Lazise
Discover Lazise
A concise introduction to Lazise, its geography, history and culture.
Introduction
Lazise is a walled harbour town on the southeastern shore of Lake Garda, with a Scaliger castle at one end and a small enclosed port that is among the most photographed things on the lake.
Its real distinction is constitutional rather than architectural. In 983 the emperor Otto III granted Lazise the rights to fortify itself and to fish the lake — a diploma widely cited as making it the first free comune in Italy, nearly nine centuries before the country existed.
On the harbour stands the Dogana Veneta, the Venetian customs house, which doubled as the yard where the Republic built and armed galleys for the lake.