Vittoriale degli Italiani

At Gardone Riviera, only a few miles from Gargnano, rises up the ‘Vittoriale degli Italiani’, a monumental citadel and symbol not only of the aesthetic devotion of poet Gabriele D’Annunzio, the so-called ‘Bard’, but also of his love for the fatherland.

Constructed from 1921 until 1938, it consists of a large number of interesting buildings and constructions such as the personal residence of the Bard, the ‘Prioria’, which offers an infinity of objects and furniture with special meanings.

In the summer season the Amphitheatre, with its 1,500 seats, offers a rich program of operettes, dances and concerts.

Other attractions include the Puglia Ship set in a rock, the auditorium with the SVA 10 airplane and the MAS, an insubmergible speedboat. The Mausoleum was inspired by the funeral graves of the Etruscan-Roman tradition.

In Gardone one can also find the fantastic Botanical Garden of the André Heller Foundation. Immersed in a holy atmosphere, it hangs between reality and fantasy where art and nature live together in a magical environment.

Here physician Hruska collected over 2000 examples of plants from all over the world. Multimedial artist Heller has enriched the park with works of art by artists of the calibre of Keith Haring.