Revitalizing Lake Garda’s Promenade: Proposals for a New Diving Platform
Until the 1950s, it was, alongside Spiaggia degli Olivi and Fraglia della Vela (still imbued with D’Annunzian grandeur), the most authentic seaside area of Riva. Then, the advent of mass tourism – which shifted the focus of sunbathing to the more convenient and extensive southern shoreline of Viale Rovereto – gradually diminished its appeal.
The promenade from Centrale to Belvedere del Ponale, passing by the romantic oleanders of Casa Rossa, has fallen out of favor. Out of favor in terms of popularity, of course. Because in terms of beauty and poetry, the narrow street and the trail that extend toward Gardesana Occidentale still offer many points to compare favourably with the more crowded shorelines: this is visible to the eye, and no one need ask the few lovers still exchanging kisses under the moon, their eyes cradled by the waves of Lake Garda.
Restoration and proposals for the lakeside promenade
What can be done to restore that desolate and decaying lakeside promenade to its former glory? This question has been posed in recent weeks by members of the Municipal Green Commission. After requesting and obtaining from the Town Council the improvement of other green spaces in the city — specifically the Giardini Verdi, Largo dei Mille, and Giardini di Porta Orientale — they have decided that future beautification efforts should focus on pedestrian pathways and the trees bordering Lake Garda along the so-called Lungolago D’Annunzio.
The working group supporting Munari and his team did not lack ideas: from the more obvious (reorganizing flowerbeds, pedestrian pathways, small beaches) to the more inventive (creating a kind of botanical island, taking advantage of the protected shoreline, which boasts the best climate in all of Riva). But the most original of all proposed “revitalization measures” was certainly the idea conceived by councilor Paolo Matteotti. He suggested pairing it with the construction — in place of the abandoned old shack of Amsea, where the lake water pump fed the aqueduct — of an elegant diving platform.
The idea was so well received that it became the centerpiece of the proposal to present to the Town Council. After the closing of the Spiaggia degli Olivi and Conca d’Oro diving platforms for safety reasons, the diving enthusiasts (hundreds of whom have practiced this sport across generations in Riva) are left with only the cliffs of Madonnina and Porto San Nicolò. Few, and especially inconvenient.
A diving platform just a few steps from Casa Rossa, perhaps with a refreshment point, would be an exceptional attraction: not only for divers but also for tourists, who would have a very good reason (beyond mere curiosity) to venture onto the D’Annunzio lakeside promenade. The costs? Relatively modest. Now it’s just a matter of hoping the Town Council takes the plunge.