Off the A4, 8 km south of Lake Garda. Take ‘S. Martino’ slip-road from motorway. The great tower commemorates the battle of Solferino (a village 9 km S) of 1859 in which 30,000 Piedmontese corpses paved the way for Italian unity. On the crest of the hill behind Solferino is a monument with tablets for 77 countries, each inscribed in the countries’ own script. It commemorates the founding of the International Red Cross by Henry Dunant, a Swiss and an accidental observer of the battle, shocked by what he saw. The tablets honour the signatories to the Geneva Convention.

Detour – Brenta Canal

Connects Padua and Venice. More than 70 Palladian villas line the Brenta Canal among willows and magnolias. Under the Tiepolo ceiling of Villa Pisani, Hitler first met Mussolini (1934). You can drive the route (51 km) or sail in the Burchiello passage-boat, with a bus-link from either terminal – more information and booking, www.ilburchiello.it