Historic Lake Garda Floods of 1960: Devastation and Community Resilience
“With the lakeside road and square flooded, it was unavoidable in the autumn of ‘60,” highlights Mario Dall’Agnola, 76 years old and resident in Garda, “to empty the cellars and save what little we had, wine and firewood. Back then, it was lean years, and we spent our time near the hearth.”
“Fortunately, things have changed,” says the retiree, “but not regarding these floods, which concern us if the ‘Andre’—the wind that creates significant waves—should arrive.” The damages in ‘60 were contained on the Veronese shore with only flooding of local businesses and cellars near the ports.
Activities and damages in 1960
“Our shoe store,” notes Franco Umberto Pasotti from Garda, pointing to a enlarged photo of what was his shop near Samicheliana Losa, “was flooded, and we were forced, due to the impossibility of entering the shop, to display our merchandise in the street. It was only for a few days, and by the Christmas holidays of ‘60, everything was back to normal.”
Conditions were certainly no better in Bardolino, where the lakeside was submerged and the final stretch of the streets descending from the center to the lake was affected.
“The water reached,” recalls Giuseppe Immordino, who managed the Sport bar in Piazza Matteotti, “up to the niche where the Madonna del Latte kiosk is located. On either side of the piazza, there were makeshift walkways, and the barber Isotta’s shop was flooded, to the point that the barber’s chair was raised above the floor and placed on a wooden planking.”
Immordino also ran a pizzeria with his wife Giovanna Zanotti. “It was the first license issued in Bardolino,” emphasizes the former operator of Neapolitan origin, “but at the time, people didn’t want to eat in those ‘terrona’ (Southern Italian) places, as they pointed out.”
Now, however, things have changed, and there are over forty pizzerias in the Municipality of Bardolino.” Giovanni Bigignoli, who was 27 during the lake’s flood and lives on Via Solferino with his mother, recounts how the basement of his restaurant remained flooded for some time and how, during the November 4th commemoration near the monument to the Fallen, there were walkways.
“We brought the boats ashore to the square,” remembers Antonio Marchi, born in 1913, a fisherman, “waiting for the lake to return to its normal level.” Aldo Bertoldi, 72 at the time, was working as a cellar master.
“It was necessary to operate the pumps continuously to avoid working knee-deep in water.” “Lazise looked like Venice,” states Libera Azzali, “and sandbags had to be placed at the doorsteps of houses immediately, while crossing the town required walking on the walkways. The phenomenon lasted about forty days,” Azzali continues, “and with that cold and damp, everyone faced problems.”
Younger residents crossed the walkways to attend school, traveling from Porta Cansignorio to the school building in Villa Roma, now abandoned.”
“I remember, I was a boy, that water would enter our house whenever the wind blew a bit,” explains Gianni De Angeli, “and we kids enjoyed watching the huge waves on the lake.”
“I remember very well that some days, the waves reached above the streetlights,” he adds. “The water reached the door of my hotel, at the end of Via Albarello, along Corso Ospedale,” states Pina Gelmetti, “and for several days, all we saw was water spilling out from the lake and flooding nearby houses.”
“The Olivetti family, who lived opposite Villa Tretti, had to flee suddenly,” Gelmetti continues, “because a wave of water broke down the door of their house, flooding everything.” Credits to Sergio Bazerla and Alvaro Joppi
