Park of the Walls

The Walls Park is an evocative urban park that develops along the sixteenth-century Venetian walls that surround the historic centre of Verona. Built between 1520 and 1561 by the Republic of Venice to defend the city from imperial attacks, the walls extend for over 9 kilometres creating a green ring around the medieval heart. Today the park is one of the favourite places of the Veronese for jogging, walks, cycling and picnics in the shade of the historic bastions.

The pedestrian and cycle path that runs along the walls offers breathtaking views of the city, the Adige, the surrounding hills and the Venetian Pre-Alps in the background. The bastions, watchtowers and Venetian monumental gates are perfectly preserved and bear witness to Renaissance military engineering. The park is rich in Mediterranean vegetation: cypresses, maritime pines, holm oaks, olive trees and flowerbeds that create a green oasis in the urban heart.

Along the route there are panoramic benches, areas equipped for outdoor fitness, drinking fountains and picnic areas. The Walls Park is particularly loved at sunset, when the golden light illuminates the red bastions and creates romantic atmospheres perfect for couple's walks or photographic sessions. During the summer the city organises cultural events, concerts and film screenings on the bastions.

Venetian fortifications of the sixteenth century and the integrated defense system

The Venetian walls of Verona were built between 1520 and 1561 by the Republic of Venice to replace the obsolete Scaliger medieval walls and create a modern defensive system against firearms. The project was entrusted to the military architects Michele Sanmicheli and Guidobaldo della Rovere, who designed pentagonal bastions, earthworks, moats and casemates according to the most advanced criteria of Renaissance military engineering. The walls were equipped with numerous monumental gates including Porta Nuova, Porta Palio and Porta San Zeno, still today perfectly preserved.

The defensive system also included watchtowers, powder magazines, barracks and a complex network of underground galleries for the rapid movement of troops. The walls remained in military function until the nineteenth century, then were progressively transformed into a public park during the Austrian and Italian periods.

At the end of the nineteenth century, with the advent of modern weapons that made the fortifications obsolete, the Venetian walls lost their military function and were gradually transformed into a public park. The Austrians first and then the Italians planted thousands of trees on the bastions, created tree-lined avenues and opened the green areas to citizens for walks and leisure. In the twentieth century the Walls Park became one of the most important green lungs of Verona: 9 kilometres of pedestrian and cycle paths, dozens of hectares of lawns, urban woods and historical gardens.

In the 1980s-90s recovery and enhancement interventions were carried out that have made the park perfectly usable: paved cycle paths, night lighting, fitness areas, games for children and educational panels illustrating the history of the fortifications. Today the park is UNESCO heritage as part of the Venetian defensive system.

The Walls Park is heavily frequented by the Veronese for sporting and recreational activities: runners and cyclists daily cover the tree-lined avenues, fitness enthusiasts use the equipped areas with outdoor gym equipment, families organise picnics in the shaded lawns. The panoramic bastions offer privileged observation points over the city: from here one admires the Arena, the Cathedral, the medieval bell towers and the Veronese hills with a unique glance. During spring and summer the park fills with university students studying in the shade of the cypresses, artists painting en plein air, photographers chasing spectacular sunsets.

The sunset on the bastions is one of the most beautiful natural spectacles of Verona: the warm light illuminates the red bricks of the Venetian walls while the sun sets behind the Pre-Alps. Many Veronese consider the evening walk in the Walls Park a daily ritual to relax after work and enjoy the natural and historical beauty of their city.