Comune: Peschiera del Garda

The museum is situated in the Radetzky Hall (former Powder Laboratory) of the Porta Verona Artillery Barracks. Inside you can discover the nautical instruments used for navigation on Lake Garda, period photos, materials and fishing tools. The boats include a typical anguillara from the end of the 19th century, a torbetta, a tool for keeping fish alive, and a pusher for duck hunting. The credit for this exhibition goes to the Association “Amici del Gondolin”.

The museum is among the attractions in the ‘museum audio guides’ in four languages that can be rented at the ‘Tourism Peschiera Infopoint’, which will make the visit easy and exciting.

The large arsenal built between 1854 and 1857 by Radetzky was opened to the public after a meticulous restoration. Part of the fortress of Peschiera, it is known as the ‘Caserma d’Artiglieria di Porta Verona’ (Artillery Barracks of Porta Verona). The striking yellow and red colours are the symbols of the Italian and Austrian artillery.
Theatre and music performances take place in the inner courtyard. In the attic and on the first floor there are exhibitions, lectures and conferences. It is also possible to visit the historical archive and the public library with spaces for consultations and reading.

As you enter the monumental hall of Porta Verona, you can see the Lion Marciano Veneto. This image, a symbol of the Most Serene Republic of Venice, was destroyed by Napoleon after the Treaty of Campoformio in 1797 and restored in 2019, thanks to the meticulous reconstruction work carried out by the Academy of Fine Arts of Verona.

Visiting the “Palazzina del Comando di Piazza Forte”, commonly called the “Palazzina Storica”, it seems as if time has stood still. It is a two-storey building that on the ground floor contained two officers’ lodgings, the chancellery and the military cashier’s office, and at the back there were the coach houses, the stables, the hay store, the saddlery and the woodshed. The upper floor was entirely reserved for the commander, usually in the rank of field marshal, and contained the living quarters and reception rooms. The room where Victor Emmanuel III and the Allies met for the historic “Peschiera Conference” on 8 November 1917 has remained intact ever since. The original painting commemorating that day, depicting the participants still stands on the king’s desk. The centuries-old park surrounds the beautiful neoclassical building “in the military quarter of the city” on the left bank of the Canale di Mezzo. Every year the ceremony takes place here commemorating the historic meeting that led to the resistance on the Piave River. The Historical Hall has been a national monument since 1937. The building is located in the so-called ‘military quarter’ of Peschiera, an area that extends between the Canale di Mezzo and Porta Verona, within which they are contained. In addition to the Palazzina, there are the Padiglione degli Ufficiali (former Infantry Barracks) and the Caserma di Artiglieria (Artillery Barracks) commissioned by Radetzky.