Mincio River and Morainic Hills

The water of the Mincio river flows for 73 kilometers through different territories – from the Morainic Hills of lower Garda to the plain that accompanies the river to its confluence with the Po – punctuated by emblematic naturalistic testimonies.

The Mincio river originates in Pinzolo (TN), with the name of Sarca, from the confluence of several sources that originate from some massifs such as the Brenta, the Adamello and the Presanella and runs through Val Rendeva for approx. After 78 km it enters Lake Garda near Riva di Trento. It leaves the lake with the name of Mincio and crossing the sweet beauty of the morainic landscape, passing through the territory of Ponti sul Mincio, it heads towards Mantua to form the three lakes that surround it, concluding its 75 km journey in the Po.
The stretch of the river in the Ponti sul Mincio area is integrated into a complex water system aimed at dividing the flow of the river itself into a network of canals intended for different functions: irrigation, energy, hydraulic defence. The overall length, which also includes Lake Garda for 41 km, measures 194 km and thus places it in eleventh place among the longest rivers in Italy.

The Mincio river and its hinterland, in the province of Mantua, is a protected area of the Mincio Regional Park.
The Mincio River Agricultural Park was established in 1984 by the Lombardy Region.
The Mincio flows channeled within narrow artificial banks up to Salionze, a location that legend indicates as the point where Pope Saint Leo I stopped Attila and his hordes. The landscape, before and after the damming, is marked by the variety of soft and green reliefs with basins that have become marshy and peaty deposits and a very particular flora and fauna.
These hilly formations are the remains of the grandiose frontal moraines which, in moments of maximum expansion (2 million years ago), the Benaco glacier pushed towards the underlying Mantuan plain. In the municipality of Ponti the most important moraine arch, called “Monte della Guardia”, overlooks two small peat bogs, still well preserved and with rich hygrophilous vegetation.
The vegetation of the hill is of significant naturalistic interest. On the north-facing slopes grow groves consisting mainly of downy oak and black hornbeam. In the undergrowth there are hawthorn, euonymus, coronilla, butcher’s broom and in spring periwinkle, anemones, liverwort and the rare red lily bloom. On the south-facing slopes the forest thins out to make way for particular natural environments, the arid meadows with beautiful spring blooms. There are many botanical species that appear in this particular environment: the orchids and the montana pulsatilla are notable for their extreme rarity and particular scientific interest.

Ponti sul Mincio is one of the 13 Municipalities of the Mincio Regional Park which protects and enhances the territory of the protected area and has joined the Colline Morainiche del Garda Association which deals with developing the tourist and cultural activity of the morainic territory.