Bolca

Bolca is a village in the Veneto, on the southern margin of the Italian Alps. It is a frazione of the comune of Vestenanova, in the province of Verona. The area is famous for the marine fossils from the lagerstätte of Monte Bolca. It was one of the first fossil sites with high quality preservation known to Europeans, and is still an important source of fossils from the Eocene.

Bolca lies in the Lessini Alps. Monte Bolca was originally at the bottom of the Tethys Ocean before being uplifted from the ocean floor during the formation of the Alps. This happened in two stages, one 24 million years ago and one between 30 and 50 million years ago.

The area was settled in prehistoric times, there are remains of a hill fort on Monte Purga dating from around 1000 BC. The Romans were active in the area, and by 1000AD the village had come under the control of a convent of the Augustinian Eremitani. In the thirteenth century the fortunes of the Vestenanova area were closely tied to the Ghibelline Ezzelino da Romano family, the Lords of Verona, whose estates were razed in 1260. The Mezzagonella's castle of "Bubulka cum Vulpiana" was seized by Mastino I della Scala, Ezzelino III da Romano's successor, from Ludovico count of San Bonifacio during the 1269-70 war between the Guelphs and Ghibellines. From then on the village was part of Verona, but gained its independence in 1326 by edict of Cangrande I della Scala. In 1387 the area passed to the Duchy of Milan; under Gian Maria Visconti it fell to Venetian rule from 1410 until the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797. After the defeat of Napoleon, the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia became part of the Austrian Empire, during which time Francis I of Austria spent three days in Bolca. In 1821 Bolca was split from Volpiano, the former being joined to Vestenanova, whilst Volpiano became a frazione of Crespadoro, a town now in the province of Vicenza.

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