Riva del Garda: World-Class Resort on the Front Line

Riva del Garda from a Distance and Up Close

When war broke out on the Italian Front in 1915, at the southwestern tip of the destined-to-collapse Austro-Hungarian Empire lying on the north shore of  Lake Garda was the beautiful town of Riva del Garda.  Surrounded by the mountains of the South Tyrol (Trentino Alto-Adige for Italy, which wished to claim the region), Riva del Garda offered everything a resort could offer: high-quality hotels, cobbled streets with shops, magnificent views, climate, citrus trees and vineyards, thermal spas, and limitless recreational opportunities. Its attractions were known and taken advantage of by the Romans, Etruscans, and  preceding them, the Celts. It was in the 19th century, though, when the town's tourism exploded. In the German- and English-speaking worlds the newly affluent of the industrial age were drawn to the practice of "taking the waters" in spa towns like Bath and, well, Spa. Riva del Garda, given its many other attractive features, became popular with the nobility, the rich, and the cultural elite—such as Thomas Mann, Franz Kafka, Sigmund Freud, Frederick Nietzsche, and even D.H. Lawrence. They gave the town an added refined air.

Selected Austrian Defense Works
#1 Barracks and Shoreline Fortifications

#1 Austro-Hungarian Commanding Officer

Because of its position on the Italian-Austrian border and the well-understood expansionist longings of Italy, the Austro-Hungarian Empire  planned the defenses around Riva del Garda carefully. Some of their preparations and sites can be visited today, including forts of different generations, wartime trenches, and tunnel and gallery complexes in the surrounding mountains. (Some of these are shown here.) When hostilities started, the Italian Army moved forces to the border, including substantial artillery units, which spent the next three years barraging the enemy positions and unintentionally, but most unfortunately, leveling much of the town.  Needless to say, tourism dropped to nothing during the war.

#2 Forte Garda

#3 Forte San Nicolo

Postwar, the pounding the town had taken from Italian artillery left so much damage there was no quick return of the tourism trade. The restoration of Riva del Garda was championed by the literary dynamo and war hero Gabrielle D'Annunzio, who was building his own estate, the Vittoriale, on the west shore of Lake Garda immediately after the war. It was D'Annunizio's architect, war veteran Giancarlo Maroni, who was at first lent to help with the rebuilding of Riva del Garda and who subsequently earned the responsibility for the town's master planning. The visible face of Riva del Garda is in good part Maroni's creation.

#4 Fort on Cima Oro

#5 Inside the Multi-Level Tunnel System at Cima Rocca

By the 1930s, Riva del Garda had returned to its leading place as one of the great resorts of Italy and the world.  While Riva del Garda was not on the front line in the Second World War, combat did come close during the last month of the war, when the U.S. 10th Mountain Division fought its last action and the last battle on the Italian Front just east of the town.  Today, the old war veteran holds its own as popular  and somewhat affordable vacation spot.

Sources:  Various Riva del Garda History and Tourism sites on the Internet