There is in Torri del Benaco a castle bearing witness to Garda civilisations of the past. Castles, strongholds, churches and forts are ever-present landmarks around Lake Garda, all buildings which, due to their imposing nature and location, have become the emblems of the local communities. Of the Scaliger Castle in Torri del Benaco, or at least what is left of the ancient construction on the eastern shore of Lake Garda, clinging to solid spurs of rock and built to defend the little harbour and once-fortified town, there remain just three towers and the perimeter walls linking them: one is made of stone and was built by the Romans right by the water, the other two were built by Antonio della Scala are and stand slightly inland.
It was in fact the last member of the Della Scala family who had the castle erected in 1383, partly on an ancient fortification dating back to the late Middle Ages. The castle probably formed part of a series of defences that are thought to have existed from the 10th century, Torri being considered the controlling centre of Lake Garda. Torri's fortified harbour, exactly half-way between Malcesine and Lazise, was too important to be ignored.
The fortifi cations, however, lost their strategic function with the invention of gunpowder, when at the end of the war between the Visconti family of Milan and the Da Carrara family of Padua to determine the right of succession, the entire Veronese side of Lake Garda came under the control of the Republic of Venice in 1405. At this time the ten towns on the eastern side of the lake - Malcesine, Brenzone, Pai, Torri, Albisano, Garda, Costermano, Bardolino, Cisano and Lazise - formed a federation called "Gardesana dell'Acqua" to share the taxes levied by the Republic of Venice, adopt common rules for local affairs and repress the lake's flourishing contraband of grain, and the cause of frequent famine among the local communities. The 19-member Council usually met in Torri, where the federation was based. At other times it met in San Vigilio, or Brenzone, and frequently in Malcesine where the captain of the lake resided in Palazzo Gardesana, which was built in the latter half of the 15th century, next to the little harbour, remodelled in the 18th century and raised in the nineteen thirties.
The development of tourism, launched after the second world war, has earned Torri del Benaco renown as one of the most exclusive resorts on the lake garda. Numerous famous personalities have stayed there, including André Gide, Stephen Spender, Sir Lawrence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, Maria Callas, Jacques Piccare, and King Juan Carlos of Spain. Albisano, the hamlet furthest up the hillside, was the favourite of Gabriele d'Annunzio, who often took his friends there during their frequent horse rides.
Pai, the oldest town, nestles at the foot of Mt. Baldo, but part of the population moved down to the coast in recent times, giving rise to "lower" Pai. When the castle lost its role as a military fort, it passed into private hands and was bought in the nineteen seventies by the town council, which had it restructured. The intention was to use the buildings as a museum and to create a walkway along the walls to attract visitors to this complex of towers, walls and lemon groves, and create a park in the open area next to it. Now that the walkways and towers are open to the public, at a height of fourteen metres they provide magnificent views of the mountains, the lake and the old town centre.
The Barchessa building and the old guard-house have been renovated to create a museum displaying typical aspects of upper lake Garda culture, from fishing to olive farming, with a vast section dedicated to the rock engravings discovered in 1964. There are ten or so different sections. One is dedicated to the work of the caulkers. Another contains olive-growing equipment and a reconstructed olive press with the original stone parts dating back to Roman times. There is a room devoted to fishing and a greenhouse used to grow citrus fruits dating back to 1760. The museum accurately documents the history and activity of the Old Fishermen's Corporation of Torri and Garda, founded in 1452 and still in operation. A model of the town shows how it looked in the early 20th century. Lastly comes a section displaying old maps and copies that document the interesting phenomenon of rock engravings around Lake Garda, of which Torri boasts many, some dating back to pre-historic times.
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