Steeped in history - Winter tourists, what should you do? Listen to the voice of history recounting Lake Garda through monuments, books, relics, paintings and finds from all ages? This voice brings up to the surface after thousands of years, spotlighting them, past episodes that have become a shared asset to be passed down through the generations with care and respect. When material culture becomes a collective memory, that is when references to local identity gain importance, to the advantage of both residents and visitors. Since memory tends to be unreliable and vague, why not retrace the stages of history in which the lake garda is steeped?
We suggest here a few traditional celebrations, with parades, exhibitions and displays in costume. You can visit museums and ancient buildings, explore the paths and routes of memory, stay in historic buildings converted into fine hotels. But do take note of nottobemissed events when summer returns.
Peschiera del Garda. The village in the Scaliger age already presented itself unmistakably as a fortified military citadel. This is the vision of the 35 metres tower on the Rocca that inspired Dante in his famous lines from the Inferno (XX 7078):"Peschiera, fortress fair and strong / sits to confront the Brescians and Bergamasques...". The Venetians militarized it with bastions and ramparts; the Austrians erected forts and barracks there in the midnineteen hundreds. Well worth visiting are the museum in Palazzina Storica, which was inaugurated in 1923 in the presence of King Victor Emmanuel III, and is dedicated to the Great War, and two military constructions, now converted into centres of culture and tourism - the Porta Verona Artillery Barracks and Fort Ardietti.
Custoza Oliosi Valeggio sul Mincio. 24th June 1866 is the day on which the battle of Custoza took place, during the third War of Independence. The Ossuary is a white obelisk erected in 1879 to hold the remains of the 4654 soldiers who died in the two battles of the Risorgimento, in 1848 and 1866. In the course of the battle was the famous episode of Oliosi, a village near Castelnuovo del Garda. Before surrendering, a group of Italian officers cut the standard of the 44th Regiment up into strips, which they held for safekeeping until they returned to their homeland. The authorities and residents of Custoza celebrate this event (the mausoleum offers a fine view of the Appennines) on the 24th June each year; and Oliosi holds a threeday festival featuring a history exhibition set up in the primary school.
The Mincio valley lies to the west. The road from Custoza winds its way alongside the river and through the Morainic hills, to the town of Valeggio sul Mincio. Salionze stages a barbarianmedieval festival in summer time to celebrate the meeting between Attila and Pope Leo the Great. On the extraordinary 14th century Visconti bridge dominating Borghetto, instead of the original pilgrims, traders and soldiers, on the 3rd Tuesday of June each year 4,500 people sit down to an immense banquet late in the evening. And the mortar fire has been replaced by the blazing of stoves set up to cook tons of tortellini and the bangs of fireworks set off from the Scaliger castle.
San Martino Solferino. Further to the west rises the 74 metres monumental tower completed in 1893 in San Martino and dedicated to Victor Emmanuel, the first king of Italy. The nearby museum contains photos, clothing and relics from the two armies, alongside Italian flasks and the Austrian drum. Proceeding on between row upon row of Tocai, Trebbiano, Lugana, Pinot Bianco and Merlot vines fl anking the Brescian Wine Road, you arrive at Madonna della Scoperta, a famous sanctuary and the site of a clash during the Battle of San Martino, on another fateful 24th June, but in the year 1859. This ancient complex lies a few kilometres from Solferino and has a history museum dedicated to the Austrian, French and Italian armies, united in the motto "To us the memory, to you immortality" in French. In Piazza Castello stands the Gonzaga Tower, dedicated to the restored friendship between Italy, France and Austria, to which the church of San Luigi Gonzaga bears witness. The headquarters of the Red Cross and the inscription "inter arma caritas" are a reminder that the horrors of the battle generated the compassion of Swissborn Henry Dumant. The international Red Cross museum is in Castiglione delle Stiviere.
On a hill in a leafy park stands the Spia d'Italia, which contains relics from the terrible battle, softened by the gently rolling hills and perspective illusions: the Brescian and Veronese sides of the lake, viewed from the tower, cross at San Vigilio, and even Mount Baldo and the steep cliffs on the Brescian shore appear to overlap.
North Garda Trentino. This area is emblematic of the First World War. Mt. Brione, between Torbole Nago and Riva del Garda, has no less that four Austrian forts on its slopes. The Ponale is a steep road leading from Riva del Garda up to Ledro valley, and phenomenal defensive systems built by the Italians and the Austrians can be seen along the way. The extraordinary Tagliata del Ponale is an AustroHungarian fort built entirely in the rock. Mt. Tombio, which dominates the village of Campi, has the remains of a fort that was a most incredible war machines. Numerous films have been made of these very interesting places, and the wartime routes and trenches have become "Paths of Peace". Bezzecca has a series of trenches as well as a Garibaldi museum, and holds a festival dedicated to this historic figure. Following the paths from Val di Ledro to Riva del Garda cut into the rocky cliffs is a thrilling experience.
Salò Gardone Gargnano. These places have close associations with D'Annunzio and the Republic of Salò. The Vittoriale degli Italiani, the symbol of refined Gardone Riviera, contains wartime and patriotic relics throughout D'Annunzio's house and park, such as the Puglia, a ship wedged in the rock, and the legendary aircraft in which he flew over Vienna in 1918. In Salò, the lovely Hotel Laurin, formerly Villa Simonini, once housed the Foreign Ministry. Its magnificent staircase featured frequently in short films made by Istituto Luce. Villa Alba in Gardone Riviera was the centre for military broadcasts, and much more, It was even a spa centre that used mud delivered daily from Abano. The famous Villa Paradiso beautyfarm in Fasano acted as the German officers' quarters. The neoGothic tower of San Marco, where D'Annunzio moored his boats, was the trysting place of Mussolini and Claretta Petacci, while the panoramic Hotel Villa Fiordaliso was where she stayed. Her bedchamber has been left untouched - and there's a yearlong waiting list to reserve it. Top of the list in terms of remembrance is Villa Feltrinelli in Gargnano, the Mussolini family's residence from 10th October 1943 to 17th April 1945. It is now a luxury hotel with Russian owners.(Cfr.Mussolini ultimo atto.I luoghi della Repubblica di Salò, by Roberto Chiarini, published by the Salò Town Council, 2004).
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