Tuscany
4 wine routes
All 4 Tuscany drives
Veneto · Wine route · Half day
Valpolicella Classico Loop A half-day loop through the five Classico comuni: Sant'Ambrogio, San Pietro in Cariano, Fumane, Marano and Negrar. Amarone country in 23 km, with Masi, Allegrini and Quintarelli beside the road.
23
km end to end
1
Half day
5
stops, Sant'Ambrogio di Valpolicella to Negrar di Valpolicella
€15
tastings from
Why this drive: Amarone is made in these five comuni, and this loop puts you at the doors that make it. Allegrini and Masi stand within half a kilometre of the road, and Quintarelli watches from the Negrar hill. Between tastings the reward is stone. San Giorgio's 8th century pieve looks over Sant'Ambrogio, Villa Della Torre at Fumane keeps its fireplaces carved as monsters, and dovecote towers rise over the Negrar courtyards. Twenty-three km covers it all: a half day that drinks like a full one.
The route, drawn
See the whole road, then drive it stop by stop
The map stays with you as you read: scroll the stops and it follows, or press a marker to jump. Leg times are door to door, before the views slow you down.
Layers
The drive
Numbered stops
Estates near the route
Stop 1 of 5 · Sant'Ambrogio di Valpolicella
1
Stop 1 · Marble town, stone pieve
Sant'Ambrogio di Valpolicella
Stone-working town at the western gate of the Classico zone, 18 km from Verona and from Lake Garda.
What to taste here
- ValpolicellaDOC Classico on a label means these five comuni, the original zone before it grew
- Amarone della ValpolicellaDOCG Gargagnago's estates on the lower slope hold some of Amarone's oldest names
Climb to San Giorgio di Valpolicella, called Ingannapoltron, for the 8th century pieve, its cloister and the Roman-era finds in the Antiquarium. A footpath from Gargagnago does it in 45 minutes.
Where to eat
Homemade tagliatelle
Trattoria Dalla Rosa Alda. Strada Garibaldi 4 in San Giorgio di Valpolicella, the hilltop village above; the Dalla Rosa family has cooked and poured here since 1853, closed Monday and Tuesday
2
Stop 2 · The flatland hub
San Pietro in Cariano
The Classico plain's hub comune, ringed by famous cellar doors at Pedemonte.
What to taste here
- Valpolicella RipassoDOC The middle rung between Valpolicella and Amarone, poured everywhere on this plain
- Amarone della ValpolicellaDOCG Pedemonte's cellars pour it at the source; Tedeschi alone lists five visit formats
The Strada del Vino Valpolicella keeps its office here on Via Ingelheim. Tedeschi and the Pedemonte cellars sit minutes apart on the flat.
Where to taste
Azienda Agricola Masi
Tastings from €15 · 1 hour
Booking required
Tedeschi
1 hour
Booking required
Wines to Try
A few wines from the estates above.
Where to eat
Homemade pasta and meat off the grill
QuintoQuarto. Via della Contea 17 at Pedemonte, opened by three young owners, closed Tuesdays
3
Stop 3 · Villas in the Progni valley
Fumane
Valley of waterways and villas in the Progni valley, Allegrini's home ground.
What to taste here
- Amarone della ValpolicellaDOCG Allegrini's home comune, the family cellars a few hundred metres off the loop
- Recioto della ValpolicellaDOCG The sweet original that came before Amarone; ask for it by the glass in the village
Villa Della Torre, finished for Giulio Della Torre after 1560, keeps courtyards, a fishpond and fireplaces carved as monsters. Walk 30 minutes up to the La Salette sanctuary for the valley view; the Grotta di Fumane prehistoric cave lies up the valley near Molina.
Where to taste
Allegrini
Booking required
Wines to Try
A few wines from the estates above.
Where to eat
Dishes built around the wine list
Enoteca della Valpolicella. Via Osan 45; Ada opened it in 1996 and runs it with Elisa, closed Sunday evening and Monday, booking form online
4
Stop 4 · The high valley
Marano di Valpolicella
The highest of the three Classico valley heads, at 350 metres.
What to taste here
- ValpolicellaDOC The highest of the three valley heads at 350 metres, source of the freshest styles
- Corvina The lead grape of every red here; high Marano shows its bright red-cherry side
Vine terraces climb all the way to the ridge. The lane east to Negrar crosses the hill with the best views of the loop.
Where to eat
Veronese cooking, phone-only tables
Antica Trattoria da Bepi. Via Valpolicella 14, sittings 12:30 to 14:30 and 19:30 to 22:30, closed Mondays, reservations by phone only
5
Stop 5 · Amarone's east valley
Negrar di Valpolicella
The easternmost Classic valley, lined with villas and dovecote towers.
What to taste here
- Amarone della ValpolicellaDOCG Quintarelli's hill sits above town: the slowest, most sought-after Amarone of all
- Recioto della ValpolicellaDOCG Negrar's growers keep the sweet tradition alive alongside the dry star
Villa Mosconi Bertani at Arbizzano, a mid-1700s villa in its own vineyard cove, is the valley's front door; it is privately owned, so check opening before you go. Torbe and Prun sit high on the valley's shoulders.
