Peschiera del Garda

Peschiera del Garda (Italian pronunciation: [peˈskjɛːra del ˈɡarda]; Venetian: Pischera; Latin: Ardelica, Arilica) is a town and comune in the province of Verona, in Veneto, Italy. When Lombardy-Venetia was under Austrian rule, Peschiera was the northwest anchor of the four fortified towns constituting the Quadrilatero. The fortress is on an island in the river Mincio at its outlet from Lake Garda.

Peschiera del Garda Pischera (Venetian)
Comune
Comune di Peschiera del Garda
Aerial view
Coat of arms
Location of Peschiera del Garda
Peschiera del Garda Location of Peschiera del Garda in Italy Peschiera del Garda Peschiera del Garda (Veneto)
Coordinates: 45°26′N 10°41′E
Country	Italy
Region	Veneto
Province	Verona (VR)
Frazioni	Broglie, San Benedetto di Lugana, Zanina
Government
• Mayor	Gaiulli Orietta Maria
Area
• Total	17.63 km2 (6.81 sq mi)
Elevation	68 m (223 ft)
Population  (31 December 2020)
• Total	10,856
• Density	620/km2 (1,600/sq mi)
Demonym	Arilicensi
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	37019, 37010
Dialing code	045
Patron saint	Saint Martin
Saint day	November 11
Website	Official website

The town is encircled by massive Venetian defensive systems that have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 9 July 2017.

Fortified Town of Peschiera
Location	Peschiera, Province of Verona, Veneto, Italy
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Type	Cultural
Criteria	iii, iv
Designated	2017 (41 Session)
Part of	Venetian Works of Defence between 15th and 17th centuries: Stato da Terra – western Stato da Mar
Reference no.	1533
Region	Europe and North America

History

Roman Ardelica was a town of Gallia Transpadana that occupied the site of the modern Peschiera del Garda, at the southeast angle of the Lacus Benacus (Lago di Garda), just where the Mincius (modern Mincio) issued from the lake. The name is found under the corrupted form Ariolica in the Tabula Peutingeriana, which correctly places it between Brixia and Verona; the true form is preserved by inscriptions, of which one says that it was a trading place, with a corporation of ship-owners, collegium naviculariorum Ardelicensium. (Orell. Inscr. 4108.) The town is mentioned as Arilica in Pliny the Elder's Naturalis Historia.

The fortress at Peschiera played a prominent part in most military campaigns conducted in northern Italy after 1400, especially during the Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. At the Battle of Peschiera fought on 6 August 1796, the day after the major French victory at the Battle of Castiglione, a French force commanded by general Masséna drove out the Austrians. After the Siege of Peschiera, during the First Italian War of Independence, it was taken by the Piedmontese from the Austrians, following a gallant defence by general Rath lasting six weeks, on 30 May, 1848.

During World War I, the Peschiera conference between the British and French premiers and the Italian king took place on 8 November 1917.

Peschiera del Garda was also known for its military jail, which closed in 2002.

The commune is part of the Associazione Città del vino ("Association of Wine Cities").

In winter, the nearby Laghetto del Frassino is the most important habitat for tufted ducks in Italy (Morbioli & Sighele 2006).

World Heritage Site

Main sights of Peschiera del Garda

200m
220yds

Porta Verona

Porta Brescia

Mincio River

Garda Lake

San Martino Church

Fortress

  

• It is home to one or more prehistoric pile-dwelling (or stilt house) settlements that are part of the Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps UNESCO World Heritage Site.
  • location Belvedere ;
  • location lake of Frassino ;

• The fortress and the external fortifications. They were included in UNESCO's World Heritage Site list as part of "Venetian Works of Defence between the 16th and 17th centuries: Stato da Terra – western Stato da Mar" in 2017.

Main sights

• Sanctuary of Madonna del Frassino (1511). It houses works by Paolo Farinati and Zeno da Verona.

Transport

Peschiera del Garda railway station, opened in 1854, forms part of the Milan–Venice railway. The town is additionally served by ferry services, which connect it to other towns on the coast of Lake Garda, including Sirmione and Desenzano del Garda.

A panoramic photograph of the Marina of Peschiera del Garda during sunset, with the Lake and the Italian Alps visible.

Gallery

• 
  The new port and Monte Baldo
• 
• 
• 
  City Hall
• 
  Porta Verona. A renovation of the old Venetian fortifications surrounding the town, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• 
  Porta Brescia - Brescia Gate
• 
  Porta Brescia - Brescia Gate
• 
  The fortress
• 
  The fortress
• 
  The fortress (1866)
• 
  The monument to Giovanni Falcone, meant to represent a fragment of the car in which he was assassinated by the Mafia.

Bounding communes

• Castelnuovo del Garda
• Valeggio sul Mincio
• Ponti sul Mincio
• Pozzolengo
• Sirmione
• Desenzano del Garda

Twin cities

• Ula Tirso, Italy
• Capoterra, Italy
• Villa Carlos Paz, Argentina

See also

Rocca di Manerba del Garda

References

• Morbioli, Marco; Sighele, Maurizio (2006). "L'avifauna del Laghetto del Frassino (Peschiera del Garda, Verona, Veneto)". Bollettino del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Verona Botanica Zoologia (30): 275–291. PDF fulltext

External links

• Associazione Nazionale Città del Vino (in Italian)
• "Peschiera sul Garda" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.