Borghetto and Fair Verona... where we lay our scene - May 17th 2026
- Brett Sedgwick
- May 29
- 3 min read
Ciao Bellas,
After getting Delphi back from the mechanics, the oil and STOP lights came on so we went back, but old mate reckoned it was all good.
OK… I guess.
We decided to free park that night in the Carrefour car park, just in case we needed to go back and see the mechanic again. It turned out that she ran fine, but the warning lights were faulty (or something.)
Anyhoo, it rained pretty much all night and we ran out of gas bottle number one - which I had to change in the pissing down rain. Ah, the glamours of van life.
By the way, Carrefour had a tiny bar attached to it, and people stopped in to have a wee vino or two after their shopping. Brilliant!
The plan was to make our way to Venice, but we weren’t booked in for a few days, so we decided to stay somewhere about halfway there.
We left Porlezza early - around 7 am - drove back into Switzerland, around the lake town of Lugano, back into Italy, where we skirted Como and ended up in a motorhome parking lot just outside of a little town called Borghetto. (I think Jen picked this as it nearly rhymes with porchetta, which is her new food addiction ;) )
Borgetta was a tiny little town, but the bigger town behind it was called Valeggio sul Mincio, as it sits on the Mincio River. As we drove in, Jen was amazed at the fluorescent blue water on the canals. They did look awesome, but the colour was due to the canals being concreted a sandy colour, which made the water look incredible.
The town also had a famous Roman bridge that had been semi-reconstructed and a castle straight from a Lego catalogue. All of this sat atop stunning canals, surrounded by stone buildings, flowerpots and all things Europey… (yeah, that’s a word.) The day continued to rain, and we needed groceries, but not much was open. I walked into town and found a supermarket that was open, called Eurospin. I filled a bag and my backpack with an assortment of fresh fruit and veg, wine, bread, meats and cheeses and the total was only 33 Euros. Man, my new favourite joint, very similar to Aldi.
So Delph, was ok, and we were cooking in the van again, and the universe had righted itself. YAY. (BTW, the bill for the mechanics was 1100 Euros, but our insurance should reimburse urs for that.)
The next day, the rain stopped, and we went on a huge ride/walk to check out Borghetto/Valeggio. The scenery was beautiful, and the surrounding orchards all grew kiwifruit!! The trees looked fantastic on their trellises, and the amount of flowers on them was insane.
All up the bill was fiddy Euros for two nights with all services and showers. Pretty good.
So we were booked into a place just outside of Venice, but we couldn’t pass Verona without stopping.
Two hours later (without trucks, as it was Sunday and trucks park up in Italy for the weekend), we stopped at a PnR and walked the 20 minutes into Verona's old town - and what an old town it was.
The buildings, the shops, the restaurants, the thousands of well-dressed locals and touros, were all very impressive. After a long walk around, we were a wee bit peckish and sat down in one of the many piazzas at outdoor tables. We were going to get a coffee and a brioche (croissant), but the menu hyped the food up extensively. We were sold when Jen saw a combo that was duck ragu with pasta, fresh truffles and a glass of red wine!! She ordered that before the waiter had even finished talking, and I went for a pizza with capers and anchovies. 11.30 am baby and we were styling!! It was about 30 Euros all up! Bellissimo!
We then walked to see Juliet’s balcony, but it was a tourist trap that you had to pay to see. I don’t get it. People lined up to see a statue and a balcony facade from a fictional character?? Whatevs. Check out our Verona gallery, though, and you’ll see the beauty of the city.
That’s about it. Venice next, one of our favourite cities on the planet and somewhere where we will try a new culinary creation: Cicchetti. A.K.A. Italian Tapas.
Ciao
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