Riva Road Improvements and New Trail Project Near Lake Garda
The entrance from Riva on the new section of the Gardesana Occidentale gallery will undergo a significant overhaul this coming autumn, when the Collini Oberlosler company completes the works interrupted due to the needs of the tourist season.
In particular, the northern exit will be covered with an additional thirty meters of artificial reinforcement to ensure protection from falling rocks up to the point where the landslide of ’66 occurred, which is still clearly visible on the promontories of the Rocchetta.
Therefore, the current parking area will extend well beyond the entrance of Villa Semeraro. Additionally, there is the issue of the connection with the Excelsior hotel, which is still undergoing renovations.
The preliminary solution is already visible on site. To the right of the entrance, a trail’s trace can be seen. In the final version, it will become a roughly three-meter-wide one-way road ascending from the current fork from the Gardesana.
Project of the new road and trail reuse
It will gain five to six meters of height after the Semeraro entrance to pass over the gallery and descend on the other side, toward the lake, eventually reconnecting with the old road layout.
The hotel entrance will be on this new road, while the old route will remain operational for exit (with a stop at the junction with the new state road). This overpass branch is part of the provincial project, but it also receives particular attention from the Riva administration.
Indeed, along this branch, the access to the old Ponale path is being restored—currently blocked by the tunnel construction works.
The latest provincial directive regarding the road built by Giacomo Cis in the mid-19th century states that it will be abandoned and erased.
Pedestrian and cycling reuse
This facilitates, as with the Rocchetta trails, the pedestrian and cycling reuse project that has mobilized thousands of residents and visitors.
A better fate awaits the “wreck” of the old Gardesana, which is scheduled for maintenance in view of potential emergency reuse.
Under normal conditions, it will serve as a pedestrian and bicycle passage to the Sperone beach, which is intended to connect with the new route south of the red house.
