Have you already visited the Sigurtà Garden Park in Valeggio sul Mincio?

Despite more than 6 centuries of age and 45 years of opening to the public (the gates opened for the first time on March 19, 1978) the Sigurtà Garden Park is one of the most popular green corners in Europe thanks to the woods, the expanses immense, to the landscapes and seasonal blooms such as that of tulips, roses and water lilies.

The 600,000 square meters of extension allow for a regenerating visit, which can be done on foot, by bicycle (the Park is located 2 km from the Mantova – Peschiera d/G cycle path) or by electric golf cart with GPS guide or on the panoramic train .

The Sigurtà Park is located in Valeggio sul Mincio (VR), a town named Orange Flag according to the Italian Touring Club, and 2 km from the hamlet of Borghetto sul Mincio, which is already part of the gallery of the most beautiful villages in Italy, thanks to its ancient mills and the 14th century Visconteo bridge. It is about 30 km from the cities of Mantua and Verona.

The Sigurtà Park has a double soul: an Italian-style design characterized by geometric designs that circumscribe the space and an English-style one based on the combination of natural and artificial elements such as caves, centuries-old trees, small temples where those who walk ordered even when it assumes a more spontaneous character.

The ancient history of the Park dates back to 1407 when it was an orchard surrounded by walls or lands cultivated with fodder enclosed within a wall. Then over the centuries it underwent various evolutions such as the expansion of the surface and the possibility of drawing water from the Mincio, to arrive at 19 March 1978, when Giuseppe Carlo Sigurtà opened the Garden to the public: today, Magda and Giuseppe Sigurtà continue with dedication to preserve and make this naturalistic park known, continuing the work done by the ancestors.

POINTS OF INTEREST

• Viale delle Rose: symbolic image with thousands of remontant roses in two varieties that embellish the “telescope” view of the Scaliger Castle, outside the Park.
• Labyrinth, inaugurated in 2011, with 1500 yew plants, a central tower and green corridors, which cover an area of 2500 square meters: it is among the 3 most beautiful labyrinths in the world.
• Castelletto and Eremo: for a leap in time to the late eighteenth century, thanks to these two buildings immersed in the woods.
• Seasonal blooms in particular Tulipanomania, the most important tulip flowering in Southern Europe with over a million tulips in spring and many activities that have earned the prize for Best Tulip Festival in the world 2022, and in summer dahlias, water lilies, hydrangeas, for conclude with the foliage in autumn with Japanese maples, ginkgo trees and hornbeams.
• Farm with barnyard animals on the agricultural side: here you can meet hens, ducks, turkeys, sheep and donkeys.
• 18 bodies of water, including the Water Gardens and the Flowering Ponds which are among the most visited points and home to seasonal blooms and Japanese carp.
• Very ancient trees, such as the Great Oak with over four centuries of age, and Jurassic trees or trees dating back to the dinosaur era, such as ginkgo biloba and metasequoia.
• Great Turf: the widest expanse of the entire Park, set for commercials, television broadcasts, fashion shootings and music video clips (Gianni Morandi, Biagio Antonacci, Annalisa).
• Curious corners: the Horizontal Sundial, the Garden of Medicinal Plants, the Viale dei Tronchi Emerald.

AWARDS

The Sigurtà Garden Park has obtained various awards over the years, among the most important:

• in 2013 the Most Beautiful Park in Italy Award, established by the network www.ilparcopiubello.it
• in 2015 it was awarded as the Second Most Beautiful Park in Europe by the European Garden Award
• in 2016 Tulipanomania won the most beautiful flowering award in Italy, organized by the network www.ilparcopiubello.it
• in 2019 the World Tulip Society presented the World Tulip Destination Worth Traveling For award, for excellence in the promotion and celebration of the tulip
• in 2020 the Sigurtà Park won the Tripadvisor Travelers’ Choice Best of the Best award, an award that is given to the realities considered among the best in Italy
• Tiqets, one of the most popular digital ticket sales platforms for museums and attractions in the world, has awarded Parco Giardino Sigurtà at a national level and for the Best Attraction 2020 category: Global Winner
• in 2022 the World Tulip Society, a Canadian society, awarded the Park with the award for Best Tulip Festival 2022 in the World. A Festival that comes to life not only thanks to the million tulips planted, but also for the numerous initiatives that revolve around this flowering, such as for example the collaboration with the municipalities of Bardolino and Sirmione, the involvement of the first elementary classes in the inauguration of the planting, an instagram photo challenge, an invitation to almost 100 painters to portray this amazing flowering and much more.
• in 2022 Parksmania, the first Italian portal dedicated to amusement parks in the world, awarded the Park with a Jury Prize for the Cracking Art seasonal event, an exhibition of almost 100 works made of regenerated plastic depicting large animals and bright colors. Visitors to the Park were thus able to admire the artistic display from the first days of June to the end of summer, encountering specimens in various points of the Park-Garden and in particular the Wild Goose on display in a world exclusive in the Water Gardens.

The Park has been part of the Grandi Giardini Italiani network since 2007, a network that includes the most beautiful gardens that can be visited in Italy; since 2020, however, it has been included in the prestigious Garden Route Italia project, aimed at enhancing Italian gardens, promoted by APGI – Associazione Parchi e Giardini d’Italia.
To be updated on the events calendar: www.sigurta.it and the social channels facebook, instagram, YouTube and TikTok.