LakeLake GardaGarda travellingtravelling byby waterwater History and stories Itineraries Descriptions Travel information Useful numbers A service for residents, a marvel for tourists The northern lakes of our country have always been a great attraction thanks to their pleasant environmental setting and surrounding landscape. Lake Como, with its memories of Manzoni’s great book, is striking in the unusual, “fjord-like” appearance of its banks and the gradual advance of the lake basin into mountainous country, accompanied along its route by the “Regina”, the ancient road that follows the outline of the western bank. Lake Garda rests in a hollow surrounded by hills richly clad with olive-groves and lemon-groves, which flourish thanks to Garda’s mild microclimate and help to make the lake an important tourist attraction. Lake Maggiore still retains an elegant “fin de siècle” atmosphere, emphasized by the stylish villas along its banks and the special beauty of the Borromean Islands. The intensive urbanisation that has occurred in the lakes zone has given rise to a very sharp increase in the demand for services, such as the high priority placed on the need for local public transport following the congested state of traffic along the roads bordering the lakes. Hence the ever-increasing importance of alternative transport systems such as that provided by Navigazione Laghi, present for over a century first as a private firm then as a public enterprise in this area, whose boat services advantageously connect the banks of our rivers. Following the development that has occurred in the socio- productive context of our areas, Navigazione Laghi has decided to produce these new guidebooks as a useful aid for both residents and visitors to our beauteous regions, in the hope that they may provide a helpful service to our users. The Governing Manager Renato Poletti Lake Ferry Company The first steamer 5 Paddle-wheel vessels 6 Ferry services between the wars 6 Government administration 7 More than two millions passengers 7 LAKE GARDA TRAVELLING BY WATER Lake Ferry Company Lake Ferry Services on Lake Garda came into being a few years after the end of the Second World War. The official date was April 16, 1948 when the Government appointed the first Commissioner who was responsible for re-establishing public transport on Lake Benaco, through rebuilding the fleet and reorganising the service. On a national level, it was only at modern, in line with the social ry services on Lake Garda in the 4 the end of the following year that and economic requirements of last 50 years will be given further the Ministry of Transport unified the people living in towns and vil- on. Another important date was the management of services for lages on the lakes’ shores, as well July 7, 1827. This is when the “Mi- Lake Garda and Lake Maggiore. A as the first groups of tourists. The lanese Steam Ferry Company for lot of effort was put into achie- latter soon became the main for- the lakes of the Lombardy-Vene- ving the main objective of provi- ce behind business activities in all tian Kingdom”, launched the first ding a ferry transport system for the large lakes in Northern Italy, steam vessel, after having recei- the large Italian lakes. The tran- and for Lake Garda in particular. ved a sort of 15-year licence from sport was to be fast, efficient and More details of the history of fer- the Austrian Emperor in 1824. LAKE GARDA TRAVELLING BY WATER The first were launched, destroyed, sunk and scrapped. steamer The basic reference text for re- Lake Ferry constructing these events is “A Brief History of Mechanical Na- This was a vessel with a wooden Company vigation on Lake Garda” by Gian- hull, two 28-horsepower engines franco Bortolussi and some very and a weight capacity of 40 ton- nes. brief highlights have been taken It was called the Arciduca Ra- from this text. nieri, a name which was given to The Manubrio was launched af- another ship that was built in the ter the Ranieri, and then came shipyards in Salò, and which went the Benaco steamship, which the into service in 1834. Austro-Hungarian Imperial Royal To summarise briefly, its story is Navy used to provide ferry ser- both fascinating and eventful, with vices for the public. The Benaco high points and periods of decli- was destroyed during the Second ne. Ever bigger and faster vessels War of Independence. AN ECO-FRIENDLY VESSEL: THE AMICO A PRORA, OR THE “hANDLEBAr” It was called L’Amico a Prora and was a large vessel with a100-tonne capacity that had been built in Pietro Floriani’s shipyards. The people in the area, however, simply called it the Manubrio (“Handlebar”), since there were eight (real) horses yoked to handlebars on the deck, which