Museo Civico Archeologico della Valtènesi (Museo della Rocca)

The Civic Archaeological Museum of the Valtènesi at Manerba del Garda brings together finds from the lakeshore, ancient settlements and the Rocca. Established in 2009, it connects archaeology with the surrounding reserve's natural history.

Why it matters

The collections reveal successive ways of inhabiting the Lake Garda landscape. Burial places, pile dwellings, villas and fortifications provide different kinds of evidence for work, domestic life and belief.

What to notice

A reconstructed burial structure represents the Copper Age necropolis at Riparo Valtènesi. Finds from the Bronze Age pile dwelling of San Sivino include pottery, flint arrowheads and bronze fishing implements. Roman material includes mosaics and painted plaster from two villas, alongside everyday objects and grave goods from Campo Olivello. Medieval and sixteenth-century weapons and pottery document the Rocca's later history.

Context and history

The museum draws on decades of archaeological investigation. The San Sivino settlement became part of the UNESCO serial site of prehistoric Alpine pile dwellings in 2011. The Rocca's fortifications, begun by at least the eleventh century, survived until their destruction on Venice's orders in 1574.