Trattoria Il Borgo Dell'Arusnate

SAN GIORGIO

Surrounded by vineyards and olive trees, San Giorgio belongs the municipality of Sant’Ambrogio, in west Valpolicella valley, few kilometres far from Verona and Lake Garda. The village lies on top of a hill embracing the church and it is built with the same chalky stone it lies upon. San Giorgio is popularly called “Ingannapoltron” (deceiver of the lazy walker) because of the false perspective the village shows from the foot of the hill. The view from here is amazing, stretching from the Valpolicella to Lake Garda, Verona and the Apennines on the clearest days. It is possible to go for pleasant walks or mountain-bike tours, among the marble caves and the vineyards around San Giorgio.

THE ARUSNATI

The Arusnati people lived in Valpolicella in the Roman and pre-Roman times, occupying the area that goes from north Verona to the ditch of Ceraino or, according to a second hypothesis, to Ossenigo in the Valdadige. They established here their settlements around V b.C. and they developed their agricultural skills. In the Longobard times San Giorgio became curtis regia but still remained the centre of the Pagus. The Arusnati are believed to be of Gaulish-Celtic origin and their gods had very unusual names, absent in other peoples’ religions.

THE “DE LE FAE” CELEBRATION

Most curiously a pagan cult of the Arusnate civilization is celebrated even today on the second Sunday of November. This rite is based on the belief the Arusnati had in the resurrection of the soul and it closes the commemoration of the dead. The broad beans, sprouting in springtime, were a symbol of resurrection since it was believed that the souls wouldn’t die with the death of the body. During this celebration, some participants prepare and distribute the typical soup of broad-beans and they wear traditional costumes of this age. The Arusnati are also recalled in the memory through songs and dance

THE CHURCH

The Pieve Romanica (Romanic church) in San Giorgio is the most important and well-known sacred monument of the Valpolicella valley. It is a beautiful church built around 700 a.C. with local stone by the christianized Longobards on the ancient remains of a pagan temple. An evidence of these origins is the base upon which a column of the aisle: a sacrificial altar dedicated to the Sun and to the Moon, exploited to build the church. The Pieve is characterised by two apses because of the re-orienteering of the church effected in 1200. Of the former structure you can see the apse that is the present entrance and the western walls, while the steeple has been totally re-built. The decorations of the three-aisled interior show the “Crack of Doom” of the ancient apse and the aedicule (712 a.C.) of the high altar, the most important Longobard monument in the Veronese territpry.