Polpenazze del Garda

Polpenazze del Garda offers a nice view over Valtenesi Valley. It stands on a hill and its economy basically depends on agriculture, in particular, wine and olive oil production. The name “Polpenazze” probably derives from the Roman personal name “Pomponius”, eventually changed into “Pulpinazo” around the XII century.

Inhabitants: 2.731
Height: 225 m above sea level
Surface: 9 km2
Province: Brescia

Historical outline

The remains found in the lake Lucone’s lock point to the presence of man around the IV millennium b.C. already. The population was organized into communities settled in the hill area of Valtenesi. They were mainly small groups from Gallia.
They were eventually succeeded by the Celts, maybe the Etrurians and also the Romans, as it is pointed to by the small Bottenago tower and the Church of St. Peter in Lucone, where ruins of a Barbarian time sacred building were found.

What to see

Parish Church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The front was designed by the architect Tagliaferri in a Baroque style.
Church of San Pietro in Lucone. It was rebuilt in the XV century on the remains of the previous Roman building. It contains an important cycle of frescoes painted by the Verona school in the XIV century. It also contains a beautiful ancient organ.
Church of Sant’Antonio. It was built in a Roman style. It contains valuable frescoes of the XIV century. The span-roof shows joists with baked clay perforated blocks.

The castle
It was built as a defense for the population during the Hungarian invasions in the X century. The castle was eventually dismantled by the Visconti family in 1420, and later rebuilt under the domination of the Republic of Venice. What remains of the old fortalice is just a part of the stone walls.

Bottarelli Palace.
It is in Picedo. It’s a XVII century building  whose 2 entrances and 6 balconies look onto the street.

Casa Palazzi
It is even bigger than the village itself. Casa Palazzi dates back to the XVII century and is characterized by an “E” plan with two courtyards inside. One of them is surrounded by wonderful porticos and has a majestic fountain in the middle.

Sights

Polpenazze is the land of wine and oil. These high quality products can be tasted in several farms and wineries of the area.

Recurrent events

Feast of wine in Polpenazze. It has been celebrated for more than 60 editions during the last week of May. It is considered as a showcase for Garda wine and every year it hosts important wine contests and conferences about wine.
This feast is an historical event for Valtenesi Valley, but also for the whole province of Brescia, since throughout the years it has represented the institutional symbol of the wine making of the territory.
The event also hosts “El Torcol”, a journalistic prize edition named after the dialectal word vine-dressers generally use to call one of their tools.
The prize was set up by the administration of Polpenazze in association with the Fair Committee after the Department of Agriculture recognized an international value to the wine contest.

Sport

Polpenazze hosts a significant sports centre: with 3 football fields, several tennis courts, bowling greens, and a polyvalent racetrack, the centre has hosted one of the most important 6 player tournaments of the province of Brescia for more than 50 years.
The football night tournament has been celebrated every summer for over 30 years; it is celebrated in June and July and teams from other villages and provinces nearby take part to it.

Typical products

The roasting spit is the typical course of Valtenesi Valley. It’s made of different kinds of meat and game barbecued using a spit. The main ingredients are: duck and chicken, birds, sage and sliced potatoes and butter.
The pieces of meat are spitted by long sticks spinning around a central swivel in order to have a uniform cooking. This dish need to be cooked slowly and  at a constant temperature.
The roasting spit perfectly matches with cornflour polenta and a good wine from lake Garda.

Info

Tourist information
Tel. 0365.67401