Museo nella città

Riva del Garda holds stories that often go unnoticed by those who walk hurriedly through its streets.
Behind every façade, courtyard and glimpse between the alleys of the historic centre lies a fragment of the past, ready to emerge for those who know where to look.

For this reason, the MAG presents “Museum in the City”, a series of guided tours that will lead you through the historic centre. Each tour will reconstruct the history of the Upper Garda area, weaving together the events that shaped this land between lake and mountains, uncovering curiosities linked to hidden corners, unusual architectural details and fascinating buildings that preserve centuries old memories, often in plain sight but rarely noticed.

A journey that invites you to see the city with new eyes, guided through the traces of time still preserved in the historic centre of Riva.


Full calendar

• Saturday, July 11 – 10:30 am
  MAG - Museo dell'Alto Garda
  Jewish Riva
  There is an alley in the centre of Riva that 19th-century maps called “delle Larve”, but which popular memory has always known by another name: Vicolo degli Ebrei.
  Here, between Piazza Granda and the ancient Contrada Lata, a Jewish community lived for centuries, at least from 1430 to the 18th century, protected by the local aristocracy and connected to Riva through intense commercial relations.
  In Riva, contrary to what plaques and common assumptions suggest, there was never a ghetto in the strict sense of the term: Jewish people had their shops in Piazza San Rocco and lived intertwined with the fabric of city society, not segregated in a closed enclosure.
  Clear traces of their presence remain: the place of prayer, the space for ritual slaughter identified precisely in Piazza San Rocco, the cemetery – whose location was traced by enlarging the ancient Burgleckner map – and the synagogue, identified in the first building opposite the town hall, at the corner with Via Fiume. The museum now also preserves the Mussulam plaque, an ideal starting point to reconstruct this hidden geography.
  Not a closed ghetto, therefore, but houses and courtyards intertwined with the rest of the city: Professor Maria Luisa Crosina will tell this story during the guided tour on Saturday, July 11, leading you through Jewish Riva and revealing its rituals, traditions and the long history that intertwines the Jewish community with the fabric of Riva del Garda.
  
   
• Sunday, July 26 – 10:30 am
  MAG - Museo dell'Alto Garda
  Medieval Riva
  Those who walk today through Piazza III Novembre, among cafés and lively arcades, can hardly imagine that these same spaces were for centuries the beating heart of trade and exchanges linked to the presence of the lake, watched over by a tower built without the consent of the prince-bishop.
  The Apponale Tower, erected in the 13th century by the noble Bonvicini family to guard the western harbour, is just one of the marks that the Middle Ages left on Riva. Nearby, the ancient gates of the medieval walls and the views of the Marocco district, with its narrow alleys and houses built on landslide debris that gave the district its name, still preserve the typical urban imprint of a “border” village rooted in trade and defence.
  Guiding you through these traces of time, often in plain sight but rarely noticed, will be Silvia Delugan, in the guided tour on July 26, reconstructing medieval Riva: a city of towers, palaces of power and fortifications, centuries before becoming the tourist destination we know today.
  
   
• Sunday, August 9 – 10:30 am
  MAG - Museo dell'Alto Garda
  Giancarlo Maroni – The Architect of the Lake
  The route, starting from the museum, crosses the historic centre of Riva del Garda, connecting the main buildings designed by architect Giancarlo Maroni, famous for creating the “Vittoriale degli Italiani”, the residence of Gabriele d’Annunzio in Gardone.
  The architect was one of the key figures in the reconstruction of Riva after the First World War, designing many works, including the Ponale hydroelectric power plant, Spiaggia degli Olivi and other lakefront buildings.
  
   
• Saturday, August 22 – 10:30 am
  MAG - Museo dell'Alto Garda
  The Madruzzo Family and the Church of Santa Maria dell’Inviolata
  The observation of some valuable paintings housed in the museum’s Pinacoteca is the starting point of this itinerary dedicated to the Madruzzo family, responsible for the construction of one of the most prestigious buildings in Riva: the Church of the Inviolata.
  The structure, located outside the city walls, is a true artistic jewel: its sober and simple exterior contrasts with the interior space, characterised by a superb Baroque decoration.
  
   
• Saturday, September 12 – 10:30 am
  MAG - Museo dell'Alto Garda
  Grand Tour
  
   
• Sunday, September 20 – 10:30 AM
  MAG – Upper Garda Museum
  Roman Riva
  From the archaeological section of the museum to the discovery of the historic centre of Riva del Garda, where more than two thousand years ago there was a small but important Roman settlement.
  The remains brought to light over the years, including the Roman Baths in Piazza della Costituzione, help us reconstruct and imagine this ancient and important past.