Our story

The Vincenzi family home, at Via Milano 77 in Castelnuovo del Garda, has been the heart of the Vincenzi family for generations. Located along one of the main streets of the town, the house has not only been a place for daily life but also a space for work, effort, and artisanal ingenuity.

Over the years, the stories of multiple generations have been intertwined within these walls, bound by a strong sense of belonging and a tradition of manual labour. The Vincenzi family has experienced the changes of the region, transitioning from a rural reality to an increasingly modern environment, without ever losing their connection to their roots.

The house was built at the end of the 19th century, when (in 1890) Nicola and Maria Vincenzi acquired the land and began its construction. Originally conceived as a family home, it eventually became a vital hub where work, relationships, and domestic life intertwined daily.

The central figure of this story is the son, Guido Vincenzi (1883–1963), a skilled carpenter and entrepreneur, who brought the project to completion, finishing the house and transforming it into a place for not only domestic life but also productive activity. Behind the house, he had the barchesse (farm outbuildings) and the carpentry workshop built, thus shaping a complex typical of artisanal realities of the time, where home and work coexisted in a daily equilibrium.

Guido was a skilled and experienced carpenter and an enterprising businessman. In his workshop, he produced various artefacts for the construction and furniture sectors (he also furnished the town's schools).

He then dedicated himself to the production of wooden carts for handling luggage at railway stations and for loading and unloading livestock, collaborating with the Ministry of Transport and the Italian State Railways. His activity was part of an era when rail transport was a central element for the local economy. Stations were places of constant movement, and the carts built at the Vincenzi carpentry workshop made a concrete contribution to this system, becoming indispensable tools for daily work.
In addition to this main activity, Guido also managed a significant contract for snow clearing along the Verona–Brescia railway line.

In an era when snowfalls were frequent and abundant, this work required the employment of a large number of men, even up to 800 shovelers a day.

The house itself became the operational centre for this organisation: it was here that workers were recruited and paid at the end of the day. This made the dwelling a focal point not only for the family but for the entire local community.
Guido's professionalism was widely recognised: the certificates of qualification, testifying to his skills and the value of his work, are still visible in the building's stairwell.

After the death of the founders Nicola and Maria, the house continued to be inhabited by the family, led by Guido with his wife Teodolinda and their children Giuseppe (1922/1963), Lino (1927/2010), Umberto (1930/2013), and Giovanna (1936/2015).
Also living with them was Elvira (1986/1977), Guido's sister, a highly skilled and much-appreciated seamstress. Her workshop was located on the ground floor, in the area that today corresponds to the entrance of the building. Her Singer sewing machine, a symbol of her work and daily presence, is still preserved on the first floor.

During the Second World War period (1940-1945), the house experienced one of the most difficult and significant moments in its history.

The dwelling was requisitioned by German troops and transformed into the area's headquarters. The warehouses were filled with supplies for the troops: blankets, food, cigarettes, and other essential goods.
In this context, the young Vincenzi brothers were protagonists of small but significant gestures of solidarity: they secretly took part of these goods to distribute to the local population, severely tested by war and hunger.

Inside the house there was a radiogram (still present today in the breakfast room), a rare and precious object for the time. Very few families owned one. Around that radio, many people from the local area would gather daily to listen to news from the front. The house thus became a place of meeting, sharing, and hope, where the news broke the silence and uncertainty of the war.

The carpentry workshop, which for years had worked for the Italian State Railways, was forced to close due to the loss of railway contracts. With it, an important part of the family's working history came to an end.
But the house's story didn't end there.

With great initiative, Guido, along with his sons, began a new phase in the history of the house.
In front of the house, he opened a petrol station, while in the lower part, next to the main building, he first started an auto electrician's workshop and later a tyre fitting business.
These new activities once again transformed the house into a landmark for Castelnuovo del Garda. No longer carpentry and railway, but mobility, assistance, and service for the local community.
For many years, the house continued to be a lively place, connected to the work and daily life of the village.
In 1950 the family grew with the marriage of the son Giuseppe to Gabriella, and in 1951 with the birth of their son Enzo.
Giuseppe also started a new wholesale stationery business and ballpoint pen manufacturing, taking over part of the premises of the former carpentry workshop.
In 1957 the family expanded further with the wedding of Umberto and Rosa, and in 1958 with the birth of their son Guido Nicola.

Following the premature deaths of his elder brother Giuseppe and father Guido, in 1963, it was Umberto Vincenzi (1930–2013), the third son, who took the reins of the family.
The distributor in front of the house was sold, and Umberto continued the tyre business for years. This continued until the arrival of his son, Guido Nicola (names inherited from his grandfather and great-grandfather), who in 1977 expanded the business with a wholesale tyre and car parts operation.
In 1982, previous activities ceased and Guido Nicola resumed, still in the family home, his uncle Giuseppe's business of producing ballpoint pens and promotional items.
With Guido Nicola's marriage and the subsequent birth of their children (Marco, Alberto, Matteo), the business also grew and was necessarily moved to a large facility in the industrial area of the town.
The house therefore remains solely the family's residence until the death of Umberto (2013) and his wife Rosa (2017).

A story that has never ended, but has simply changed its form over time.
Today the house has been transformed into a tourist establishment, but it carefully preserves the traces of its past.
In the breakfast room and corridors, numerous original items from the family are displayed: kitchen utensils, furniture, workbenches, and carpentry tools. On the walls, period photographs are displayed, rare and precious testimonies from a time when images were few but quite significant.

The Vincenzi family home is not just a historic building, but a place that tells a story of hard work, ingenuity, solidarity and shared life.
From Guido's first workshop, to his work for the railways, through the war years, up to the activities of Umberto and then Guido Nicola, and to the memories preserved in objects, every corner of the house bears witness to a past that continues to live in the present.

This house has always had one thing in common: being a place of work, family, and service to the community.
It preserves the memory of its past intact. Numerous original objects are displayed in the breakfast room and corridors: cabinets built in the carpentry workshop, workbenches, a vintage telephone, a mechanical calculator, scales, and other kitchen instruments related to the family's daily life.

These objects are not mere furnishings, but fragments of history that tell of a reality made of work, manual skill, and deep family relationships. Walking within the spaces of the house, it is still possible to perceive the identity of those who inhabited and built it day by day.