Bovolone
Bovolone is the best known town of the Verona plain for one specific reason: since the years right after the Second World War, it...
Updated 11 July 2026
The story
The story of Bovolone
History and origins
Bovolone is a municipality of ancient agricultural origins, situated on the plain south-east of Verona, in an area historically devoted to cereal farming and livestock. The town's economic turning point came only after the Second World War, when the first workshops dedicated to restoring and reproducing eighteenth century Venetian furniture opened. A decisive role in this transformation was played by Giuseppe Merlin, known as "Marangon," a craftsman from Asparetto di Cerea who, starting out repairing carts and tools, began restoring antique furniture in stately homes, studying and reproducing the techniques and materials of the past: from this insight the Verona art furniture district was born.
The art furniture district
Today Bovolone is considered the capital of a district that involves twenty-nine municipalities in the province of Verona, with around two thousand businesses and thousands of specialised carvers, inlay workers and lacquerers. The town is home to the Regional Vocational Training Centre for Crafts, where the techniques of carpentry, carving, inlay, lacquering, gilding and restoration that made the area famous are still taught. Walking among Bovolone's workshops means observing at close range a craft that combines historical fidelity with a manual skill rarely found elsewhere in Italy.
What to see
The Palazzo Vescovile, in the centre of Bovolone, houses "Stili del Mobile," an educational museum displaying pieces made with traditional techniques and tracing the evolution of cabinetmaking from the fifteenth to the twentieth century. It is the most useful stop for anyone wanting to understand, before visiting the workshops, how a period style piece of furniture is made and what distinguishes the different eras and styles reproduced. The rest of the historic centre retains the simple layout typical of the farming villages of the lower Verona plain, but it is in the network of artisan workshops, often open to visitors on request, that the town's real point of interest lies.
Local life and economy
Bovolone's economy today remains strongly tied to the furniture district, even though in recent decades the sector has gone through difficult phases linked to international competition and changing tastes in home furnishing. Alongside woodworking crafts, plain agriculture survives, with cereal crops and livestock farming that recall the territory's original vocation. It is a working town more than a leisure destination, where the rhythm of daily life still follows that of the workshops and studios.
Getting there
Bovolone lies along the provincial road linking Verona to Legnago, about twenty-five kilometres south-east of the provincial capital, and is easily reached by car. As it has no railway station of its own, driving remains the most practical way to visit, while bus connections link it to Verona and the neighbouring towns of the lower Verona plain.
Experiences not to miss
- Visitare il museo "Stili del Mobile" nel Palazzo Vescovile
- Visit the "Stili del Mobile" museum in the Palazzo Vescovile
To see
What to see in Bovolone
Routes · Trovido Route
