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 Introduzione
The name “Desenzano del Garda” derives from “Decentianum” which was the term used to describe the farm, country estate and country residence of the wealthy Roman Decentius. The city is a popular holiday destination in Southern Europe. It attracts a myriad of tourists from around the immediate area due to its beautiful view of the Alps on the northern shore of Lake Garda, its three large beaches (Desanzanino Beach, Spiagga D'oro Beach, and Porto Rivoltella Beach) and its 27 major hotels. At the heart of the city is a series of interconnected piazze that house numerous open-air cafes, various shops, “gelaterie” (ice-cream parlors) and several bars.
Come Si Arriva By Plane
Verona Airport “Valerio Catullo” (VRN) offers connections with major Italian and important European cities. Brescia also has a small airport with low-cost flights to London's Stansted and Rome's Ciampino airports. At 60 km from Desenzano del Garda you will find Milan Orio al Serio (BGY) international airport. It is Italy's first low-cost airport with many flights for Italian and European destinations.
Another option would be to access the two airports in Milan and continue by train to Desenzano del Garda: Malpensa (MXP) is the main airport and also has intercontinental flights, while the Linate (LIN) airport serves domestic flights and some European links.
By Train
The train station is on the southwestern outskirts of the city which connects the city to the European railway system. Desenzano is between Milan and Venice. At the station take the train and get off in Desenzano del Garda. There is one over night train from Paris to Milan and up to 2 trains per hour from Milan to Desenzano.
By Car
Desenzano is between Milan and Venice, highway A4 MILANO-VENEZIA. Exit the highway A4 in Desenzano del Garda and turn Left. At the round about follow the indication “Desenzano Centro” or LAGO. Go straight until the end of the road (You'll see the Lake in front of you) and then turn left.
By Bus
Buses are available from the airport to Desenzano.
By Ferry
The city has one main port near the Piazza XXV Aprile which operates several ferries around the lake.
History and Culture
Archaeological discoveries dated back to the Bronze Age (2000-1800 BC) indicate the presence of human settlements that characterize the so called “Polada culture” in Lake Garda's morainal amphitheatre.
Between the first and the second century AD the lake shores were chosen as the country seat of many well-to-do Romans, as evidenced by the villa discovered in Desenzano in 1921 exactly on the Via Emilia, the ancient road which joined Brescia to Verona.
During the Longobard period Desenzano was part of a district which covered the southern shores of the lake and the Mantuan countryside. The Pieve was one of the first Christian churches in the area. At first it was under the authority of Verona, then, in 1192, it passed within the civil jurisdiction of Brescia, and finally it became a feudal possession of the Confalonieri family in 1220.
Around 1170 Niceta spread the Cathar heresy in the surroundings: Sirmione and Desenzano, where the heresy had also a Cathar theologian and bishop, became centers of worship till the intervention of the Inquisition in 1276. In the quarrel between Gulfs and Ghibellines the latter found shelter in Desenzano Castle but in the end they were overpowered.
With the Restoration the Austrians controlled the Kingdom of Lombardy and Venetia and Desenzano was raised to a first class town; the Austrian Emperor Francis I visited it both in 1816 and 1821.
In 1859 Napoleon III and Victor Emmanuel II fought against the Austro-Hungarian forces at San Martino and Solferino. The tragic event turned Desenzano into a huge hospital.
Both in the First and in the Second World War, Desenzano suffered heavy air raids, which destroyed, in the latter one, the railway viaduct built in 1852.
Chiese e Musei
This houses a number of important paintings including a work by Giandomenico Tiepolo.
Museo Civico Archeologico (Rambotti archaeological museum)
The museum is dedicated to Giovanni Rambotti, the scholar who discovered the prehistoric settlement of the “Polada culture” (2000 BC). From the finds, you can assume that the first human settlements of this region date back to an epoch between the Mesolithic Age (8000 BC) and the Bronze Age (2000 BC).
Historical buildings and monuments
It was built on the foundation of quadrangular Roman castrum sometime during the 10th century to reduce the plunder and devastation caused by a new race of barbarians: the Hungarians. It is situated on the hill that dominates the harbor and a large part of the surrounding area. The inside of building was made up of a proper small village with its roads, the square, the tower and the church dedicated to S. Ambrogio. What remains of the original defensive structure is only the rampart and a building used as military barracks constructed in 1883.
Torre di San Martino (The Tower of St. Martin)
The Tower is more than 65 meters high, was raised in 1893 and commemorates the battle of June 24th 1859, when the French and the Piedmontese armies faced the Austro-Hungarian forces for fifteen hours.
Villa Romana
Its ruins - dating back to different periods between the end of the Republican Age (I century BC) and the end of the Imperial Age (V century AD) - extend for about a hectare and represent the most important example in Northern Italy of a large, late-Roman Villa. It is doubtless an elaborate, east-facing building of large extent, whose residential parts alternate with rustic structures. The large villa overlooked the lake and the lake must have been the decisive element in the layout of the various rooms. The main paths of the villa were oriented orthogonally to the coast.
Piazza Malvezzi
Here everything harks back to the Venetian rule. Here the most important corn market in Lombardy took place, at first each Monday and then each Tuesday under the strictest control of the Venetian authority.
The Statue of St. Angela Merici
On the 20th May 1797, the local Jacobins pulled down the statue of S. Angela Merici, which had been raised in the middle of the main square since 1782, and carried it to the local parish. In place of the statue they put the “Tree of Liberty”, symbol of the French Revolution, i.e. a pole painted in the French national colors and topped by a Phrygian cap.
However the statue was put exactly where it was before three years later, when the Austrians re-conquered all the territory which had been part of Veneto, taking advantage of Napoleon's absence during the Egyptian campaign.
Places of Interests
Notable is the Tenno Lake (6 km northward), the Ledro Lake (5 km westwards) with its paleoethnographic museum and the Varone falls (3 km northwards) of great geological interest.
The Port
Today it is called Porto Vecchio (old harbor). It was built at the end of the 15th century using huge rocks and stones as filling material. It was re-done and enlarged by the Doge Andrea Gritti at the beginning of the 16th century.
The Red Cross Museum
The only one in the world and situated just a few kilometers from Desenzano in the town of Castiglione delle Stiviere.
Eventi
Market day is on Tuesday. A good day to absorb the atmosphere of the lively, small-town Italian market.
Utili
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Reiseführer zu Desenzano del Garda
Single room - Von 50€
Twin room - Von 85€
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JUNIOR SUITE - Von 200€
Double room - Von 135€
Single room - Von 50€