Where to taste
Giuseppe Quintarelli
Booking required
Wines to Try
A few wines from the estates above.
Where to eat
Lasagnette and four generations of ragù
Trattoria Caprini. Via Zanotti 9 at Torbe, in the same family for four generations, closed Wednesday and Thursday
Before you go
The practicalities
Visit prices are set by the winery and availability should be checked before travelling. Bookings open on the estate page or the provider's site.
When to go
Come while the grapes are drying
September and early October are picking time. From late October the drying lofts fill: whole bunches racked up for Amarone and Recioto until they are pressed in winter. That drying season, October to January, is the most Valpolicella time to visit, and estate tours walk you past the racks. Spring puts cherry blossom over the vine rows; fine August weekends bring Lake Garda traffic.
Booking reality
Masi books online from 15 euro
Four estates sit beside this loop in our live data. Masi takes instant online bookings for three visit formats, from 15 euro, and Tedeschi does the same for five. Allegrini lists its visits but confirms by request, and Giuseppe Quintarelli remains the old way: write and wait. All four want a reservation before you arrive.
Driving notes
Three valleys, one afternoon
The loop runs west to east across the mouths of three parallel valleys, so the driving is easy: wide valley roads, short climbs to each village. The one real climb is the lane from Marano over the ridge to Negrar, narrow in places. Verona's northern ring road drops you at San Pietro in Cariano in about ten minutes. Fill up on the valley floor: the hill villages have no fuel stations.
Getting a car
Collect at Verona airport, skip the city
Verona Valerio Catullo airport at Villafranca is the natural pick-up, about half an hour from Sant'Ambrogio, and Verona Porta Nuova station works if you come by train. Do not take the car into Verona's centre, which runs a camera ZTL. The loop itself has no restricted zones and parks easily by each village square.
Leave the driving out
Do this route with a guide
Some booking links earn italianwines.co.uk a commission. This never affects price or what we recommend.
Guided along this route
Someone drives the whole itinerary above
Amarone Wine Tasting Tour from Verona with Private Transportation
Discover the world of Amarone on a relaxing half-day wine experience from Verona to the beautiful hills of Valpolicella. Meet your guide in the historic city center an...
4 hours
From €125
Book via
Viator
Grand tour of Valpolicella : Amarone focus, 2 Wineries and Lunch
Join our wine tour through the famous landscape of Amarone, visiting 2 boutique wineries surrounded by the green hills of the Valpolicella land. A slow, authentic day ...
5 hours
From €208
Book via
Viator
Where to sleep on the route
One estate on this road has rooms, so you can book the cellar and the bed together.
15
Reading the labels you'll pass
The wine country it crosses
Before you ask
Valpolicella Classico Loop, answered
Five comuni: Sant'Ambrogio di Valpolicella, San Pietro in Cariano, Fumane, Marano di Valpolicella and Negrar. They are the original Valpolicella, and when the zone was enlarged the word Classico was kept on labels for wine grown inside them. This loop visits all five.
The driving is 23 km and about 45 minutes. With two cellar visits and lunch it is a comfortable half day. Add Villa Della Torre and the San Giorgio pieve and it fills the whole day.
No. All four estates beside this loop in our live data want a reservation. Masi and Tedeschi take instant online bookings, Masi from 15 euro. Allegrini confirms requests by email, and Giuseppe Quintarelli answers when it answers.
Work up the ladder. Start with plain Valpolicella, fresh and light. Move to Ripasso for more weight. Take Amarone slowly, it usually passes 15 percent alcohol, and finish sweet with Recioto. Most cellar tastings pour them in exactly that order.
Negrar, by the story the valley tells. In the 1930s a barrel of sweet Recioto at the local cooperative cellar fermented all the way dry, and the result was named Amarone, the big bitter one. The style now leads the whole zone.
No. The northern ring road reaches San Pietro in Cariano without touching the centre, and Verona's centre runs a camera ZTL that catches hire cars. Sleep in the valley or on Lake Garda and keep the car out of the city.
Yes. The hilltop village above Sant'Ambrogio, nicknamed Ingannapoltron, holds an 8th century pieve in local stone with a cloister and a small museum of Roman-era finds. A footpath from Gargagnago walks it in about 45 minutes each way.
More drives in Veneto
All Veneto routes1 day
Strada del Prosecco
Italy's first wine road, signposted in 1966, threads the UNESCO hills from Conegliano to Valdobbiadene: eight stops, 43 km of ridge lanes, and the ...
- Conegliano
- San Pietro di Feletto
- Refrontolo
- Solighetto
- Col San Martino
- Santo Stefano
- San Pietro di Barbozza
- Valdobbiadene
Take it with you
Save the 4 estates on this road as a trip
They land in a trip named after the route, in drive order. Reorder them, drop one, add a night, before you book anything.
You'll need to sign in, and we bring you straight back to this route.