Torbole ☆☆☆

Riva's lakeshore neighbor Torbole shares an allegiance to the Trentino region and the same winds beloved of boardsurfers, but not nearly the crowds of Riva.

Aside from lake sports, Torbole is famous chiefly for a brilliant bit of naval strategy back in 1439.

Venice was, as usual, at war with Milan.

One of Venice's protectorates, Brescia, was under virtual siege by the Visconti so Venice needed to get it some supplies. The problem was, Milan controlled the southern end of Lake Garda. 

So Venice sailed 25 boats and six galleys up the Adige River, then used 2,000 oxen, hundreds of men, winches, and rollers under the keels to drag them up over the mountains and down into the lake at Torbole.

As impressive as the feat was, it seriously damaged many of the ships, and the fleet was defeated at the Battle of Maderno.

The Venetians then did what they probably should have in the first place: they built new ships in Torbole itself, launched against Milan again, and in 1441 won the final victory, gaining control of the northern lake.

This is part of why, to this day, most of Lake Garda is split between the Veneto region (historically ruled by Venice) and the Lombardy region (of which Milan is the capital).