Walking around Bardolino means to enter a world in which past and present meet each other. Bardolino means not only beautiful landscapes, good wine and entertainment, but also discovering an important historic and artistic heritage.
While walking around the streets you will enjoy the remains of the medieval walls dating back to the twelfth century if not even before.
We know from reliable sources that the first defensive structures might date back to the ninth century, when king Berengario allowed the inhabitants to build fortresses to protect the villages of Lake Garda.
At that time Bardolino featured square city walls open towards the lake, with two doors and four towers, one for each side.
The city walls maintained their structure up to the eighteenth century, except for some widening during the Scaliger Era (including the turret); heedless of the ancient fortresses, private citizens started introducing new buildings.
In the nineteenth century further destructions only spared a few walls, that is the ones that currently exist. The port holds the tower that is placed against a seventeenth century building (the current Hotel Catullo); it is sloped due to sinking.