Goethe in Malcesine

A documentary exhibition of the Casa di Goethe Rome
in cooperation with the Comune di Malcesine

I could have been in Verona tonight but there was still a magnificent vision of nature nearby that I did not want to miss – the delicious spectacle of Lake Garda – and I was amply rewarded for my detour
786.

J.W. Goethe, Lake & Castle of Malcesine, 1786, Klassik Stiftung Weimar

The Castle of Malcesine today

During his famous journey to Italy, a strong and sudden wind on Lake Garda forces Johann Wolfgang Goethe on 13 September 1786 to spend some time in Malcesine.
He is fascinated by the Castello Scaligero and looks out for a quiet place in order to draw the castle. Some inhabitants believe him an Austrian spy and the poet is almost arrested. In Goethe's Italian Journey  you can read this anectode, which has contributed to the village's fame. Today Malcesine is one of the major tourist attractions of Lake Garda.

 

During his famous journey to Italy, a strong and sudden wind on Lake Garda forces Johann Wolfgang Goethe on 13 September 1786 to spend some time in Malcesine.
He is fascinated by the Castello Scaligero and looks out for a quiet place in order to draw the castle. Some inhabitants believe him an Austrian spy and the poet is almost arrested. In Goethe's Italian Journey  you can read this anectode, which has contributed to the village's fame. Today Malcesine is one of the major tourist attractions of Lake Garda.

 

Casa di Goethe and the Comune di Malcesine have been cooperating for some years. Several exhibitions from the museum's collection have been on show at Lake Garda. With the new Goethe hall the Casa di Goethe is now permantly present in Malcesine. Information in three languages is given on Goethe's Italian Journey and his impressions of Lake Garda (publication in three languages) www.comunemalcesine.it