Castagnaro
Castagnaro is a municipality in the lower Verona plain, lying along the Adige river at the very southern edge of the province of V...
Updated 12 July 2026
The story
The story of Castagnaro
The Battle of Castagnaro, 1387
On 11 March 1387, in the countryside around Castagnaro, the Scaligeri army of Verona clashed with that of the Carraresi, lords of Padua, in one of the most important battles of the era of Italy's mercenary companies. Commanding the Paduan troops was the English condottiero John Hawkwood, known in Italy as Giovanni Acuto, alongside Francesco Novello da Carrara, while the Veronese were led by Giovanni Ordelaffi and Ostasio da Polenta. Giovanni Acuto won with a strategy that has become famous: he feigned a retreat to draw the Veronese onto marshy ground favourable to him, lining up his dismounted cavalry on dry ground, protected by crossbowmen, English archers and artillery on the flanks. The defeat marked the beginning of the end of Scaligeri rule over Verona, which fell to the Visconti of Milan a few months later.
A farming territory on the Adige
Beyond the historical memory tied to the battle, Castagnaro today is an entirely rural municipality, with an economy based on farming the land along the banks of the Adige, which here too, as in neighbouring municipalities, marks an important natural border toward the province of Rovigo and the Polesine. The landscape is typical of the lower Verona plain: orderly fields, drainage canals, grassy embankments and small rural hamlets scattered across the municipal territory. Agriculture, with cereals, forage and vegetable crops, remains the main activity, in continuity with a farming tradition that has lasted through the centuries, now far removed from the pomp and drama of the medieval war that had its most famous moment here.
The Adige river and its embankments
As with other municipalities in the lower Verona area facing the great river, the Adige represents for Castagnaro a central element of the landscape and collective memory, tied both to the fertility of the land and to the historical risk of flooding, managed over time through the construction of imposing main embankments. Walking or cycling along these embankments offers a close view of the relationship between the river and the surrounding countryside, with glimpses of the floodplains and the spontaneous vegetation that populates them. It is a quiet landscape, little visited by tourism, but capable of conveying an authentic image of the southernmost Verona plain, far from the province's busier routes.
Historical memory and re-enactments
Over the years, the memory of the Battle of Castagnaro has been kept alive by historical associations and medieval re-enactment groups, which at local and provincial level have organised talks, publications and occasional re-enactments dedicated to this 1387 episode, considered among the most studied by enthusiasts of medieval military history for its tactical significance. For visitors to Castagnaro with a historical interest, it is worth knowing that no monumental remains are directly linked to the clash, since it was a pitched battle fought in open countryside: the value of a visit lies rather in walking the same land, now transformed into farmland, where for a moment the fate of Verona and Padua was decided.
Cuisine and produce of the lower Verona area
Castagnaro's cuisine reflects its farming vocation, with dishes based on cereals, such as polenta, seasonal vegetables and locally raised meats, following the farming tradition shared with the other municipalities of the lower Verona and Polesine plains. The village's few trattorias and osterie offer simple, no-frills cooking, made for people who live and work the land, with dishes such as bigoli with duck ragù or pastissada de caval, common throughout the province of Verona. It is a cuisine best appreciated in the context of an unhurried visit, perhaps paired with a walk along the Adige, rather than in a quick stop.
Experiences not to miss
- Mentally retrace the sites of the 1387 battle
- Walk or cycle along the Adige embankments
- Discover the farmland of the lower Verona plain
- Learn about Giovanni Acuto (John Hawkwood) and the mercenary companies
- Visit the village centre and its parish church
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