Forte San Leonardo

Forte San Leonardo is a former military fortification on the hills northwest of Verona, near the small Romanesque church of San Leonardo. Its elevated position overlooks the entrance to the Avesa valley and the Campagnola area. A truncated conical dome rises above the high, rounded stone base, giving the former fort a distinctive religious silhouette.

Franz von Scholl directs its construction for the Habsburg defence of Verona. The two-storey casemated block combines angled lines, curved walls, tuff masonry, and loopholes. A dry moat marks its original separation from the hillside. Smoothbore cannons and a powder magazine supported its defensive role within Verona’s wider fortification network. In 1952, military authorities transfer the building to the Stimmatini congregation. The congregation converts the structure into the sanctuary of Nostra Signora di Lourdes, removing much of the central interior while preserving sections of the perimeter walls.

Today, the altered layout still connects the thick stone base, prominent front, and modern dome above. From the former artillery square, you see Verona, the plains, Lake Garda’s morainic hills, and Monte Baldo.