The Lake Garda Riviera historical timeline

Origins

The lake was Roman territory, with villas and olive cultivation along the shores, and it takes its modern name from the town of Garda -- from a Germanic word for a watch-post, describing the fortified rock above it.

Turning points

In the fourteenth century the Scaligeri of Verona built the castle chain that still defines the shore -- Malcesine, Torri del Benaco, Lazise -- to control a lake that was a trade route and a frontier at once.

Influential people

In 1439, at war with Milan and unable to reach the lake by water, Venice hauled a fleet overland: galleys and smaller boats dragged from the Adige over the mountains to Torbole using oxen and windlasses. The galeas per montes is one of the strangest logistical feats of the Italian Renaissance, and it worked.

Cultural evolution

Under Venice until 1797 and then Austria, the southern lake became a fortress zone: Peschiera was one of the four corners of the Austrian Quadrilatero, the defensive square that held northern Italy through the wars of independence.

Present-day significance

Peschiera's fortifications were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2017 as part of the Venetian Works of Defence. Mass lake tourism arrived from the 1960s, and now dominates the shore's economy.