The Vittoriale degli Italiani is a complex of buildings, streets, squares, an outdoor theater, gardens and water courses erected between 1921 and 1938 by Gabriele d Annunzio on project of the architect Giancarlo Maroni, in memory of the “inimitable life” of the poet-soldier and enterprises of the Italians during the First World War. Often, for sineddoche, this name is referred only to the house of d’Annunzio, located inside the complex. The Vittoriale extends for about 9 hectares on the hills of Gardone Riviera in panoramic position, overlooking the lake. The visitor is welcomed by the monumental entrance consisting of a pair of arcs at the center of which is placed a fountain which bears in bronze letters a pitch of the secret book, last work written by Gabriele d’Annunzio. By the arches of the entrance winds a twofold path: the first uphill leads to the Priory, the house-museum of Gabriele d’Annunzio, and still climbing to the military ship Puglia and the Mausoleum of heroes with the tomb of the poet; the second port toward the gardens, the Arengo, and, through a series of terraces sloping down toward the lake, you arrive at the Limonaia and orchard. Passed the entrance and the grip on the track toward the Priory, on the left you can admire the amphitheater designed by Maroni between 1931 and 1938 but finished only in 1953. Inspired by the theaters of classicism, enjoys a breathtaking view on the lake having as natural scene the Monte Baldo, Isola del Garda, La Rocca di Manerba in which the German poet Goethe seemed to perceive the profile of Dante and the peninsula of Sirmione. The top of the Vittoriale is occupied by the Mausoleum, funeral monument built by Maroni after the death of d’Annunzio. The monument is inspired by the mounds funerary tradition Etruscan-roman and consists of three rounds in Botticino marble to represent the victories of the humble and the Artieri and heroes. Under the hill donjon is placed the military ship Puglia, perhaps the most fascinating of the heirloom Vittoriale. From the Ship Puglia you can admire the valley formed by the courses of the streams of the Acquapazza and Acquasavia that join downstream in the pond of the dances in the shape of a violin. Inaugurated in 2010 in the large exhibition space of sottoteatro, the Museo d’Annunzio Secret collects what up to now had remained unknown to the general public because closed in closets and drawers of the Priory: the clothes of the Vate, shoes and boots, bed linen, clothes specially made to be packaged by d’Annunzio for its women, the collars of the dogs, objects from the desktop, the tableware, jewelry. An entire section is dedicated to the elegant suitcases, to luggage racks and the trunks of interlocking. At the entrance to six screens transmit movies vintage dell’Istituto Luce or in the historical archive of the RAI. The Museo d’Annunzio Secret therefore represents a close encounter, intimate with the everyday world of Gabriele d Annunzio in its style of life inimitable and refined.
prenotazioni@vittoriale.it
