The Fondazione Ugo Da Como in Lonato preserves one of Northern Italy’s most significant cultural estates, combining a fifteenth-century humanist residence, a monumental library, and a formidable medieval fortress.
Located on the morainic hills just five kilometers southwest of the Lake Garda shoreline, the foundation was established in 1942 through the testamentary bequest of the liberal Italian senator and lawyer Ugo Da Como. The institution protects an extraordinary heritage of art, Renaissance craftsmanship, and historical documentation, maintaining the residence exactly as Da Como arranged it during the early twentieth century.
Casa del Podestà: Renaissance Architecture and Tagliaferri’s Restoration
The primary domestic structure of the complex is the Casa del Podestà, built in the middle of the fifteenth century as the administrative seat of the Venetian magistrate (Podestà) appointed by the Republic of Venice to govern Lonato and its territory. Following the fall of Venice and decades of decline, Ugo Da Como acquired the dilapidated palazzo in 1906 with the objective of creating a live-in humanist museum.
Da Como commissioned the prominent Brescian architect Antonio Tagliaferri to oversee a meticulous historicist restoration. Tagliaferri uncovered original terracotta window frames, restored coffered wooden ceilings, and integrated architectural fragments from demolished Renaissance buildings across Lombardy and the Veneto, reviving the authentic atmosphere of a late fifteenth-century Venetian governor’s palace.
The Monumental Library: 50,000 Rare Volumes and 404 Incunabula
The crowning glory of the estate is Ugo Da Como’s personal library, comprising over 50,000 printed volumes, codices, and rare manuscripts spanning six centuries of European intellectual history. Da Como was an impassioned bibliophile whose collection stands today among the finest private historical libraries in Italy.
The library preserves exactly 404 incunabula (books printed before the year 1501), alongside thousands of sixteenth-century editions (cinquecentine) printed by major Renaissance presses, including works by Aldus Manutius and Gabriel Giolito de’ Ferrari. In addition to early printings, the archival vaults safeguard priceless original correspondence and manuscripts by leading figures of Italian literature and Risorgimento history, including Ugo Foscolo, Giuseppe Garibaldi, and Count Camillo Benso di Cavour.
The Rocca of Lonato: Medieval Stronghold Overlooking the Morainic Hills
Adjoining the Casa del Podestà and crowning the rocky ridge above Lonato stands the Rocca Visconteo-Veneta. Classified as a national monument since 1912, this vast military fortress spans nearly 180 meters in length and features intact battlements, bastions, and a central keep that served as a defensive strongpoint under the Scaliger, Visconti, and Venetian rulers.
From the ramparts of the upper fortress, visitors enjoy an uninterrupted 360-degree panoramic view extending across the southern morainic amphitheater, the blue expanse of the lower lake basin, and the Brescian pre-Alps. Within the fortress grounds, the museum also houses the Gustavo Cavalini Bird Museum, featuring an extensive historical taxidermy collection representing regional avian fauna.
Cultural Activities and the Premio Strega Connection
The Fondazione Ugo Da Como remains an active center of contemporary cultural life and historical scholarship. Each July, in collaboration with the Fondazione Maria e Goffredo Bellonci, the monumental courtyard of the Casa del Podestà hosts the newly announced winner of the Premio Strega, Italy’s most prestigious literary award, for one of their inaugural public presentations.
The foundation is situated at Via Rocca 2 in Lonato del Garda. Guided tours through the private rooms and library of the Casa del Podestà, as well as access schedules for the Rocca fortress, are organized directly through the official website of the Fondazione Ugo Da Como.
