Salò

Salò faces the gulf that bears its name, on the Brescia shore of Lake Garda. The place name is unexplained; the likeliest reading ties it to salt, stored here after coming up the Po and the Mincio from the Adriatic. On 4 November 1334 thirty-four communities of the lakeside and the Val Sabbia formed a federation led from Maderno; Salò later took its place, and Venice gave the Patria the titles of Magnifica and firstborn daughter of the Serenissima.

A ship armed on the Riviera fought at Lepanto: its cannon were melted down afterwards and the bronze became the six candlesticks of the Duomo. When the Serenissima fell, the townspeople rose against the new democratic government to stay loyal to Venice; the French sacked the town and took away its capital title. The 1901 earthquake left many buildings unusable and opened the works that shaped the lakefront. In October 1943 the Italian Social Republic settled between Salò and Gargnano: the foreign ministry and the bulletin office were here, and the state took the town's name, though Rome remained the capital.