SPECIAL BRIDGE! ITALY

I hope you are all well, and I look forward to reading new posts about your travel experiences, but lately also about the dishes you prepare that are typical of your country. In today's article, I would like to tell you about a very special bridge that is located about 20 km from my home, within the Lessinia Regional Park, a place I have already talked about in other articles, to which I have been very attached since childhood. Near the municipality of Sant'Anna dal Faedo, at an altitude of about 600 metres above sea level, there is an important artefact that is completely natural, yes, you got it right, this bridge was created in a natural manner several years ago and has an archway of about 40 metres, while its width is about 20 metres.

From what was written on the information boards near the point of interest, it seems that the arch of the bridge was once the entrance to a natural cave, which then collapsed over time due to the fact that it is made of karst stones, and thus the bridge that we now see in the photo was formed.

I did not understand when this bridge was formed, but several Italian Renaissance artists, so we are talking about the 1400s, included the bridge in many of their paintings and pictures, the most famous for those who have been to the city of Mantua inside the ducal palace, in the frescoes inside the bridal chamber the bridge was reproduced.

Another particular piece of information is that this location has been used to shoot several video clips such as a famous song by the Italian singer Giorgia

However, some studies and excavations began in this area and still do in 1932, because these areas, especially the many caves near the bridge, were inhabited in prehistoric times and are therefore still being studied today by the Museum of Natural History of Verona but also by the University of Ferrara.

In my exploration of this area, I was able to see a beautiful fountain created by some local artisans, thanks to the fact that in these areas there is a great presence of marble quarries, a very prized marble called Verona red, thanks to its colour.

I forgot to tell you that the visit and access to this point of interest is completely free, it is absolutely forbidden to climb over the bridge because as I told you before it is very fragile so you could risk the structure collapsing.

I also took a trip to the small village of Cerna, which is located nearby and which may represent the typical village of this part of the Lessini mountains.
The houses are practically all made of stone, this material in these parts was very often used not only to create dividing walls but also to build the houses themselves, thanks to the fact, as I told you before, that there are several quarries of various materials.

Of course, the people who live permanently in these places are fewer and fewer, these houses are now used more for summer holidays and escaping the torrid cities.

Also nearby, a few years ago a small cheerful forest, as this place is called, was inaugurated, a place to entertain children with these strange sculptures that were made by a local artist, and I must tell you that they are really beautiful.