By motorhome
Tourists in the Park
Parco del Mincio
In its last section, when it gets nearer to the Po River, the Mincio narrows again and flows between high embankments, which actually raise its bed higher than the surrounding fields.
The current look of the territory, which clearly lost its original features, resulted however from centuries-long drainage works that made the fertile, alluvial riverside plain safe and fit for living and cultivation.
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Download in GPX formatAlthough transformed, the landscape is still mostly agricultural, and important naturalistic areas remain, such as the wetland in Chiavica del Moro. This territory is also very rich in archaeological settlements from all the ages, especially in the municipalities of Bagnolo San Vito and Roncoferraro, where Governolo is located: there, as Dante said, the Mincio River "falls in Po". A finding in particular is very important to understand the history of this territory, crossed by the river's final section: the Forcello Etruscan city in Bagnolo San Vito.
Forcello is located near the village of San Biagio, and is not only the main 6th/5th-century BC Etruscan settlement in the Po Valley to be known so far in Lombardy; it is also the Etruscan expansion area's northernmost settlement of the Archaic period.
The town was a real marketplace for Etruscans, Greeks, alpine and transalpine populations, and had to be an important node for trades coming from the Adriatic ports of Spina and Adria, and from other Etruscan towns in the Po Valley, such as Bologna and Marzabotto; moreover, Forcello was probably part of the itinerary leading from the Mincio Valley to Brescia, Bergamo and finally to Como, which was the main town of the Golasecca culture, which held some of the most important Alpine passes and was in contact with Celtic populations on the other side of the Alps.
Itinerary: from Formigosa to Pietole
Itinerary n. 4 begins in Formigosa - not far from the site where the "Lovers of Valdaro" were found - on the evocative Riviera Mincio road, which runs along the left bank of the river until Governolo. About halfway down the road there is the Chiavica del Moro wetland of Community Importance, where a Park Centre for nature observation is located. From the Centre, the elevation of Castellazzo della Garolda is also visible.
Turn right at the entrance of Governolo, cross the locks and take Via Po Barna, which quickly leads to the left bank of the Po.
The evocative trail along the big river ends in San Giacomo Po: there, take the new bike trail to Bagnolo San Vito, and then the bike trail to Pietole.
Immediately after Bagnolo, the trail borders the Cà Rossina archaeological site (on the left) and then leads to San Biagio. A short deviation from San Biagio leads to the Forcello Archaeological Park and then to Pietole, which is traditionally considered Virgil's birthplace. The itinerary ends in Pietole at the Virgilian Archaeological Museum, located in Via Parma.
