The Vittoriale degli Italiani in Gardone Riviera is one of Europe's best-known monumental complexes, built between 1921 and 1938 by poet Gabriele d'Annunzio with the Trentino architect Gian Carlo Maroni. Spread over more than nine hectares of hillside overlooking the lower and middle Lake Garda, the site brings together historic buildings, terraced gardens, squares, military relics and water features, preserving material traces of d'Annunzio's biographical and aesthetic trajectory.
Donated to the Italian people by an act dated 22 December 1923 and managed by the Fondazione Il Vittoriale degli Italiani, the complex draws hundreds of thousands of visitors and researchers each year. It includes permanent museum routes, historical archives and international entertainment events. In February 1921, after his “fiumana” adventure, d'Annunzio rented a villa in Gardone di Sotto belonging to German art historian Henry Thode, later buying it in October 1921; the 18th-century residence was renamed the Prioria. Renovation and expansion works were entrusted to Maroni, and the partnership continued until d'Annunzio's death in 1938.
The Prioria houses the author's rooms, a historic library and major art collections, including around 33,000 volumes and more than 10,000 art objects, along with sacred furnishings, majolica and sculptures. The grounds feature war memorabilia tied to d'Annunzio's enterprises, such as the Nave Puglia, the MAS 96 and the Ansaldo S.V.A. 5, as well as the Mausoleo designed by Maroni. The Anfiteatro del Vittoriale (the Parlaggio) was set up in 1934 and inaugurated on 8 August 1953, and it hosts the summer international music and entertainment festival Tener-a-mente; in 2020, restoration and philological completion covered the semicircular seating with red Verona marble slabs planned in Maroni's original design.
Italian Version