Description of the attraction
Isle of Garda is the largest island of the Italian Lake Garda, located a couple of hundred meters from Cape San Fermo, which separates the Gulf of Salò and the Bay of Smeraldo. The island is about a kilometer long and 600 meters wide. On its southern coast lies a ridge of reefs and shoals, as well as the small islet of San Biagio.
It is reliably known that even in the era of Ancient Rome, a settlement existed on the Garda - this is evidenced by the discovered gravestones, now exhibited in the Roman Museum in Brescia. Then the island was known as Insula Kranie. The settlement was abandoned almost immediately after the fall of the Roman Empire, and for a long time the island was a kind of hunting ground. At the end of the 9th century, it became the property of the Abbey of San Zeno, and three hundred years later, by order of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, it passed into the possession of the Da Manerba family.
In 1220, Garda was visited by the famous Italian religious figure Francis of Assisi, who was so impressed by the beauty of the island that he fired up the idea of creating a monastery here. He persuaded the owners of the island to establish a small hermitage in its northern part, which existed for two centuries and in 1429 was turned into a full-fledged monastery. It was this event that made the island of Garda an important religious center for a while. They say that he was even visited by Saint Anthony of Padua and the great Dante Alighieri. In the 16th century, the church life of the island began to decline, and in 1778, by order of Napoleon, the monastery was completely closed.
During its long history, the island has changed its name more than once - it was known as the Isle of Monks, Isle of Leki, Isle of Scotti, Isle of Ferrari and Isle of Borghese. In 1927, the island of Garda came into the possession of the Cavazza family, whose property it remains to this day.
In 2002, the island was opened to tourists, who can explore here an extraordinary Venetian villa in the neo-Gothic style, built at the beginning of the 20th century by the architect Luigi Rovelli. This impressive building is rich in a variety of architectural elements. Inside is an 18th century painting by Carlo Carloni. Below the villa, on the side of a hill descending to the lake shore, there is a beautiful garden with exotic plants and amazingly beautiful flowers. The villa itself is surrounded by pine trees, cypresses, acacias, lemon trees, magnolias and agaves.
