The history of the Galea has fascinated many people, both in terms of the ancient life of this Venetian boat, and for the discovery in our time of what is worth as much as a great treasure in our time.
Arrived as a legend wants across the mountains to embark on a conflict that lasted until the middle of the '400 between the Republic of the Serenissima and the Duchy of Milan remained there on the seabed waiting for us for several hundred years.
Numerous written documents have given us references on what may have been his life along with at least two other "fuste", enthusiasts have tried their hand at historical identification from his arrival to the arsenal of Lazise until the moment of what is It was now established its voluntary sinking in the early 1500s when the arrival of the French after the capture of Peschiera del Garda and the loss of the entire western bank of Benaco, the commanders made the decision to burn the Galea and a Fusta before Escape: this fact made explainable why not many objects were recovered from inside. On a new archaeological level both underwater and of international-historical interest, Lazise found herself at the center of a revolutionary discovery, even the first ever for a long ship of that kind, a record flanked only recently by the Galea di San Marco Boccalama in the venice lagoon. It has always been handed down its location among the people of the town over the years, handed down from father to son, being an exact spot on the water where fishermen with their nets repeatedly have traced back pieces of wood, anchors, ancient weapons, without then to mention that it was above the fishing that was more productive, for the habitat that must be recreated by the slow rot of its components.
Even knowing this, it was not possible to reach the real discovery that in 1962 although it is to be said there were other facts that would place the date even earlier.
Since then, there have been 5 campaigns at the beginning to discover its location, clean it up and even recover it possibly whole, then it was decided each time to take note of its features from the seabed, recovering only a few pieces.
At the Garda Museum of Malcesine Castle in a station dedicated to the Galea you could see what remained of the first funded campaigns and that is photos, reliefs and finds.
More information about: http://www.archeosub.it/articoli/laghi/lazise.htm