Description of the attraction
Vittoriale degli italiani, which can be translated as the Temple of Italian Victories, is a huge estate stretching on a mountainside in the town of Gardone Riviera on the shores of Lake Garda. It was here that the famous Italian writer Gabriele d'Annunzio lived from 1922 until his death in 1938. Vittoriale is called a monumental citadel or a fascist amusement park - in any case, this place is surrounded by the same aura of scandal as the name of its creator.
The estate consists of d'Annunzio's residence, called Prioria, an amphitheater, the light cruiser Puglia, set right on the hill, a dock for boats with a MAS class destroyer used by the writer in 1918, and an arched mausoleum. The entire territory of Vittoriale degli Italiani is included in the list of the Great Gardens of Italy.
The house itself - Villa Cargnacco - once belonged to a German art historian, and then, along with a collection of old books and a piano played by the great Franz Liszt, was confiscated by the Italian government. In 1921, Gabriele d'Annunzio rented the villa and renovated it in a year with the help of the architect Giancarlo Maroni. Thanks to the popularity of the writer and his disagreement with the fascist government of Italy, in particular on the issue of an alliance with Nazi Germany, the fascists did everything they could to please d'Annunzio and keep him away from Rome. In 1924, an airplane was brought to the estate, on which the writer flew over Vienna during the First World War, scattering pamphlets of his own composition, a year later - the destroyer MAS, with which Gabriele teased the Austrians in 1918 during the same war. At the same time, the light cruiser Puglia appeared in Vittoriale, which was installed on a hill in the grove behind the house.
In 1926, the Italian government donated 10 million lire, which was enough to significantly expand the territory of the estate - in particular, a new wing of the villa was built, called Schiafamondo. In 1931, construction began on Parladgio, an amphitheater with an excellent view of Lake Garda. The mausoleum was designed after the death of d'Annunzio and built according to the canons of fascist architecture only in 1955. It is in it that the remains of the great Italian are buried.
