Arquà Petrarca Geography

The Euganean Hills are the eroded remains of volcanic activity, and they rise straight from a plain with nothing else on it — which is why they are visible from a long way off and why a village on one of their flanks has a view at all.

The soil is volcanic and the slopes are terraced in dry stone for vines, olives and orchards. The same microclimate that lets olives grow this far north on Lake Garda operates here on a smaller scale, and the Colli Euganei wines come off these terraces.

The village faces southeast across the hills. That aspect is why Petrarch chose the position, and the view from his house has not materially changed in six and a half centuries.

The hills form a regional park, and several walking routes through them start from the village, so Arquà works as a trailhead as well as a destination.