San Mauro di Saline

The district of San Mauro di Saline is 35 kilometers apart from Verona and it includes the comunity of Saline and Taveronole. San Mauro is rich in history, art, legends and it has a long tradition of folk art. San Mauro, the patron saint, became Bishop of Verona in 612 and it seems that he passed his life as a hermit in these places. According to legend, during a period of drought, he would spill water out from a rock, thanks to his prayers. The name “Saline” may depend on the role played by the town in the past, as a center of salt deposits.

The village is concentrated around the parish church (nineteenth century), which houses paintings of Rocco Pittaco and Agostino Pegrassi from Verona.

The San Mauro or San Moro Church, actually dedicated to St. Leonardo of Limoges, is not far from the town. It is located in a panoramic position, surrounded by a lush pine forest. The church, with its lowly Romanesque style, was built in its present form around 1388. Above the porch at the entrance, there is a fresco of the “Madonna of Mercy and Child with devotees”. The church has three naves and three apses. The interior, divided by Gothic arches, kept a precious wooden polyphonic of the sixteenth century, that was stolen on the night of October 15, 1967. The church today keeps a fresco painting of particular historic and artistic value (XVI century). In the forecourt of the church there is an obelisk topped by a wrought iron cross (1746). On the wall there is a stele dated 1531.

The Miraculous Fount north-east the parish Church; it is a simple and modest typical building of Lessini area, which houses a source. The tradition says that this source is the one of the St. Mauro miracle.