Storia di Toscolano-Maderno {Italiy} / The history of Toscolano-Maderno

Another ALIVE place on Earth, found in Italy. The history of it is the following:

The current municipality, established June 14, 1928, is nothing but the merger of the two centers of Toscolano and Maderno which both have very ancient origins: the first Etruscan and the second Roman. It seems, in fact, that the first settlement was just by the Etruscans in the area of ​​the port of Toscolano which was given the name of Benaco, then replaced, around the first century AD, by Tusculanum.
Toscolano is remembered, in particular, because in the first century AD the noble Roman family of the Nonii built a beautiful villa of which, near the entrance to the paper mill, you can still admire ruins and mosaic floors come to light in 1967 following some excavation work. Some tombstones can be admired at the Museo Lapidario of Verona, while others have been walled up in the bell tower of the Church of Toscolano together with two columns of columns that are found at the entrance of the Church itself.

Inside the park of the Roman villa there were two temples: one dedicated to Jupiter, on whose ruins the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Benaco rose. The altar of this church consisted of four columns (the same that are now outside the temple) with a capital in which was placed the head, in the shape of a ram, by Jupiter Ammon, destroyed by St. Charles Borromeo in 1580. The other, however, was dedicated to Bacchus. On the latter was built a church first dedicated to St. Andrew, later to St. Dominic and finally demolished in the '500 to make way for the current Parish Church of the SS. Peter and Paul. Currently it houses many precious paintings by the Venetian painter Andrea Celesti, almost becoming his own personal gallery.

Maderno is linked to the memory of the Bishop of Brescia S. Ercolano or S. Erculiano who lived in the 6th century. He took refuge in a cave near Campione del Garda, out of penance or persecuted. When he died his remains were disputed among the inhabitants of the coast for which, according to legend, were placed in a boat abandoned at the mercy of the waves and the wind, the day after this boat landed, miraculously, in the Gulf of Maderno. In 1455 he was recognized as protector of the entire coast.

Maderno too can boast a grand and ancient work of art. This is the Romanesque Church, once dedicated to St. Andrew who, with its majestic facade, looks out over the central square.
On the place where the Parish Church of Maderno is now stood, since the Middle Ages, a majestic castle with four towers of which only the present bell tower has remained. It was, at that time, surrounded by double pits and certainly built to defend the continuous barbaric threats.

Around the middle of the XIII century it was adapted to a public palace, seat of the Podestà, then of the Vicar (Magistrate). When Maderno became the capital of the Brescian Riviera in 1310, the various administrative bodies were installed, which remained until 1377, when Beatrice della Scala decided to transfer the seat of the Magistrature and the capital of the Riviera to Salò. For this affront to the Madernesi was called, from then on, "Queen bitch". Maderno, stripped of his privileges, began his decline. The Palace began to fall into disrepair until on 25 June 1645 a terrible fire destroyed it completely. Only a century later began the construction of the new parish church, completed only in 1825.

The municipality presents an example of economic integration: mainly artisanal and industrial Toscolano and almost exclusively tourism instead Maderno although in recent decades this activity has also extended to Toscolano.
The industrial origins of Toscolano date back to 1300 in the locality of "Camerate" where the first paper factory was built. In the following century, in the locality "Religion", so called because a Dominican Abbey, the friars of the Abbey, was founded long ago, after having transformed the uncultivated and marshy lands into fertile fields and built a port and a "seriola" (artificial canal) to conduct the water), they also started the paper industry taking advantage of the hydraulic power produced by the "seriola" to operate the machines of their paper mills. Then, with time, this activity spread throughout the Valle delle Cartiere and in that of the Camerate that were filled not only with "madmen", small buildings for the manufacture of paper, but also of workshops, t-shirts and ironworks.

Directly related to the paper industry also rose some printing works that had considerable importance. Suffice it to mention the printers Gabriele di Pietro from Treviso who, around 1478, worked in Messaga and later moved to the Dominican friars to the "Religion" and Paganino Paganini and his son Alessandro from his printing house to the port of Toscolano and then to that of Messaga released 43 precious editions.

Around 1700 began a slow and unstoppable decline of these activities. Then the advent of electricity gave them the coup de grace. The last paper mill left in the valley was that of the Maffizzoli which, due to transport and expansion needs, built the new plant in "Capra" in 1906 which, following considerable restructuring, became the current Toscolano Paper Mill , which has assumed national and international importance.

Maderno also had some paper mills, located on the right bank of the stream, but the main activity was the cultivation of olive trees and lemons. At the beginning of the last century, due to the considerable maintenance costs, the lemon groves were progressively abandoned. Few ruins remained to witness the existence of this activity that once occupied the first place in the economy throughout the Garda Riviera. Olive trees, on the other hand, despite being still a source of income, leave every year space for new houses, villas or condominiums.
As for tourism in Maderno, already known by the Gonzaga of Mantua since 1600, we must point out that it was the Germans, towards the end of the 1800s, who discovered our sweet climate, so that - contrary to what happens today - their tourist season is limited to the autumn and winter season.
Another historical element was inserted from 1943 to 1945 in the life of our municipality. In fact since October 1943, with the establishment of the social republic that took place after the liberation of Mussolini from the Gran Sasso and its transfer to Gargnano, a large part of the Ministries and administrative offices of the capital moved, with the relative staff, to Toscolano-Maderno , occupying the school building in which the Ministry of the Interior has been installed and several hotels and private houses. In the villa of Mr. Benoni (now Hotel Golfo) in Maderno was the headquarters of the Republican fascist party with Pavolini. All this ended in April 1945 with the end of the war, without excessive damage.

THE CASTLE OF MADERNO

On the same area where is now the Parish Church of Maderno, once stood the castle that originally had four towers, one of which remained and is the current bell tower. A second tower, whose remains were preserved until about the mid-nineteenth century, was located on the Piazza where there is now the bus stop for Salò, while the other two were on the sides of the castle, towards the lake.

The surrounding flora is incredible ... here is the beauty of it:

If at the start of the post I inserted a picture during the night, here is one during the day:

(In front of you, you have Lago din Garda - Garda Lake).

The pictures are made entirely by me

And Google Maps helps me show you the right location:

Thank you for visiting, upvote and hope you leave a comment.
With love, @laviniatherapist XOXO