Castello Scaligero

Lake Garda


This atmospheric museum packs a wealth of history into the rough stone walls of a 14th-century castle. The fortification was built in 1338 as part of the Della Scala family's attempts to fend off the Venetian Republic. Each of the castle's rooms explores a different traditional industry such as boat building, fishing, olive-oil production and citrus growing.

Most interesting is the limonaie (lemon glasshouse), the oldest on the lake, which dates from 1760 – it's crowded with fragrant citrus trees and windfalls litter the floor.