went around in a circle, as in the merry-go-rounds of old. These animals turned 5 the cogwheels of an engine with leather drive belts, thus activating two lateral paddle-wheels. When the winds were favourable, the horses could at last rest and the Manubrio could set the sails on its two masts. A flag bearing the word Safety would be hoisted on the highest spar. An eco-friendly, horse-operated vessel ahead of its time, the manubrio was not steam-powered, unlike the Arciduca Ranieri, and was not equipped with boilers – hence it was not subject to explosions or fires. It had a single but crucial defect: it was too expensi- ve. Thus the Milanese Lake Garda Ferry Company was forced to withdraw the vessel after ten years of good service (it had been inaugurated on the Riva-Desenzano route on January 25, 1830). A second vessel, named Franz Joseph, was subsequently sold by Austria to the Italian government in 1866, and was re-named Filippo Oddone. Another vessel was transferred from Lake Maggiore to Lake Gar- da and changed its name from Verbano 2 to Benaco. It ended up in Austrian hands during the Third War of Independence. LAKE GARDA TRAVELLING BY WATER Paddle-wheel vessels In 1888 two paddle-wheel vessels came into service and later there were five more. All of them had capacity for between 300 and 700 passengers. The Garda, a propel- ler boat for 80 passengers, also came into service in 1888. During this period, the mana- gement changed hands, initially passing to the “Southern Railway Company”, and subsequently to Ferry services Mocenigo was assigned to civilian “Mangili”, a promising business transport; then the Mincio tugbo- venture. This company launched between the two wars at and Garda and Verona motor two high-tech ships for the time, ships were gradually re-activated. the Angelo Emo and the Lazzaro A year later the fleet comprised In September 1945, the Zanar- Mocenigo, which were both fit- seven paddle-wheel vessels, one delli was also returned to civilian ted with electric lights. A tugboat propeller ship, two tugs and 11 use by the Americans. Then came named Utile was used for freight boats. Before long, propellers and the second post-war period and transport. The Mangili company diesel took the place of paddle- a period of government admini- contributed to the growth of the wheels. The Trento motor ship stration. local economy until the beginning was launched on January 16, 1925, of the First World War, develo- followed by the Verona and the ping the fleet and helping to spre- Brescia motor ships. ad the fame of Limone, Gargnano, The final period of the war and 6 Gardone, Salò, Sirmione and Gar- the foundation of the Salò Repu- da through tourism (where there blic on the shores of Lake Garda, were already numerous Austrian in alliance with the Nazis, dealt a “enemies”). But the war swept deathblow to the Ferry Company everything away – Mangili and the and its fleet. fleet never recovered. The ferry Only the Zanardelli was left, and service was taken over by the this was requisitioned by the government, but public manage- Americans. On July 11, 1945, the ment was not up to the standards of the service that had been of- fered during the pre-war period. It was only in 1923 that a new THE JUBILEE YEAR OF 1925 private company was established, the Lake Garda Ferry Company. It is well known that there are mass movements of people in Jubilee Years: in ancient times they were called pilgrims, in re- cent times they have been re-named tourists. The Jubilee Year of 1925 also drew tourists to Lake Garda, which an advertisement for the period describes as “the shortest and most picturesque route to the Dolomites”. Ferry trips were generally long and ti- ring. Vessels would run amok on the lake; full of passengers, they would undertake multiple journeys from one bank to the other. Up until 1890, the vessels did not carry more than 30,000 people every year; in the first fifteen years of the 20 century they transported a maximum of 250-280,000 passengers, and in 1925 they carried 400,000 people, beating all records at that time. These numbers do not only apply to the Belle Époque period. It was only after the introduction of the hydrofoils in the Fifties that volumes of traffic in line with those registered during 1925-26 were achieved. LAKE GARDA TRAVELLING BY WATER THE START OF MASS TOURISM: DESENZANO BETWEEN THE TWO WARS After the achievements of the 1925-26 period, tourism on Lake Garda changed hue. The fleet included 11 brand new or refurbished ships, whilst transport and networks offered new opportunities for the whole area. Verona, Man- tova, Brescia and Rovereto, the towns surrounding the lake, were within reach by railway and new coastal roads encircled it.