Polpenazze del Garda

Polpenazze, an agricultural centre in upper Valtenesi, on the peaks of a glacial formation, surrounded by vineyards and olive groves.

The first settlements date
date back to the end of the fourth millennium B.C. when a small group of people settled in the area near Lake Lucone, building their homes on stilts. They hunted and fished. Two thousand years later a group of Romans settled for about a thousand years, followed by Gallic settlers, who were quickly absorbed into Roman culture following the colonization of the entire Po Valley. In the mid fifteenth century (or to be precise on 29 August 1454, the assembly of 38 heads of families approved the statutes governing the village. The meeting took place in the Castle and indicates a sophisticated form of local government.

The documents cite the governing body, or Vicinia, which elected a smaller assembly, presided over by each member in turn. The governing body included a notary public, Treasurer, legate and several guards. The names of several families are known (for example Filippini) and Giovanni Omodeo created an artificial lake for intensive crop rotation, an invention later used for electricity and running water. In 1965, in the area of the former lake, numerous remains were found of the Bronze Age as well as a pirogue made from the trunk of a tree, and about 4 m. long. The cast is kept in the Museum of Gavardo.

The economy of Polpenazze is largely agricultural, with the production of wine and oil. At the end of May, the famous DOC wine exhibition, now about half a century old, presents the best local wine, with wine tasting, competitions and other events associated with local culture.