Malcesine, Lake Garda (Italy)

In my extensive travels abroad I’ve visited some wonderful places, but I rarely go back. The unknown always beckons onward. One exception to this is Malcesine. It’s a lovely little town on the east bank of Lake Garda (that’s the lake shaped like a witch riding on a pig), and has a gentle, seductive charm all its own. From the lake it’s a beautiful sight, with its picturesque little harbour, to the left of which high up is a mediaeval castle, and ...
...It’s all very compact. You can walk to the castle in a few minutes, and from there to the cable car which takes you to the summit of Baldo. Baldo is the place to go if you like nature. There are some good walks, with places to stop for refreshments, and some rare wild plants found in few other areas of Europe. On a clear day, the views are splendid. The castle doesn’t contain much to look at, but it’s all right to wander round. The poet Goethe was ... more

In my extensive travels abroad I’ve visited some wonderful places, but I rarely go back. The unknown always beckons onward. One exception to this is Malcesine. It’s a lovely little town on the east bank of Lake Garda (that’s the lake shaped like a witch riding on a pig), and has a gentle, seductive charm all its own. From the lake it’s a beautiful sight, with its picturesque little harbour, to the left of which high up is a mediaeval castle, and behind the town the majestic bulk of Monte Baldo. It’s all very compact. You can walk to the castle in a few minutes, and from there to the cable car which takes you to the summit of Baldo. Baldo is the place to go if you like nature. There are some good walks, with places to stop for refreshments, and some rare wild plants found in few other areas of Europe. On a clear day, the views are splendid. The castle doesn’t contain much to look at, but it’s all right to wander round. The poet Goethe was put in a cell in the castle on a charge of spying. He’d been sketching the lake, and you have to wonder if the person who arrested him had it in for the Germans.

In the town itself there’s a fascinating ancient quarter full of little shops and cafes. Prices are reasonable. Behind the harbour, in the town square, is a big supermarket where you can get delicious fresh salads, meats and bread for picnics. There’s a good range of booze, too, and it’s cheap. Just behind this shop is the bus station, and you can explore the whole lake on the very cheap buses. In the season, there’s a disco near the castle, but not much else to do in the evenings, though sitting at the harbour cafes just watching the passers-by is pleasant. There are plenty of restaurants which are good value but not exciting. Two ice-cream shops sell nice ices, but the Italians can do much, much better. The ice-cream is factory produced for the tourists.

Your days in Malcesine will be relaxed, pretty uneventful, but it’s easy enough to get out and about, and find things to do. Here are a few ideas.
1. Go to the harbour and find out about the trips. The boatmen hassle you a bit, but they are honest.
2. Cross the lake to Limone, town of lemon groves, and almost unbelievably pretty with flowers everywhere. Sit and sip a frullato, a delicious, iced, fresh fruit milk shake
3. Take a coach trip. The booking office is in the harbour area. You can go on a vineyard tour, to see lots of pretty minor lakes, to the opera in Verona, other places, at very reasonable prices.
4. And here’s one of the most amazing places in Europe, where few British visitors go. I guarantee you’ll never forget it. This is the story :

Mussolini had an aristocratic literary friend, Gabriele d’Annunzio. Gabriele was a screaming eccentric, and Musso soon found him a great embarrassment. If he embarrassed Il Duce, what must he have been like ? Ostensibly as a reward, but in fact to get rid of him, Musso presented Gab with land and a villa on the west shore of Garda. It’s called the Vittoriale, and is now open to visitors. As soon as you enter the grounds you know you’re about to see the estate of a notable crackpot. He quite liked classical Roman theatres. so he had a hillside excavated, and built one. And what is that ? Surely it can’t be a whole sailing ship just parked on dry land in the garden ? Yes, it is, but more is to come. Attached to the house is a kind of theatre/lecture hall, with a very high ceiling. Suspended from the ceiling is a monoplane, the actual one he used to carry out a one-man bombing raid on Vienna, when the Viennese upset him in world war one.

If Gab didn’t like people, he got rid of them by serving bizarre things for dinner. The centre piece of the banquet was a pickled giant turtle, grossly blown up in death. If he took to people, their fate was even stranger. When they died, he parked them in the garden, each tomb perched on the top of its own high pillar, where they still are. In the end, he joined them there. It’s a creepy feeling to stand under the pillars knowing that all those skeletons are above you. You can see his vintage cars, his bed where he seduced some of the most famous women of the time, and so many weird and amazing things that it’s like being inside the head of a giant lunatic. Yet there’s a beauty and magnificence about it all. The architecture, the huge split-level garden with all the plants, are very striking. To get there, ask in the harbour for the boat to Gardone.

Before I go, I must put you up to a bit of mischief. On the harbour front in Malcesine is a tobacco/postcard/souvenir shop. It’s run by Mario, an old guy who looks like the twin brother of Gepetto in Disney’s Pinocchio. He is the rudest, surliest old git in Italy, possibly in the world; totally obnoxious, unhelpful, scowling and snarling. Speak to him in the familiar way that Italians speak to children and pets. "Ciao, Mario, come stai ?" Then leg it.

 

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