A 74 mt. high tower was built here to commemorate the battle of 24 June 1859, it honours the 40.000 French, Piedmont and Austrian soldiers that fell or were injured during the bloody battle. Commissioned by King Umberto I, in honour of his father Vittorio Emanuele II who, in 1859, led the troops of the Kingdom of Sardinia, it is a cylindrical structure with a convenient spiral ramp leading the top. The museum presents through various frescoes, visits and sights these military events. Nearby there is also the Romanesque Church of San Martino which houses an ossuary.

On the site that witnessed the bloody victory of Napoleon III's French troops over the Austrians in June 1859, there stands a historical museum with documents relating to the battles. An ossuary lies a short distance away in the Church of San Pietro and nearby stands the International Red Cross Memorial. It seems that it was the carnage at San Martino that inspired Henri Dunant, a swiss philanthropist and Nobel prize winner in 1901, to found the Red Cross. The Memorial was built in 1959, using marble from all the nations of the world.

Address:
Viale Marconi, 33 25015 Desenzano del Garda (BS)
Tel: ++39+0309141704 Fax: ++39+0309141228 Email: info@hotel-giardinetto.com