Forte Sofia

Forte Sofia stands on the lower slope of San Leonardo hill, at the northwest edge of Verona. Built between 1837 and 1843 under Austrian rule, it is the southernmost of the hill forts above the city. The idea was to stop an enemy from bypassing the main stronghold from the north. Major General Franz von Scholl, director of the Imperial Royal Office of Fortifications, oversaw the whole project. It honours Archduchess Sofia of Bavaria, mother of the future Emperor Franz Joseph.

A circular casemated tower of three floors forms the core, wrapped in a polygonal wall of tuff blocks pierced with loopholes. A dry moat separates it from the hill in front, and open gun positions behind masonry merlons line the curved main front. The annular casemate on the second floor opens 12 gun ports. Up on the open platform, the main guns once swung a full 360 degrees on special carriages. Its fire swept the Tirolo road and the descending Adige, overlapping the fields of Forte San Procolo. It also covered the rear of Forte San Leonardo, higher up the hillside. A garrison of about 150 infantrymen and 24 artillerymen served 14 smoothbore cannons, backed by 70 powder barrels of 112 kilograms each.

The fort lost its military purpose over time, and overgrown vegetation now presses close to the walls. Inside, you can still climb all three floors by a central double-helix staircase. On the ground floor, which covers only half the circle because the hill slopes, the bombproof powder magazine remains in place. Paths wind through the hills to views over Verona, the Adige and the countryside, the same ground the guns once covered.