Big Fish in Peschiera del Garda

The sun shone deceitfully through our windows this morning, but opening it for a second let me know that it was lying and in fact was icy cold outside. That led to a multiple question conversation: which church would be warm enough. You see, while 15th century churches might look beautiful, they are so cold that you shiver through mass in the winter and like an oven in the summer with every woman and some men fanning themselves. Although one solution we have found for combating the cold  is that if we sit really close to a group of older women wearing fur coats, we get shielded from the cold. It's like getting protected by a wall of bears. But since that isn't always predictable, we thought about the following churches heating, parking and priests in our debate:

1. Desenzano downtown: really big with drafts blasting cold air, 5 euros for parking outside of town (church parking lots do not exist in ancient cities protected by zoning laws), but the priest also gives good clear messages.

2. Montichiari: 60 minutes free parking, the priest, a Franciscan friar I think, is really good and intellectual but the church is huge and the door opens up to chilly winds blasting your face as people come in late. The rest of the time you just sort of shiver.

3. Rivoltella: a modern church built with too much glass that makes it so cold in the winter, boiling in the summer then there is no where to park and the priest is sarcastic and screams.

4. Madonna del Frasino: Free but far parking next to the cemetery, the Franciscan priest is great, but the constantly open door makes it terribly cold and there are a lot of speed checks on the way.

5. Peschiera del Garda: only one speed check on the way, 90 minute free parking a few blocks from the church, the choir sings happily, the priest is human and warm, and it has heating! I don't know if it is real heating or the architect was great back in the 17th c. Either way, I think we found a winner!

We arrived early and walked around the town. Peschiera del Garda is a giant star shaped fortress built at the south of Lake Garda. The fortress was built around 1400 and was used actively by the military even during the Napoleonic Wars. Long, thick, dark barracks echo the military jail that closed recently in 2002.

I can't imagine getting jailed in there!

This is the shape of Peschiera del Garda

This is Lake Garda, the largest lake in Italy. I live in the bottom left side.

City Map of Peschiera del Garda

Where they stored the cannon balls, or palle......

Le Palle de la Palleria. Che palle!

One thing that I particularly like about Peschiera is the water around the fortress.

It's pretty but stenches of human urine as you get close to the door.

 Today, we went to the fishermans museum. This museum featured the local nautural history of how the people of Pesciera survived for the last hundred of years. They were, and are avid fishermen of Lake Garda. The museum was free, simple, and in a few extra rooms of the old military jail. Not an ideal place for a museum, huh? What I really liked about this was that the community thought that their everyday history was worth preserving and documenting for the visitors and more importantly, for their children to remember. Check out my pictures:

Cheap and effective sign

Fishermans boat

4 cylendar motor

The old boat used

I loved the ceiling in here. It is the perfect setting for "The Dinner Party" plates by Judy Chicago

Nails for the boats

Omega 3. YUM!!!

Fishing rods

My husband showing me how the hand weight works. The ball on the end slides down on the pole that has numbers indicating the weight (1 kilo, 2 kilos etc) till it is perpendicular.

Fishing nets

Net fixing tools

I am glad we went to the museum because it is only open a few hours a week. Peschiera del Garda is definitely a wonderful little place and I enjoy it every time we go there, especially for the warm church!