Navigarda Ferry Service Drives Lake Transit During Gardesana Road Closure

Credit must be given to Navigarda, the shipping company that manages the ferries and an entire fleet of public boats on the lake.

If during the restoration work on the western Gardesana road, the inconvenience for commuters traveling between Riva and Limone was not accompanied by chaos, it is thanks to this company, which for several months took on the burden of replacing the heavily trafficked road.

In recent days, data regarding the transport of vehicles from December 23 (the day after the landslide) to the first eight days of July (when the road was reopened) on the route between the city of Anzolim and the town of lemons have been made available.

Numbers and Results

The overall results are nothing short of extraordinary: 97,089 cars, 1,382 buses, 25,400 bicycles, 15,737 trucks (including camper vans), more or less evenly distributed in both directions.

Beyond the impressive figures, credit must also be given to Navigarda for promptly setting up a service that proved indispensable; as director Marcello Coppola emphasizes, satisfied with the important work carried out, «…the ferries began shuttling between Riva and Limone already at dawn the day after the landslide».

Opinions and Future Prospects

It has been a positive “experiment,” but not as a future alternative to the Gardesana: «Despite the good quality of our service – explains Coppola – navigation will never be able to replace the road, which, besides being much faster, is also free…

There must be a reason why they want to build the bridge across the Strait of Messina».

Work to increase the routes on the lake is ongoing; by winter, the Malcesine station will be completed.

Regarding this, Coppola also expresses his disappointment with the limited functionality of the Riva station, which is useful in emergencies but lacks an adequate area, forcing users to wait in long lines.

«There’s no comparison with the Malcesine station, which is also suitable for tourists».