Soave: the walled town, the castle and the wineries

What there is to see in Soave in one day

The centre of Soave is walkable. Via Castello Scaligero climbs to the castle from piazza dell'Antenna, and the same town wall that rings the built-up area was raised in 1375 by Cansignorio della Scala, six years after he restored the fortress; it runs down from the castle to enclose the town.

Around the town lies the Soave wine area, thirteen municipalities in the eastern part of the province of Verona: besides Soave itself, Monteforte d'Alpone, San Martino Buon Albergo, Lavagno, Mezzane di Sotto, Caldiero, Colognola ai Colli, Illasi, Cazzano di Tramigna, San Bonifacio, Roncà, Montecchia di Crosara and San Giovanni Ilarione. Garganega settled here in the Alpone, Tramigna, Illasi and Mezzane valleys.

The Strada del Vino Soave association, founded in 1999, holds together about 130 members along a route of some 50 kilometres across the thirteen municipalities and the four valleys. The members are not only wineries: the public list takes in oil mills, farm stays, restaurants, hotels and local food producers, along with the municipalities of Soave, Monteforte d'Alpone, Colognola ai Colli, Illasi and Belfiore and the consortium itself.

Soave castle: hours, access and what you walk through

The castle is open from Tuesday to Sunday and closed on Mondays, with two different timetables across the year. The official site does not say on which dates the summer timetable gives way to the winter one, so a phone call is worth it if you are arriving in the changeover weeks.

What you walk through

The main entrance is on the north side, with a drawbridge and the tower of San Giorgio. Beyond the bridge is the first courtyard, whose wall was built by the Republic of Venice in the early fifteenth century and where the remains of a three-apse chapel survive. The second courtyard is called the courtyard of the Madonna after a fresco of 1321. In the third stands the keep, on a pyramidal granite base. Against the southern wall is the Casa del Capitano, with the guardroom at ground level and the Caminata hall above it, from which you pass to the hanging courtyard. The wall walks lead to the keep and to the view over the Lessini mountains and the Po plain.

The castle also opens at Easter, on Easter Monday, 25 April, 1 May, 2 June, 15 August, 1 November, 8 December, 26 December and 6 January. It stays closed on 25 December and 1 January.

Soave, Classico, Colli Scaligeri and Superiore: what you taste

In the cellar you taste styles the production rules separate by yield, strength and release date. The base wine comes from at least 70% Garganega, with up to 30% Trebbiano di Soave or Chardonnay, and within that 30% up to 5% of other non-aromatic white grapes grown in the province of Verona may be used. Chardonnay is not allowed in Soave Superiore DOCG.

Soave Classico is the historic ground, the hills between Soave and Monteforte d'Alpone: its boundaries go back to the decree of 23 October 1931 and have never changed since. The Colli Scaligeri form a kind of horseshoe around the Classico, towards the Illasi valley to the west and the Vicenza boundary to the south east.

Alongside the dry wines there is Recioto di Soave DOCG, sweet, made from dried grapes: in 1998 it was the first Veneto wine to be granted DOCG status. Soave Superiore followed in 2001. If you want to take a bottle home without calling at a cellar, you can also find it in online catalogues.

How many wineries you can visit and how to book

The consortium's producer list is the place to start: 181 entries, 97 of them inside the DOC area, filterable by place and by service. Of the 181, 143 mark direct sales, 12 organic farming, 5 bed and breakfast and 2 a restaurant. By place the highest counts are Monteforte d'Alpone with 21 producers, Soave with 19, Roncà with 14, Colognola ai Colli with 9, Montecchia di Crosara with 7 and Illasi with 6.

The second list is the Strada del Vino Soave's own, which publishes member entries with addresses: twelve are visible in the wineries section, across Soave, Monteforte d'Alpone, Roncà, Montecchia di Crosara, Colognola ai Colli, Cazzano di Tramigna and Lavagno.

Neither list is a booking service: the visit is arranged with the estate, by phone or email, and no official page of the consortium or the association publishes a tasting price. If you would rather join something already organised, with transport from Verona included, you can compare guided tastings in the Soave area.

The 33 UGA and the soils: why Soave changes from hill to hill

More than fifteen years of consortium research led to 33 additional geographical units (UGA), covering about 38% of the 7,000 hectares of vineyard and allowed on the label of single-vineyard wines. Among the names you meet on bottles and on vineyard signs are these:

• Foscarino, Monte Grande and Froscà, on the hills between Soave and Monteforte d'Alpone
• Castelcerino, Fittà and Tremenalto, in the upper part of the Classico
• Rugate and Roncà - Monte Calvarina, towards the Vicenza boundary
• Monte di Colognola and Costeggiola, on the western slope

What separates one UGA from the next is first of all geology, going back to a change that began more than 90 million years ago. In the eastern part the hills have a basalt substrate, between 50 and 500 metres of altitude, with slopes from 10 to 80 degrees and a neutral pH. To the west the soils are layered limestone, often less than 50 centimetres deep over the rock. Lower down, in the Monteforte valley between 30 and 100 metres, the ground is clay with volcanic debris carried down from the hills.

Those 7,000 hectares are divided among about 3,000 holdings of roughly 2 hectares each, equal to 3% of Italy's DOC and DOCG vineyards: in the cellar this means the bottle you taste almost always comes from a handful of plots.

How to reach Soave and how to get around

Soave is 20 kilometres from Verona and has no railway station. There are three ways in.

By train and bus

The station to aim for is San Bonifacio, on the Verona to Vicenza line. From there and from Verona you continue with ATV: the town is served by lines 229, 130 and X02, and the 130 is the main connection. Line 130 runs San Bonifacio, Soave, Strà, Vago, San Martino Buon Albergo and Verona, stopping at Soave in piazza Castagnedi. From Verona Stazione FS the ride takes 48 minutes.

By car

The A4 Milan to Venice motorway, Soave / San Bonifacio exit. The castle car park is reached from via Mondello, and coaches can turn round in it.

On foot, through the vineyards

The walk of the 10 wayside shrines is a loop of about 9 kilometres from the main square of Monteforte d'Alpone, crossing the vineyards of the Classico area. The high point is about 200 metres, at the third shrine, known as del Foscarin. It is signposted and open all year. For moving between the hill villages, line 229 links Tregnago, Cazzano di Tramigna, Soave and Colognola ai Colli.