The parish church of Borghetto, dedicated to St. Mark the Evangelist, was built in 1759 – as it is shown on an inscription on the façad – on the ruins of an ancient Romanesque parish church pertaining to the monastery of St. Mary. The monastery was built on the left bank of the river Mincio between the XI and the XII century and it is mentioned in a papal bull written in 1145.
The monastery offered hospitality to pilgrims and travelers and was under the jurisdiction of the Veronese Abbey of St. Zeno until 1331, when the Scaliger family took it under its protection and fortified the whole area of the Serraglio ( enclosure) with high crenellated walls, outworks and drawbridges.
The neoclassical church has one nave with a lowered vault. Precious paintings are kept in the church: on the left wall near the main door there is a painting of “the Virgin with the Holy Child” by Giovanni Caliari (1835) and an altar dedicated to St. Joseph. On the right wall there is a big painting of the Virgin surrounded by St. Francis, St. Anthony, St. Peter, St. Catherine and St. Charles Borromeo; there is also an altar with a wooden Crucifixion of the XVII century.
The remains of some ancient frescoes – St. Batholomew, amongst the others – are still visible near the altar of St. Joseph.
Outside, on the parvis, some marble commemorative stones bear inscriptions related to the main battles fought near the river Mincio.
A little gate on the left opens on the old cemetery at the back of the church. The triple apse belongs to the original Romanesque church, whereas the bell tower was originally a Scaliger tower. A bell dating back to the 1381 is still conserved in the bell tower.
In the city walls near the little bridge of St. Mark there is a statue of St. John Nepumoceno, Bohemian martyr, who traditionally protects from drowning in the river.
About 1 km from Valeggio sul Mincio
