Stage 04

Brentino-Pastrengo

This stage is similar to the previous stages in terms of landscape in the first part, then it moves away from the river for a few kilometers to go up to Rivoli Veronese, a town preceded by the historic fortress built by the Austrians to guard the area. After passing another Austrian fort, the stage ends in Pastrengo, a town that recalls school studies and the Italian-Austrian wars of the Risorgimento. In fact, an important battle of the first war of independence (1848) was fought in Pastrengo, in which the Piemonte’s soldiers of Carlo Alberto defeated the Austrians led by General Radetzky with the famous charge of the carabinieri in defense of the king. Almost three hundred carabinieri on horseback, with sabres drawn, galloped off shouting “Savoia”. The war then turned in favor of Austria and it took two more Wars of Independence, also fought in these places, to unite the village of Pastrengo and the whole of Veneto to Italy.

Leaving Pastrengo we have two alternative itineraries, both suggestive: one directed to Lake Garda (Peschiera), and one to Verona. This last variant develops for a large part on the Via Postumia, almost to Villafranca, then moves on a beautiful and comfortable cycle-pedestrian path that leads to the Mincio and, after crossing it, returns to the basic route. The Veronese variant measures a total of about 61.5 km, and we propose to divide it into 3 comfortable stages (Stage 05a, Stage 05b and Stage 05c).

Below we list the possibilities to continue the walk following the classic route or following the “veronese variant”:

Classic Itinerary:
– Stage 05: Pastrengo – Peschiera (20 Km)
– Stage 06: Peschiera – Volta Mantovana – Goito (30 Km)

Verona’s Itinerary:
– Stage 05a Pastrengo – Verona (22,4 Km)
– Stage 05b Verona – Villafranca (19,2 Km)
– Stage 05c Villafranca – Volta Mantovana (19,9 Km)

Download file: viarg04.gpx