Malcesine - History
The Etruscan populations were the first to live in Malcesine up until 15 BC when the Romans settled here. It seems that the Rocca, or stronghold, of Malcesine was built halfway through the first half of the first millennium AD by the Longobards, over the years it was damaged and rebuilt several times. Under the rule of the Franks, King Pipino stayed in the castle when he came to Malcesine to visit the two hermit saints Benigno and Caro. During the period between 1277 and 1378 Malcesine came under the rule of the Della Scala family who, thanks to their restoration works changed the name of the Rocca di Malcesine to Castello Scaligero, the Scaligero Castle. From 1405 to 1797 Malcesine was ruled by the 'Serenissima Venetian Republic', who created a body to control the territories and called it the ‘Gardesana dell'Acqua’ which had its headquarters in Malcesine in the 'Palazzo dei Capitani'. In the late 1700s until the end of the 1800s the Austrians used the Scaligero Castle as a stronghold. Malcesine attracted many famous painters and poets amongst which Goethe, Kafka and Klimt who immortalised both Malcesine and the town of Cassone in some of his paintings.
