Nogarole Vicentino
Nogarole Vicentino is a small hillside municipality in the province of Vicenza, sitting at around 562 metres above sea level, betw...
Updated 12 July 2026
The story
The story of Nogarole Vicentino
A municipality suspended between hill and valley
Nogarole Vicentino sits in a transitional position between the Vicenza plain and the first pre-Alpine heights of the Chiampo valley, in a largely hilly territory that reaches up toward the foothills of the Piccole Dolomiti. The main settlement lies at around 562 metres, around the parish church, while the municipal territory also includes small scattered hamlets, such as Alvese, typical of these hillside municipalities where the population has always been spread across several nuclei rather than concentrated in a single centre. It is a landscape of woods, terraces and small-scale cultivation, closer in spirit to the municipalities of the foothill belt than to the city of Vicenza, even though it lies only a short distance away.
The name and the legend of the castle
The name Nogarole is said to derive from the walnut tree, cultivated since antiquity for its fruit and timber: from the Latin 'nux' it is thought to have become the dialectal 'nogara'. Local tradition also tells of an ancient castle said to have stood on the summit of the nearby Monte Castellano, linked in legend to a noble founder of the Nogarola family, but no historical document has so far confirmed the existence of this fortification. It is a good example of how, in many small municipalities of the Vicenza area, popular memory and documented history do not always coincide: Nogarole Vicentino should therefore be told honestly, distinguishing legend from established fact.
The Church of Saints Simon and Jude
The religious and social heart of the village is the church dedicated to Saints Simon and Jude, around which the medieval settlement developed before being rebuilt between the 17th and 18th centuries in the form visible today. It is the building of greatest historical and architectural importance in the municipality, a point of reference for the local community rather than a destination for guided tours. Around the church stand the small civic centre and the village's main services, in a layout typical of the smaller hillside villages of the Vicenza area, where public life long remained concentrated in a single nucleus.
A farming economy of hardship and continuity
For centuries agriculture was the only real source of wealth in Nogarole Vicentino, and local production barely met the needs of the population: in years of poor harvest, prices would rise quickly, putting local families under strain. This subsistence-economy condition, common to many small hillside municipalities of the Vicenza area before the industrialisation of the later 20th century, has left a mark still visible in today's agrarian landscape, made up of small plots, rows of trees and family-scale cultivation rather than large farming enterprises. Today the municipality remains largely residential and agricultural, without a genuinely structured tourism economy.
Amid the Piccole Dolomiti of Vicenza
Nogarole Vicentino falls within the reference area of the Piccole Dolomiti tourist district, the network of small Vicenza municipalities at the foot of the mountains of the same name, which jointly promotes hospitality and rural tourism. It is not a holiday resort in the proper sense, but its position makes it a useful waypoint for those exploring the area on foot or by car, among the villages of the Chiampo valley and the mountains that mark the border with the Verona and Trentino areas. It is above all a landscape to cross unhurried, taking in the quiet of its hamlets and the view over the surrounding hills.
Experiences not to miss
- Visit the Church of Saints Simon and Jude, the historic heart of the village
- Walk among scattered hamlets such as Alvese, set in the hillside landscape
- Climb toward Monte Castellano, between the legend of a lost castle and fine views
- Explore on foot or by bike the nearby villages of the Chiampo valley and the Piccole Dolomiti of Vicenza
To see
What to see in Nogarole Vicentino
Routes · Trovido Route
