Sanctuary Montecastello

The Sanctuary Montecastello is among the most expensive and popular sacred places of Lake Garda, is perched on a rock overlooking the lake offering those who farfetched to this place a spectacular panorama.

Sanctuary Montecastello, Santa Maria di Monte Castello or, as mentioned in a document of 1187, Santa Maria in Monte Stelle; the current one of “Montecastello” originates from the fact that on the site there was a fortification built in 1283 by Albert Count of Auspury and Duke of Austria, during the war with the Brescians. In the middle of the seventeenth century, an epigraph says that its foundation would be earlier than 800 and, to reinforce this information, a spearhead dating back to the 7th century was discovered during the remaking of the floor. The building has at least five construction phases that G.P. Brogiolo describes: “The oldest is with a semicircular apse and a single hall, extended towards the west, just beyond the presbytery of the present church. The term ante quem for its construction is a fresco in the apse depicting the Coronation of the Virgin, dating from the fourteenth century. We cannot therefore say whether or not it is the original church and only an excavation could provide more precise indications on the chronology and on the relationship with the probable seventh century burials. A second phase, of overall restructuring, has as its term ante quem the reconstruction of the fifteenth century (third phase) which is articulated on two levels: in the basement there is an oratory, divided by two orders of large pillars, with vaults and walls decorated with frescoes; upstairs the nave has been extended to the west, above the oratory. In a fourth phase, dating back precisely to 1599, the portico with lateral stairs is added and the front courtyard was closed by the building that is still preserved today. Finally, in 1903, the restoration curated by Arturo Cozzaglio gave a neo-Gothic imprint to the church: marble columns with concrete capitals were placed against the upper part of the facade; the interior, deprived of the baroque decorations and the stucco ceiling of ca. 1670, is decorated with geometric motifs “.

Inside there are frescoes from the Giottesca school, and the former largest vote in Europe, dating back to the 1618 which depicts a battle in which the famous bandit Zanzanù (Zuane Zanone) died, a terror for decades on the Garda coast. Attached to the church is the Hermitage, which welcomes thousands of pilgrims every year. Along the access road from the provincial road there are the chapels with the mysteries of the Holy Rosary.
The Sanctuary is open from Easter to the end of October, from 9.00 to 19.00.