Point of interest

Garda is a picturesque fishing village, where narrow streets and alleyways retain the charm of old times. A walk not to be missed is the one that crosses Corso Vittorio Emanuele, Via Spagna, Via dei Sottoportici and Piazzetta della Libertà, among the stones and old buildings rich in history. We start at “Palazzo Fregoso”, with its majestic gate portal, the façade decorated with a mullioned window on the first floor and other motifs of clear Venetian influence. It preserves traces of the former home of Cesare Fregoso, a courageous captain of the Venetian Republic. Then continue along Corso Vittorio Emanuele, where, after the Porta dell’Orologio (the Clock Gate), you arrive at “Palazzo Carlotti”, a large building built in the 16th century by the Carlotti family, the noblemen from Verona who held feudal rights over much of the Garda area.

The building is a continuation of the eastern perimeter of the old town walls and is dominated by the fortified tower that rises above the eastern gate, the only remnant of the old fortification walls. The palace extends towards the lake following, on the inside, what is now Via Manzoni, while on the other side, it has a beautiful entrance preceded by a wide staircase. The palace was once connected to the Losa, another building facing the lake, consisting of a portico dock and, on the first floor, a slender loggia-belvedere. In the second half of the eighteenth century, the palace passed to the Pompei family and then to several other families, most recently the Pincini, who left it to the Municipality in 1999 at the death of the last heir. Completely renovated between 2005 and 2006, it currently hosts numerous exhibitions and cultural events. Noteworthy is the ‘Palazzo dei Capitani’ and all the adjacent buildings on what is now Piazza Catullo. The Gothic-Venetian architecture of this palace, built probably in two stages between the 14th and 15th centuries, clearly shows the imprint of Venetian domination. Tradition has it that the captain of the lake, a magistrate representing the Venetian authority on Lake Garda, used to live here.