Scovolo Castle

in many medieval documents we talk about this notorious castle, which had to be of imposing size and stood near the lake, it seems on the promontory of San Fermo, where now it is the church of San Fermo.

Scovolo Castle is mentioned in numerous documents, the first time in a diploma of Carloman to the Zenonese monks of Verona in 879, with which the monks were recognized the “rights of fishing and grazing, up to the shores of Manerba and Scovolo .. . “; other news are found in 1156 in a diploma of Federico I Barbarossa with which he declares that the inhabitants and territory of Scovolo castle was under his protection; in November 1, 1221 Federico II confirms the rights of Scovolo recognized by his predecessor. A document of 1387, the “Catalog of Fires of the Municipalities of the Riviera” of 1387 reports that that of Scovolo included the lands of San Felice, Portese, Tromegnane, Cisano, this until the subsequent subdivision of 1408; other mentions are made by Silvan Cattaneo da Salò in his work of 1553 but printed only in 1745 “Salò and his Riviera”, from Bongianni Grattarolo in his “Istoria della Salò Riviera” of 1599 and many others. Francesco Bettoni, in his “History of the Riviera di Salò”, recounts that in 1275, when Brescia was elected bishop Berardo Maggi, Scovolo braced his arms, expelling the Brescians and deciding to give himself to the lords of Verona and Mantua but, when Brescia reconquered the lands inhabited, landed their castles ordering that they would never be rebuilt, as confirmed in the peace of Montichiari of 1279.

From the reliefs performed on several occasions, starting from those made in 1838 by the priest Quintus Brunelli and continuing with those of the ASAV archaeological group, there are numerous elements of Roman origin, but not those of medieval origin, which contrasts with the extensive historical documentation that tells about the castle. It remains however that on the promontory of San Fermo there are the remains of mighty walls and foundations that could justify the documents.