The court

San Bernardino Court stands on the border between the municipal districts of Trevenzuolo, Vigasio and Isola della Scala, at the heart of the PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) area of “Nano Vialone Veronese” rice. It is thought that its present-day name derives from the foundation in 1474 of an oratory dedicated to this Sienese saint, in recollection of his coming to preach in Verona province. 

The Court was converted into a farm by the Da Frumento family of Verona, towards the end of the XV century. 

In 1573, the Court was purchased by Francesco de Raimundis, member of a rich family of nobles engaged in the spice trade in Verona, who later changed their surname to Giona.

The Giona family kept the San Bernardino estate until the Napoleonic age, extending its borders to Trevenzuolo and Isola della Scala. This same family was also responsible for implementing the farming activity, starting from the 1600s.

The Giona family carried out some important measures to facilitate an excellent irrigation of the entire estate, by channelling water from the nearby sources of Povegliano through a special waterway known as the Giona ditch, which made it possible to start growing rice.

In 1813, the property was transferred to the Calabi brothers, who kept it until 1830 when it was bought by the Barons Treves de Bonfili of Venice.

Today, the Berlingieri family, descendants of the Treves, runs San Bernardino as a modern farm, backed up by four centuries of history and tradition with its subterranean water channels, which run on layers of clay and emerge in the rice field to make San Bernardino Rice germinate and grow.