Venetian Customs House Restoration Plans for Lazise on Lake Garda
The Venetian customs house will be restored within a reasonable timeframe and will return to being the most beautiful monument of the Veronese shoreline of Garda. This is not petty local pride but a conclusion repeatedly highlighted by some of the most important critics and historians of medieval architecture. This is also confirmed by Professor Vittorio Bozzini, who served as mayor of Lazise multiple times and in the 1960s won a legal dispute against the State to reclaim the property.
In addition to having been a customs house under the Serenissima’s rule, with direct access for boats from the lake, the structure became, during the fascist regime, a fascist house, and subsequently was incorporated into the State’s patrimony. After WWII, it served as a social club, or a kind of recreational circle with a bar attached.
Restoration and Modification Project
After being incorporated into the real estate assets of the Comune di Lazise, a decision was made to restore it, maintaining, as much as possible, the building’s original appearance and structure. The project was developed by architect Giovanni Frascari, who aimed to renew the flooring, install access doors from the San Nicolò church side, rebuild the roof with exposed wooden beams, and create lake-facing glass windows with entrances and exits under the portico with vaults.
Currently, the administration intends to adopt the project proposed by a team of architects and submit the plan to the building commission, which, in a preliminary review and with some recommendations, has expressed its approval. The projected new appearance of the Venetian customs house is as follows:
External and Internal Modifications
Externally, the only modification will be the reopening of the large arched door that grants direct access to the customs house from the monument to the fallen. The front glass window will be removed and repositioned within the arches. This will recover all the space currently open.
The flooring will be re-laid at a single level, and the area near San Nicolò will be used for restrooms, covered later with furniture resembling a stepped seating area for the public. Additionally, a heating plant with a cloakroom and storage area is planned.
The air conditioning system will be designed specifically for the space. Its use, therefore, as a conference center, will no longer have the presiding table area located south of the main hall but will be positioned east-west, with the conference zone overlooking the lake.
Criticism and Restoration Requests
A specific objection to the main lines of the project was raised in the building commission by former mayor Giacomino Scienza, who reiterated the need to restore the customs house but leave it intact.
In particular, Mr. Scienza requested that, as part of the recovery plan, the old porch existing in the last century be restored, located near the San Nicolò church. This structure was demolished during the Fontana period to prevent vagrants and beggars from occupying that space.
Under the porch, during the early morning hours, there used to be a market for traded fish, a sort of covered fish market very close to the port.
Sergio Bazerla