The nostalgie of the Belle Epoque..

This old picture shows a small town of Lake Garda situated on the extreme northen shore of Lake Garda. This town has enherited a rich history for its location on a border line between the three regions of Trentino, Veneto and Lombardia. It has  numerous fortress constructions that date back from Medieval times since which Riva (or Ripa in the local dialect) was a strategic point of defence of Trento Dukes, afterwards - Verona's della Scala family and Venetians.

 In this picture Riva is a tiny and quiet town of fishermen at the beginning of XX century when only a couple of historic buildings have a sign "Hotel" outside, the  streets are inhabited with the local people and those few foreign tourists that start visiting this shore of the Lake are observed and noticed with curiosity and respect.

The high quality of tourism - the Belle Epoque of pre-war times - brought high eclaim of Riva among the elite of those times: the Emperors of Hungarian Empire, the writers Thomas and Heinrich Mann, Franz Kafka and Nitsche, the American millionaier Vanderbilt and the Russian Great Duches Olga Aleksandrova (sister of tzar Nikola II), the Archduke Francesco Ferdinando, who chose Riva to breath the fresh meditarrenean air and enjoy the luxurious parks and gardens.

The lakeside above rappresented remained untouched and offeres the visitors the stunning views over the mountains that embrace the town on both sides where the lake seems to have no end, like a sea that hides its continuation behind the rocks. The magnificent cipruses still rise on the peninsular of the park which "enters into the lake".