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Bolca is a village in the
Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...
, on the southern margin of the Italian
Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
. It is a ''
frazione A ''frazione'' (plural: ) is a type of subdivision of a '' comune'' (municipality) in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidate terri ...
'' of the ''
comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...
'' of
Vestenanova Vestenanova is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Verona in the Italian region Veneto, located about west of Venice and about northeast of Verona. Vestenanova borders the following municipalities: Altissimo, Badia Calavena, Chiam ...
, in the
province of Verona The Province of Verona ( it, Provincia di Verona) is a province in the Veneto administrative region of Italy. On its northwestern border, Lake GardaItaly's largestis divided between Verona and the provinces of Brescia ( Lombardy region) and Tren ...
. The area is famous for the marine fossils from the
lagerstätte A Lagerstätte (, from '' Lager'' 'storage, lair' '' Stätte'' 'place'; plural ''Lagerstätten'') is a sedimentary deposit that exhibits extraordinary fossils with exceptional preservation—sometimes including preserved soft tissues. These f ...
of ''
Monte Bolca Monte Bolca is a lagerstätte near Verona, Italy that 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. Geology Monte Bolca was uplifted from the ...
''. 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 The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', ...
.


Geography

Bolca lies in the Lessini Alps. Monte Bolca was originally at the bottom of the
Tethys Ocean The Tethys Ocean ( el, Τηθύς ''Tēthús''), also called the Tethys Sea or the Neo-Tethys, was a prehistoric ocean that covered most of the Earth during much of the Mesozoic Era and early Cenozoic Era, located between the ancient continents ...
before being uplifted from the ocean floor during the formation of the
Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
. This happened in two stages, one 24 million years ago and one between 30 and 50 million years ago.


History

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 III da Romano Ezzelino III da Romano (25 April 1194, Tombolo7 October 1259) was an Italian feudal lord, a member of the Ezzelino family, in the March of Treviso (in modern Veneto). He was a close ally of the emperor Frederick II ( r. 1220–1250), and ruled ...
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 da Romano's successor, from Ludovico count of San Bonifacio during the 1269-70 war between the
Guelphs and Ghibellines The Guelphs and Ghibellines (, , ; it, guelfi e ghibellini ) were factions supporting the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, respectively, in the Italian city-states of Central Italy and Northern Italy. During the 12th and 13th centuries, r ...
. From then on the village was part of Verona, but gained its independence in 1326 by edict of
Cangrande I della Scala Cangrande (christened Can Francesco) della Scala (9 March 1291 – 22 July 1329) was an Italian nobleman, belonging to the della Scala family which ruled Verona from 1308 until 1387. Now perhaps best known as the leading patron of the poet Dante ...
. In 1387 the area passed to the
Duchy of Milan The Duchy of Milan ( it, Ducato di Milano; lmo, Ducaa de Milan) was a state in northern Italy, created in 1395 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, then the lord of Milan, and a member of the important Visconti family, which had been ruling the city sin ...
; 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 The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central- Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...
, 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 The Province of Vicenza ( it, Provincia di Vicenza) is a province in the Veneto region in northern Italy. Its capital city is Vicenza. The province has an area of 2,722.53 km², and a total population of 865,082 (as of 2017). There a ...
. The fossils at Monte Bolca have been known since at least the 16th century, and were studied intensively in the 19th century once it was definitively proven that fossils were the remnants of dead animals.


Fossils

Strictly speaking, the Monte Bolca site is one specific spot near the village of Bolca in Italy, known as the ''Pesciara'' ("The Fishbowl") due to its many extraordinarily well preserved Eocene fish fossils. However, there are several other related outcroppings in the general vicinity that also carry fossils, such as Monte Postale and Monte Vegroni. The term Monte Bolca is used interchangeably to refer to the original site, or to all the sites collectively. The entire formation consists of of
lithographic limestone Lithographic limestone is hard limestone that is sufficiently fine-grained, homogeneous and defect free to be used for lithography. Geologists use the term "lithographic texture" to refer to a grain size under 1/250 mm. The term "sublit ...
, all of which contain fossils, but interspersed in which are the lagerstätte layers that contain the highly preserved specimens. Within these layers, the fish and other specimens are so highly preserved that their organs are often completely preserved in fossil form, and even the skin color can sometimes be determined. The normal rearrangement of the specimens caused by mud-dwelling organisms in the layer before it turned to stone has been avoided—it is assumed that the mud in question was low in oxygen, preventing both decay and the action of scavengers. Fossils from Monte Bolca are commonly available for sale by commercial
fossil dealers The fossil trade is the purchase and sale of fossils. This is many times done illegally with stolen fossils, and many important scientific specimens are lost each year. The trade is lucrative, and many celebrities collect fossils. The fossil tr ...
, and due to their popularity and preservation regularly sell for several hundred euros. Fossil species include the moonfish '' Mene rhombea'' and '' Mene oblonga'', the batfish ''Eoplatax papilio'', the spadefish '' Exellia velifer'', the "angelfish" carangid, '' Ceratoichthys'', a
crocodile Crocodiles (family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to include all extant me ...
, ''Crocodilus vicetinus'', and a snake, ''Archaeophis bolcaensis''.


Economy

The area is dependent on tourism and agriculture; the famous wine regions of Valpolicella and Soave lie just to the south. In the village there is a museum with three rooms of fossils from the area.


See also

* Fossil site of
Monte Bolca Monte Bolca is a lagerstätte near Verona, Italy that 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. Geology Monte Bolca was uplifted from the ...


Notes and references


External links


www.bolca.it
- Site of the Pro Loco of Bolca
www.fossilis.fr
- Les fossiles de Bolca - Fossils of Bolca - I fossili di Bolca {{authority control Frazioni of the Province of Verona Paleontological sites of Europe Eocene