[1] From an orographic point of view, the Torricelle are the extreme southern offshoot of the Lessini Mountains included between Valpolicella and Valpantena; they therefore belong to the sector of the Venetian Prealps.

The name by which the Veronese refer to the hills north of the city, Torricelle, is said to derive from the four Maximilian towers erected between 1837 and 1843 by Franz von Scholl, director of the Imperial Royal Office of Fortifications in Verona.

The four round towers stand on the Santa Giuliana ridge and were at that time visible from the city, the vegetation being less dense, so much so that the Veronese called the entire hillside area by this name.

Paleokarst phenomena are present in the area, evident in the numerous cavities, caves, sinkholes, and underground tunnels, some inhabited since prehistoric times, and by streams flowing from karst springs.

In the Avesa Valley, a foothill karst spring is the Lorì, a small watercourse that originates from resurgences near the hamlet and then develops its course only partially on the surface until it crosses underground the districts of Ponte Crencano and Borgo Trento and flows into the Adige near the Garibaldi Bridge.

To the west, the Quinzano valley is also crossed by a stream that, after cutting the hamlet in two, reaches the city near the locality Ca' di Cozzi and flows into the Adige at the height of Via Saval, just before the bridge of the same name.

[9] As with neighboring Valpolicella and Valpantena, the area's mild climate, sheltered from cold northern currents by the crown of the Lessini Mountains, has favored the cultivation of olives, vines, almond and cherry trees over the centuries.

Typical of the man-made landscape are the terraces with dry stone walls spread on the hillsides, built over the centuries by man to facilitate cultivation (locally called marogne).

Two endemic species are also present: the Niphargus canui, a groundwater amphipod crustacean that has its habitat in the Quinzano quarry "Il Busetto," and the Lathrobium pinkeri, an endogenous staphylinid beetle that lives in the Borago and Galina valleys.

[15] A modestly sized hill between Parona and Quinzano, dominated by the medieval chapel of the same name flanked by the 19th-century villa Erbisti Rossi Chiampan, built in neoclassical forms in 1834 and surrounded by a 20th-century park with an artificial lake fed by springs in the area.

The building and the top of the hill can be reached by driving along the Monte di Villa road from Ponte Crencano and via Cava Bradisa from the center of Quinzano.

The victims of the explosion were contained (8 people) due to the intervention of the curate of Avesa, Don Giuseppe Graziani, who obtained permission from the German Command to empty the powder magazine until dawn, an undertaking in which several inhabitants of the hill town participated.

The fort's strategic location allowed it to look out over the Avesa valley, Valdonega and the entire city, crossing fire with the nearby Maximilian towers.

The fort, visible from the center of Verona due to its location, takes its name from the nearby late medieval church of San Mattia (240 m above sea level), remodeled in neoclassical forms in the 19th century.

[30] On the highest peak (170 m) rises the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, built between 1958 and 1964 to a design by architect Paolo Rossi de Paoli on the centenary of the famous apparitions.

The church was built by repurposing the former Austrian fort of San Leonardo, the forms of which are still clearly discernible in the circular plan of the worship building, one of the most iconic elements of the Torricelle hillside landscape.

From the square in front of the church, where the modern "grotto" with the statue of Our Lady stands, there is a view of the plain from the city center to the suburbs and the surrounding countryside.

The Romanesque-era complex, now deconsecrated, houses the Villa Caperle Arrighini Gerard, while preserving the bell tower and forms of the ancient religious building, visible on the side of Viale dei Colli at the intersection with Via San Leonardo and, downstream, from Lungadige Catena.

Given its proximity to the city center, on the western and southern slopes of the hill north of Via Mameli a number of small villas in eclectic style were built in the early twentieth century, reminiscent of those in the nearby Borgo Trento neighborhood: they are found mainly on Via Coni Zugna, slope Monte Grappa, Via Giovanni Vincenti, Via Giuseppe Sirtori, Via Gazzera, and at the beginning of Via San Leonardo.

These characteristic narrow streets, paved with cobblestones or stones and protected by high walls, allowed troops to reach the various hill forts from the city safely and quickly.

To the east, the Santo Stefano district is enclosed by the San Pietro hill, the eastern continuation of the ridge that runs from Mount Arzan and divides at the Sommavalle fountain to the bend in the Adige River.

The ruins of the castle that still subsisted to the north of the building were integrated into the new complex and were reused as a fortified enclosure: a large portion of what remains of the Visconti fortress can be seen on Via Castel San Pietro in the section leading to the forecourt in front of the barracks.

[47] The apex of the hill, which corresponds to the square of Castel San Pietro, can be reached via two stairways that start at its foot, the first at the height of Ponte Pietra and the second in Botte alley (from which the theater is also accessed), or by the panoramic funicular built in 1941 and restored in 2017.

From the district of San Giovanni in Valle climbs toward the Don Calabria Institute the Scala Santa, a cobblestone-paved staircase with the Stations of the Cross inserted on either side.

The park climbs the hill on several terraces planted with box, cypress and citrus trees, and embellished with labyrinths, fountains, mythological statues, stairways and artificial grottoes.

[54] A little to the south of the garden, the hill is crossed by a tunnel opened just below the San Zeno in Monte washer in the 1960s: it connects Via Nazario Sauro, in Veronetta, with Via Alessandro Volta in Borgo Venezia.

The toponym of the staircase hands down the original name of the residential complex, baptized Quartiere XVI Ottobre to commemorate the date of Verona's unification to the Kingdom of Italy in 1866.

The city wall, closed by the Santa Toscana washer which now houses a public park, descends rapidly down the last hillsides to connect with Porta Vescovo and continue into the plain.

To the northeast of Mount Castiglione, the residential neighborhood of Biondella has developed since the early twentieth century, now integrated into the larger context of Borgo Venezia.

Given the scenic beauty, the proximity to the city, and the historical stratifications left behind by thousands of years of human settlement, the Torricelle hills are a destination for hikers.