Food

Carne salada. This is a traditional recipe for preserving meat, and a genuine specility of Tenno area, very lean, made using rump steak, which undergoes a special process that makes it aromatic and suitable for eating raw an appetizer or else cooked and served together with beans.

Garda Trentino extra-virgin olive oil. Our extra-virgin olive oil is produced farther to north in the world, beyond the 46th parallel. This is due to the typical Mediterranean climate of Lake Garda. Local olives contain a remarkable concentration of polyphenols, the natural antioxidants, essential for keeping ourselves fit.

Wines. The Garda Trentino is the ideal land for growing a large selection of vine varieties. The Schiava and the Lagrein in enology are the basis for rosé wines, fruity and pleasant. The Chardonnay is used both for still wine and sparkling wine. Do not forget the Pinot Bianco, Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon, Traminer aromatico and Yellow Muscatel, excellent as dessert wines.

Culture

Garda Trentino – Historic centres, little country towns, churches, palaces, castles, ancient villages and archaeological sites. The charm of the lake but also echoes of other times which have gone to make up its identity.

Canale. La Casa degli Artisti (The Artists’ Home) “Giacomo Vittone”

A centre of great cultural interest in the medieval village Canale. It was born in the sixties conceived by the amateur painter Giacomo Vittone, who came up from Riva del Garda until the village by bike to paint. Later it has become a legal foundation consisting of three villages: Tenno, Riva del Garda and Arco. Its activities are concentrated on conferences, summer courses, hospitality for artists, Academies and Art Schools, continuous expositions dedicated to yesterday’s and today’s artists.

Near Canale. Archeological Sites on Mount Saint Martino

On one of the offshoots of Mount Saint Martino (850 mt), above the village of Campi, you can find the Saint Martino archaeological site. The most important finding consists of the ruins of a large building, most likely a sanctuary where female divinities were worshipped, constructed on the remains where former cult rituals used to take place. Despite the location’s age, set between the second to fourth centuries after Christ, the frequency of religious visits to the mountain, after the Romans, extended well into the Middle Ages. The findings of this area are preserved in Museum of Riva; some copies can be visit in the Centro di Documentazione di Pranzo di Tenno.

Near Canale. Museo delle Palafitte di Fiavé

It is one of 111 locations that comprise the site dedicated to prehistoric pile dwellings in the Alps, and are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The ancient history of the human communities that lived along the shores of Lake Carera, a glacial basin and a peat bog today, dates from the Mesolithic period (7th millennium BC) to the Iron Age. The museum tour is mainly focuses on various pile-dwelling settlements built from the 4th to the 2nd millennium BC, which are still visible today in the archaeological area. In the Bronze Age, in particular, various types of settlement developed: huts built on the reclaimed shores of the lake, clusters of traditional pile dwellings on stilts above water, settlements comprising huts on stilts anchored to a complex grid-shaped structure situated along the lake shore and on the lake bottom, and a settlement on the nearby Dos Gustinaci. Important artefacts have been unveiled from Lake Carera that help to explain the daily life of these ancient populations.

The museum will exhibit a collection of extraordinary objects found by archaeologists during their research. Thousands of these fell into the lake during their life or when the dwellings collapsed. These finds mainly include ceramics (pottery) but also jewellery in bronze and Baltic amber and gold – extremely rare at the time. Wood objects are extraordinary, not for the prestigious raw material but for being preserved for 3,400-3,800 years: a collection, the only one in Europe, of about 300 artefacts includes tableware and kitchen utensils (cups, ladles and trays) and work tools (buckets, hammers, sickles, drills, axe handles etc.).

Perishable objects, including food (ears of corn, Cornelian cherries, hazelnuts, apples, pears etc.) make the pile dwellings particularly fascinating. Visitors can examine aspects of the life of prehistoric communities usually unknown in archaeological research.

At the new Museo delle Palafitte, housed in the ancient Casa Carli in Fiavé, an entire floor is entitled “A day in a pile dwelling”: a reconstruction of daily life in a pile dwelling about 3,400 years ago!

Riva del Garda. Museum of Riva del Garda – MAG

The seat of the Riva del Garda’s museum is Rocca, the ancient medieval fortress. It overlooks the lake and was built in the XII century.

This museum houses the historic and cultural heritage of Riva and the Alto Garda. The permanent collections and temporary exhibitions are of particular interest and there is a beautiful view from the top of the Keep. The archaeological section includes standing stones from the Copper Age found at Arco, signs of the piledwelling culture of Ledro, as well as pre-Roman and Roman finds, and inscriptions of the Alto Garda. The art gallery displays works from the 15th century to the modernday: works of the 15th century FW monogrammist, Pietro Ricchi (17thcentury), Francesco Hayez, Vincenzo Vela, Giuseppe Cannella (19th century).

Rovereto. MART Museum

Futurism, Pop Art, Realism and great exhibitions: Mart in Rovereto is one of the most interesting museums on the Italian scene.

The Mart of Trento and Rovereto is one of Italy’s most interesting museums. The main building of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Rovereto is located on Corso Bettini, between two 18th century aristocratic mansions called Palazzi Alberti. It was designed in 1987-88, by Swiss architect Mario Botta, with the collaboration of Rovereto-based engineer Giulio Andreolli, and houses a very important art collection ranging from Futurism to Pop Art, Arte Povera and Realism.

On four storeys, the Museum covers area of 12,000 square metres, half of which is dedicated to exhibition space. The two galleries dedicated to temporary shows are on the first floor. The second floor, featuring an area of over 4,000 square metres, houses the Museum’s permanent collection, from Futurism to the present day, and boasts as major highlight numerous artworks by Fortunato Depero, from the 3,000 pieces the artist bequeathed to the town of Rovereto. Other Futurist artists included in the collection are Balla, Prampolini, Thayhat, Di Bosso, Dottori, Fillia, Iras Baldassari, Marinetti and Crali. On display are also works by Campigli, Licini, Sironi, Carrà, de Pisis, and 21 paintings by Morandi, as well as works by several important artists from the period following the First World War, such as Severini, de Chirico, Savinio, Casorati, Tosi, Tozzi Funi, and by renowned international artists, including Picasso, Lèger, Klee, Kandinsky, Lichtenstein, Modigliani, Warhol and Beuys. Every year the Museum holds one large exhibition and several temporary shows, and provides a range of interesting educational activities for both adults and children.