Andre Heller’s Botanical Garden is a wonderful place located between Gardone Sotto and Gardone Sopra, built at the beginning of the 20th century by Arturo Hruska, explorer and doctor, who has gathered here about 2 thousand varieties of plants and flowers on the surface of a single hectare, moved by scenographic effects, in a tangle of paths, rocks, waterfalls.
The most famous place of interest is the Vittoriale degli Italiani in Gardone di Sopra, a monumental complex erected by the will of Gabriele d’Annunzio starting in 1921. The famous poet, journalist, military and patriot from Abruzzo , after having stayed in Gardone Riviera and falling in love with the panorama of Lake Garda, he decided to buy the property on which the Vittoriale stands today and to make it a reign of memory of his own exceptional life and of the Italian people during the First World War. The work was entrusted to the architect Giancarlo Maroni, a friend of the great poet.
Gardens, streets, streets, squares, houses, libraries, waterways, amphitheater: when you arrive at the Vittoriale for the first time, you don’t know exactly what to expect and, in fact, every corner is a surprise. Each area, whether external or internal, conveys the particularity and imaginative person of d’Annunzio, a house-museum to the nth degree. In addition to what you would never think to find, scattered along the path of the entire complex: the SVA plane, the Puglia military ship, the MAS 96 submarine, luxurious gardens, the lemon house, the mausoleum (where D’annunzio rests) and the splendid amphitheater with lake view, still today the seat of important musical events and concerts by great artists every summer.
The Villa Alba , was originally called “Villa Ruhland”, whose translation “Peace in the Landscape” is an explanation of the place where this Residence is located. It is a neoclassical building with an imposing appearance and valuable architectural details, including the imposing staircase, the colonnades and the loggias, the large park with tall trees. In the 1970s, the Municipality of Gardone Riviera bought Villa Alba, making it the first congress center on Garda, still used for exhibitions, conferences, cultural events and private ceremonies.
The Museum of the Divine Infant was born in Gardone Riviera in 2005 by the will of Mrs. Hiky Mayr, a cultured collector of German origin who for thirty-five years has dedicated herself to the research, collection and restoration of sculptures depicting the Child Jesus. it is the only museum in the world with the most relevant and numerous existing themed collection. The collection boasts more than two hundred and fifty sculptures from four centuries and documents through the artefacts on display, the techniques, uses, iconography linked to the theme of sculpture with the subject “Baby Jesus” and in some cases “Mary Child”
