city through an aqueduct that crossed the Adige and continued to the Roman forum.The Avesa valley is also crossed by the Borago and Galina streams, which furrow their respective valleys north of the town to rejoin near Mount Spigolo in a single course. After crossing Avesa, the stream cuts through the Ponte Crencano neighborhood and flows into the Adige at the Ca' Rotta locality, not far from the Borgo Trento hospital.
To the west, the Quinzano valley is also crossed by a stream that, after cutting the hamlet in two, reaches the city near the locality Ca' di Cozzi and flows into the Adige at the height of Via Saval, just before the bridge of the same name.
A greater flow of water is found at the bottom of the valley where numerous water veils flow, including those of San Dionigi, Sommavalle, Valdonega, Fontana del Ferro, Castel San Pietro, the Roman theater, and San Giovanni in Valle.
Flora
As with neighboring Valpolicella and Valpantena, the area's mild climate, sheltered from cold northern currents by the crown of the Lessini Mountains, has favored the cultivation of olives, vines, almond and cherry trees over the centuries. Typical of the man-made landscape are the terraces with dry stone walls spread on the hillsides, built over the centuries by man to facilitate cultivation.In wooded areas, the most common tree species are ash, downy oak and hornbeam. In wetter areas, however, European hornbeam and chestnut are encountered. There are also various coniferous species planted in more recent times to curb erosion on hillsides with sparse vegetation: black pine, cypress, Aleppo pine, Atlas cedar, and stone pine.
Fauna
Vertebrate fauna includes:- various species of mammals including hedgehog, common shrew, mole, cape hare, red squirrel, bank vole, European edible dormouse, hazel dormouse, striped field mouse, red fox, badger, weasel, and marten;
- amphibians such as the smooth newt, fire salamander, common toad, European green toad, tree frog, green frog, and agile frog;
- reptiles including the lizard, common wall lizard, slow worm, green whip snake, grass snake, smooth snake, and the asp viper;
- a hundred species of birds including the Eurasian blue tit, great tit, coal tit, nuthatch, jay, sparrowhawk, buzzard, hooded crow, chaffinch, cuckoo. In the bottom of the valley, kestrels, honey buzzards, ravens, and peregrine falcons are encountered. The golden eagle and eagle-owl have also been spotted. In olive groves the wryneck nests and hoopoe is often encountered.