A journey into the Risorgimento and the landscape scenarios of Lake Garda. Although short, the route of the stage – it is the second time trial of the Giro – offers a notable concentration of places that require a stop. Castiglione delle Stiviere, immersed in the green scenery of the Morainic Hills, is in fact the heart of an area where nature, history, past and modernity intertwine in a vital harmony. It is, for example, the homeland of San Luigi Gonzaga to whom the Basilica of San Luigi (17th century) is consecrated and houses the precious relic of the skull of San Luigi Gonzaga. Heartbreaking, but of enormous historical and humanitarian value, is a visit to the International Red Cross Museum. Why is it right here? In the Cathedral of Castiglione many wounded from the Battle of Solferino in 1859 were hosted. A pitiful work that gave the idea to the Swiss Henry Dunant to found the International Red Cross, whose museum, the first in the world inaugurated in 1959, preserves precious testimonies of those tragic events: there are carriages, stretchers, surgical instruments, rescue tools. Of a very different nature are the visits to the Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art of Palazzo Menghini and to the curious Museum of the Bride, inaugurated in 2018 by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, a sort of modern art gallery of contemporary dresses that have paraded on international catwalks showing the excellence of Made in Italy.
Solferino recalls the historic battle of 1859 with a notable Museum of the Risorgimento and with the splendid Rocca, a 23 meter high square tower, built in 1022 and which has always been a strategic point of control of the territory and for this reason called, during the Risorgimento, “the Spy of ‘Italy”. The climb up the spiral wooden staircase that leads to the top offers a grandiose view as far as Lake Garda. Even in San Martino della Battaglia everything speaks of those dramatic days of 1859. It is curious, however, to observe that the 64 meter high Tower at whose foot there is another museum dedicated to the Risorgimento struggles was built later, in 1880, thanks to an important popular subscription. Now on the banks of Garda, the Giro passes Sirmione dominated by the mighty Scaligero Castle located right at the entrance to the historic centre. Not far from the centre, on the tip of the Sirmione peninsula, the Caves of Catullus correspond to the remains of a Roman Villa built between the 1st century BC and the 2nd century AD. The ruins can be visited with a walk during which you can also stop in the adjacent Museum, with finds linked to various eras and the history of the area.
The lakeside of Desenzano is the best place to unwind after the day’s efforts: scenic and welcoming, it is worth a walk that takes you to the old port, the pier and the lighthouse, without forgetting the wide views up to the opposite shore of the lake. Two-wheel enthusiasts cannot miss the exhibition of vintage bicycles set up for the occasion in the Civic Gallery in Piazza Malvezzi. Also worth seeing is the castle area which dominates the town, perhaps built on a Roman castrum to defend the barbarian invasions, expanded in the 15th century, when it contained 120 houses and a church dedicated to S. Ambrogio. From its terrace you can enjoy one of the most beautiful views of Garda. Sorry if it’s not much.
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