The Veja bridge is an attraction not very well known but worth visiting for those coming to Valpolicella. It is located in the municipality of Sant’Anna d’Alfaedo (VR), below the district of Crestena and the hamlet of Giare.
It is 12 km from Negrar and can be reached by taking the SP12: after passing the hamlet of Fane you arrive at a crossroads where the cheese producer Corrado Benedetti and the Ristorante Croce dello Schioppo are located, going straight ahead you will reach Sant’Anna d’Alfaedo but for the bridge you have to turn right.
You then exceed the small town of Giare and you will arrive at a convenient parking where there is a tank “parked” in a corner. Parking is free as is the entrance to the bridge.
Once the car is parked, walk down a small white road next to the restaurant. The bridge can be reached with a 5-minute journey. It is a natural arch with an arch of about forty meters, a minimum thickness of nine meters and a width of twenty meters. It is really impressive and during the hot summer there is a much cooler temperature! There are several paths to be done on foot even for several hours but the visit to the bridge is suitable for everyone.

Let’s start by listing the ingredients for Sbrisolona:

• 400 grams of flour
• 400 grams of corn flour
• 400 grams of sugar
• 450 grams of softened butter
• 3 egg yolks
• 200 grams of almonds
• the tip of a teaspoon of salt

It is important to respect the doses: flour, butter and sugar are present in equal quantities. The number of eggs corresponds to the ect of flour. Then start by mixing the butter and sugar so that they form a homogeneous mixture. With a blender chop the almonds (keep the whole almonds on one side in order to decorate the Sbrisolona cake later). Combine the chopped almonds in a bowl with the mixture of butter and sugar. Then add the egg yolks, mixing everything together. Mix well, gradually adding flour in order to obtain the right consistency: it must be neither too dry nor too liquid. Line a cake pan of 26-30 cm with the parchment paper and pour into the mixture thus obtained. Care must be taken to cover the entire surface from the cake tin. Close all the holes, but do not smooth the dough. We then form a layer of about 2 cm. Sow the whole almonds over the dough and bake in the preheated oven at 170 degrees for 40 minutes or until the surface of the Sbrisolona is golden and dry. When it is cooked, take it out of the oven, spread some sugar on its surface and let it cool completely. When serving it, break it with your hands, never with a knife. Absolutely to combine with the Recioto della Valpolicella Classico or with the Grappa di Amarone!

Amarone and Recioto are the two most important wines of Valpolicella: they are well known all over the world for their unique characteristics.

Let’s see the differences: both wines are red, made from raised (appassimento) grapes  of Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, Oseleta and Negrara. The grapes are manually  selected at the beginning of September in small boxes and they are left to dry in the” fruittaio”  till January.

The difference in the production process is in the final part: in the Amarone all the sugar is transformed into alcohol by the yeast. The wine is separated from the skins when all the sugar is fermented in alcool and so it is a dry wine.

In the Recioto fermentation has been stopped in the middle  to get a well structured wine with a lower alcohol content than the Amarone but with an important sugar residual so as to have a sweet dessert wine. Recioto was already known in Roman times,  Amarone has a recent history: a wine maker forgot to stop the fermentation in a Recioto barrel. The wine become dry and when he tasted it said “This is an Amarone”. Amaro is the Italian for bitter. He enjoyed the wines, he bottled and it has been a so big success that the mistake has been repeated every year!