Malcesine: Iconic Lake Town Attracts Global Media and Tourists
The crenellated Scaliger Castle, atop the cliff, overlooking the water; the ancient narrow village; the cluster of alleys climbing toward the mountain; the Val di Sogno opening toward the lower lake; the cable car climbing the Monte Baldo: an ensemble of marvels, among the most photographed for magazine features on glossy paper and filmed by televisions worldwide. Not surprisingly, already at the beginning of the century, when tourism was a luxury for the few, one of the first practical guides for foreigners presented Malcesine as the most beautiful town on the upper lake for its “picturesque position.”
Images and television features on Malcesine
A combination of lake and mountain that continues to fascinate and attract journalists and photojournalists such as Laurent Grandadam, a French photojournalist from «Advantage», the women’s magazine with a leisure column that circulates 600,000 copies and has two million readers. Also, Swiss Barbara Steinman of «Wander Revue», or Jiri Hosnedi, a freelancer from the Czech Republic, all engaged in features on Malcesine and its mountain.
Not to mention the televised reports produced either by Luigi Manfredi for the «Costume e Società» segment of Rai’s Tg2; those by the Swedish SDT crew; the Czech television program «Kulinarium II», as well as the latest ones by Gambacorta for the show «Eat Parade of Typical Products», and those by Osvaldo Bevilacqua for «Sereno Variabile», airing from August 30, every day right after Tg2’s 1:30 PM news.
Bevilacqua, dubbed the «Ambassador of Garda», a title conferred a few years ago by the Comunità del Garda, accompanied by the president of the Promotion Agency Enrico Merenda, visited the two exhibitions set up at the Scaliger castle: one by sculptor Finotti and the other by painter Francisco Goya. He captured the most characteristic views of the town before interviewing the national Olympic sailing champions, who were training before leaving for the Sydney Olympics.
Tourism and economic development in Malcesine
Malcesine primarily attracts German tourists, who make up two-thirds of the annual influx, but also Italians, French, Austrians, and especially British visitors. This tourist center is continually upgrading its facilities and services, so much so that in the last five years, hotel bed spaces have decreased by 4.4%, from 5,320 beds in 1995 to the current 5,092, distributed across 108 accommodation structures, of which 8 are four-star (compared to 5 in 1995), 29 three-star (23), 45 two-star (58), and 26 one-star (32).
Despite a 2.6% decrease in total bed capacities—from 682,694 nights in 1995 to 700,563 last year—tourism has increased, thanks to continuous investments in promotion by the Tourism Promotion Agency, in collaboration with the hoteliers’ association, the Malcesine Più Foundation, and the Baldo Cable Car Consortium.