The Valpantena
The Valpantena is one of the five valleys which lie in the surroundings of Verona and more precisely it's situated to the North-East of Verona. Etymologically the term "Valpantena" means "valley of all gods", taking its name from the Pantheon situated under the current church of Santa Maria in Stelle. Nevertheless other sources indicate that the term might derive from the name of the people who settled in this valley in remotest times: the Panganoti.
"If we guide our slow steps to our right we find walls open on that side, uncovering the plain and the most eminent hills: the Valpantena looks just like a work of art..."
These words were written in 1617 by Adriano Grandi in " The beauties of Verona".
Before that Francesco Corna from Soncino talks poetically about our valley in his " Selected passages from the chronicles
of Verona and its territories" written in 1477. He describes "an idyllic valley cut up by little streams and wells,
patched grapevines and pleasant fountains that the Valpantena in great quantities contains".
According to the Roman historian Floro, the sweetness of the wine and the delicate flavour of the products of this valley seduced firstly the Cimbri and then the Romans. The latter understood that the soil in Valpantena was ideal for grapevine cultivation and therefore intensified the deforestation and planted grapevines.
Among the gastronomic specialities linked to the products of this valley we can mention the wine Valpantena or the cheese Monte Veronese, but our land has also other treasures to offer like the numerous archaeological sites scattered all over.
For further information we suggest visiting the website of the library of Grezzana: http://www.rcvr.org/cittaepr/grezzana/home.htm.
The Pilotòn
It's a menhir, a Breton term which means "long stone". The menhirs are big elongated stones thrust vertically into the ground and for this reason called " thrust-in stones" or " straight stones". The Pilotòn is situated on the ridge to the West of Montorio on the road called Preafita.
In the Pre-history the menhir was a sacred stone, it was thought to contain divine life and at times even to embody God Himself. Today we know for sure that religious ceremonies involving the menhir were very common and had the aim to increase both the human and soil fertility, as if the stone concealed a fertilizing spirit. Not surprisingly the Pilotòn resembles a phallic shape. Its pale colour symbolized the lunar strength contained in feminine fertility.
The menhir has the function to join the earth and the sky and the ground where it is placed becomes sacred; even today religious rituals are performed around the menhir. The Christian clergy condemned the cult of the menhir but despite these repressive means these pagan rituals remained rife among the population. As a consequence the clergy decided to find a compromise and "baptised" the sacred stones. They were given names of saints and a cross was either carved or stuck above it (as it occurred for the Pilotòn).
Because of its regular shape the Pilotòn can be classified as a menhir of the Roman era.
Today this white stone columnar monolith is greatly reduced in height because of the destructive action of some hunters
who were disturbed by such height.
Mount Pipadolo rises not far from the Pilotòn and it appears logical to suppose that the former derived its name from the latter one since it refers to the sexual sphere. As a matter of fact in our dialect the penis is called either pipolo or em>biri. In the Cimbric land there is also another prehistoric settlement which presents three holy stones next to Mount Birograve.
Astronomic orientament of Roman Verona
The menhir acquired its sacred importance because it could be used to observe the star motion, create a calendar and therefore a solar, lunar and star clock.
Moreover the Pilotòn was chosen by the Roman diviners as a landmark to orientate Roman Verona. These diviners had to chose the precise spot where the centre of the future city ( the Phorus) was going to be and after that decide its astronomic orientation in relation to the main solar movements ( solstices and equinoxes).
If we draw a line through three targets: the Pilotòn, the capital in Piazza Erbe ( which used to be the Phorus)
and the church of Santa Lucia we get the sidereal orientation of this line at dusk on the winter solstice ( December 21st)
Following this orientation the diviners had to cross the main road, the cardo ( today Via Pellicciai-Santa
Maria in Chiavica) perpendicularly with the second main road, the decumano ( today Via Cappello-Via S. Egidio).
Moreover it is known that the Christian churches were risen on former sacred pagan places, therefore if we follow the orientation
of the cardo going Westwards we find all the churches linked to the Saint of the Solar solstice.
