Photos

Malcesine - Castello Scaligero
Malcesine is a picturesque village placed on the eastern bank of the Garda Lake, whose origins date back to the Etruscan age (VIII-IV century B.C.). The Castle on the steep cliff overhanging the lake was probably initiated in 6th century A.D. by the Longobards. During the medieval period Malcesine passed under the rule of the Scaligeri, who renovated and modified the structure of the fortress. Under the domination of the Republic of Venice the Castle hosted the Harbor Offices for the Lake, a symbol of the military dominion on the entire zone.
Nowadays the Castle of Malcesine houses the Museum of Natural History. One room in the Castle is dedicated to Goethe, and exhibits the images that the Poet sketched of the lake and Castle itself during his trip to Italy.
As seen in the picture, the Castle with its imposing donjons and walls seems literally to jump off the cliff onto the houses and the narrow alleys of the village.


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Technical Notes
Given the narrow streets and the height of the walls a stitch of several exposures (10 here) is needed to capture the entire subject. The choice of B&W has been a constraint, because of the dull weather. I applied a Cooling Filter to add a bit of colour in order to avoid a boring image (I stole the inspiration from Paulo Goncalves). As a matter of fact, I think that pure B&W were not very effective in this small 800 pixel version.