Discover Oppeano

Oppeano lies in the lower Veronese plain and combines a multifaceted religious and settlement history with archaeological traces and a landscape shaped by springs and wetlands. For independent exploration, the town is particularly interesting if you want to understand not just a single building, but different periods and areas of the town.

Churches and historic spaces

In the lower Veronese plain, Oppeano is one of the centres associated with the culture of the “ancient Veneti” between the 7th and 5th centuries BC. In the present-day townscape, the Chiesa di Oppeano provides a distinctly more recent feature: it was built in 1841 over an original church dating from the 11th century.

In Mazzantica, the Chiesa di Mazzantica dates from the 14th century and is securely documented as a parish by 1526 at the latest. Its interior features a noteworthy rafter structure, several valuable frescoes and the altarpiece of the Birth of Mary by Brusasorzi. The building thus combines its medieval origins with remarkable decorative details.

The Ex Chiesa di Santa Maria degli Angeli is first mentioned in a historical source in 1526. Its redesign was intended to combine the preservation of the original building structures with public use of the spaces. The former church now houses the municipal auditorium named after Don Remo Castegini. In Vallese, following its recent restoration, the Chiesa di Vallese brings older and modern elements together in a unified appearance of the religious building.

Archaeological traces and rural architectural history

The historical evidence extends far back beyond the churches as well. Le Franchine is a burial site in Oppeano dating from the 9th to the 4th century BC. The Castrum Euppedanum was established in the early Middle Ages as a fortified camp. West of today’s square in Oppeano stands a mutilated, barely recognisable tower, regarded as a surviving relic of the Castrum Euppedanum.

Only the 17th-century manor house and the chapel with its richly designed Baroque façade remain today of the Corte Domenicale Turco in the square. It is considered a rare example of this style in the lower plain. The historic picture is complemented by the 13th-century Torre di Ezzelino and Villa Carli alla Montara, dating from the 17th to the 18th century.

The town’s history also includes the tradition of rural estates, which developed in the 15th and 16th centuries around self-sufficient residential units with dovecotes and solid surrounding walls. The Teatro Salus in Ca’ degli Oppi is a parish theatre with a hall for up to 200 spectators, where comedies and works in dialect were performed.

Springs and archaeological landscape

The municipal area includes a large site of community importance (SIC), extending through the “valley” of Ca’ degli Oppi at the edge of the “Sguazzo” of Vallese. Archaeological finds and springs characterise this area. As a result, Oppeano brings historic evidence and a specifically described landscape area side by side, without requiring both to be reduced to the same period.

Other places in the surrounding travel area

If you would like to place Oppeano in its wider local context, you can also subsequently explore Corbiolo, Ceraino, Pesina Spezie, Badia Calavena, Illasi, Veronella, Sona and Nogarole Rocca.

For the higher-level travel overview: Verona.