Getting married in Malcesine
Malcesine is the northernmost town on the Veneto shore of Lake Garda, where the lake narrows between steep mountains and Monte Baldo rises to 2,218 metres directly behind the old centre. It is listed among the Borghi più belli d’Italia, the most beautiful villages in Italy, and the reason is easy to see: a harbour with a few boats, stone lanes stepping up from the water, and a castle on a rock over all of it.
The castle is the heart of any wedding here. A fortress stood on the rock from Lombard times; in 1277 it passed to Alberto della Scala, and the Scaligeri held it until 1387, which is why it is called the Castello Scaligero. Visconti, Venice (from 1405 to 1797) and Austria followed, and in 1902 it became a national monument. Goethe sketched it in September 1786 and was briefly taken for a spy for his trouble, a story he tells in his Italian Journey. Today the castle holds a museum of Lake Garda and Monte Baldo, with a room for Goethe, and a central tower with the best view over the water.
Behind the harbour stands the Palazzo dei Capitani, built by the Scala family in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Verona bought it in 1618 as the home of the Capitano del Lago, the officer who ran the lake, and the town of Malcesine has owned it since 1897. It is now a library and an events space. A cable car climbs the mountain behind the town in two stages, the second in rotating cabins, which makes a ride up Monte Baldo a favourite for guests on the day after the wedding.
Wedding makeup artist in Malcesine: at a glance
- Artist
- Elena Potapenko, bridal hair and makeup, 18+ years of experience
- Based in
- Veneto, Italy; travels to Malcesine for weddings
- Specialty
- Bridal hair and makeup by one artist, with a trial before the day, plus hair and makeup for the mother of the bride and the bridal party
- Languages
- English, Italian, Ukrainian and Russian
- Booking
- Check whether your date is free
Where weddings happen in Malcesine
Malcesine has been celebrating civil ceremonies in its castle for years, and the town hall runs them itself. Three places come up in almost every conversation.
The castle: Casermetta and Rivellino
Civil ceremonies are held at the Castello Scaligero in two settings. The Casermetta is an indoor room near the castle entrance with a lake view, set for around forty to fifty seated guests. The Rivellino is an open terrace below the tower, with the whole lake in front of it. Ceremonies are currently offered at 11:00, 14:00 or 17:00, and the town hall does not run two at the same time, so your slot is yours alone.
Palazzo dei Capitani, the lakeside hall
On the first floor of the Palazzo dei Capitani is a wedding hall facing the lake, larger than the castle room and used for bigger parties of up to about a hundred guests. It stands in the old town close to the harbour, so photographs by the water are only a short walk from the ceremony.
Santo Stefano and the village churches
The parish church, the Pieve di Santo Stefano, is first recorded in the ninth century and was rebuilt in the baroque style in the early eighteenth; it holds a Deposition attributed to Girolamo dai Libri. A little north of town, at Navene, the small church of Santa Maria stands beside the Gardesana road. For a church wedding the service time comes from the parish, and the morning is counted back from it.
Music, flowers and the town hall
The castle allows music, including a live musician or readings, and decorations have to be agreed beforehand with the town hall staff. Couples who marry here from abroad also need the documents for a foreign civil wedding; the town hall’s marriage office publishes the list and the rates for the season each autumn.
These are places where couples marry in Malcesine, not a list of Elena’s past jobs. If your ceremony is somewhere else, the plan is the same: tell her the venue and the time, and the morning is counted back from there.