The Verona-Affi-Caprino railway with the Affi-Garda branch line was an Italian railway that connected Verona to Lake Garda and the slopes of Mount Baldo, passing through Valpolicella. The route fell entirely within the territory of the Province of Verona.
Built through the efforts of a promoting committee and supported by many mayors of the area, it represented an important step in the social and industrial development of the towns through which it passed.
The first section was inaugurated in 1889, while the entire railway was decommissioned in 1959 due to lack of investment and competition from road transport.
History RouteInaugurationVerona-CaprinoAugust 4, 1889Affi-GardaJanuary 31, 1904
Project and establishment of the railway
In the second half of the 19th century, the inhabitants of Garda, Costermano, Bardolino, and Affi had repeatedly expressed interest in a direct rail link with the provincial capital, Verona, since the Brenner line was inconvenient for them as it was located at the bottom of the Adige Valley. Thus, on May 28, 1883, a promoting committee was formed consisting of the mayors of Affi and Costermano (Giuseppe Poggi and Girolamo Giuliari, respectively) and engineers Giovanni Beccherle and Giuseppe Fraccaroli to build a railroad between the city of Verona and the slopes of Mount Baldo. The committee immediately did its best to raise the necessary funds in the project and to sensitize the neighboring municipalities,Chiericato & Rigato, 1993, p. 9 moreover, it called an assembly for this purpose on July 2, 1883, during which the benefits of the project were explained to all the mayors of the towns involved,Among the invited mayors were those of Quinzano, Parona, which are now part of the municipality of Verona, and Negarine, now under San Pietro in Cariano. who, with the exception of the mayor of Garda, approved the project.In this regard, the report of the promoting committee can be consulted.
Having quickly obtained the consent of the other municipalities involved, the promoting committee worked to obtain the necessary authorizations from the Ministry of Public Works and the Ministry of War: the former responded positively in a little less than a year after the request (the concession was received on July 12, 1884), while the Ministry of War gave its approval in January 1886, partly on the grounds that it was itself interested in a railway line in the direction of the Austrian border and that it could serve an Alpini barracks located in Caprino. Following these approvals, further details were finalized within a year, and on February 5, 1886, a convention was signed between the promoting committee and the government, which established a subsidy of 1,000 liras per kilometer for fifteen years and lasting ninety years. This convention was then ratified on February 11 by Royal Decree No. 3762.Ganzerla, 2004, pp. 220-221Gazzetta Ufficiale del Regno d'Italia n. 084 del 10 aprile 1886.
In October 1886, the "Società Anonima per la Ferrovia Verona-Caprino-Garda" (FVCG) was established, with headquarters in Milan and management in Verona, in order to raise the funds for construction and operation: the company had a share capital of 2,500,000 lire and was chaired by banker Alberto Vonwiller, while Achille Levi was vice-president; among the directors were Serafini, Camis and Luzzato.Chiericato & Rigato, 1993, p. 11 The magnitude of the expenses envisaged for the construction of the work explains why it was necessary to resort to non-Veronese capital: at that time Verona was experiencing a period of economic and industrial backwardnessSee also Early industrialization of Verona (Italian) and there was no entrepreneurial class capable of investing such large amounts of capital in such a work. Furthermore, the still-present "military servitudes"Since Austrian rule in the 19th century, Verona has been a border town and therefore a very important territory from a strategic point of view. The presence of garrisons and military structures heavily influenced on its development. In particular, the so-called "military servitudes" were in force: severe restrictions on building outside the city walls and prohibitions for civilians to approach military facilities and transit on particular roads. did not favor the development of industry, as had been the case in Lombardy for some time.
The following year, expropriations were started and there was some controversy between Società Anonima and the municipality of Verona over the placement of the head station: the former wanted to place it in the gardens of Porta San Giorgio, while the latter was not willing to create problems for the inhabitants of the area and users of the postal road to Tyrol, which would be cut by the rails in those vicinities. The issue resulted in legal action, followed with interest by the local press, which led to the municipality obtaining a victory at least economically,Chiericato & Rigato, 1993, p. 14 despite which the station was placed in San Giorgio and the line between Caprino and Verona was inaugurated on August 3, 1889.Ganzerla, 2004, pp. 221-222
The inauguration
On August 3, 1889, six years after the founding of the promoting committee, the first section of the railway, between Verona Porta San Giorgio and Caprino Veronese, was inaugurated with a celebration attended by a large crowd and many authorities, although representatives of the municipality of Verona were absent. On its first journey the train stopped at each station, where it welcomed on board the mayor of the corresponding municipality, and on arrival in Caprino, accompanied by many people also from the mountain towns, the official lunch was held. Passenger service began the day after the inauguration: it proved very successful, partly because of the eagerness to try out the new means of transport, to such an extent that the first runs were full.
Initially, five pairs of trains passed through each day, including round trips,Increased to seven by November 1, 1893. and the ticket cost was 3.75, 2.70 and 1.70 lire in first, second and third class, respectively.Chiericato & Rigato, 1993, p. 21 The staff was dressed in a black uniform and cap, with blue lining in which there were red or silver fillets and borders depending on duties and rank.Chiericato & Rigato, 1993, p. 22
At a time when the automobile was a privilege of the rich, the establishment of this railway represented a radical change in the habits of the population as the time to travel from Verona to Caprino was reduced to half an hour, compared to the two hours taken by traditional means (horses and carts).
Conversely, the construction of the line to Garda, planned in the original plans, was suspended pending further subsidies. It was necessary to wait for the establishment of a new promoter committeeThis new committee was formed by Nicola Gaiter, retired colonel of the Royal Carabinieri. to resolve the issue and urge the start of work: a new convention was signed with the government, which was approved by Royal Decree No. 82 of February 23, 1902. The Affi-Garda was inaugurated on January 31, 1904.Ganzerla, 2004, p. 228
The railway in the early decades of the twentieth century Railway line operatorPeriodSocietà Concessionaria Anonima Commerciale1910 to 1924Società Veneta1910 to 1924Provincial Administration (sub-management by S.A.E.R. since 1935)1924 to 1959 In 1910 the FVCG granted the railway to the Società Veneta per la Costruzione e l'Esercizio di Ferrovie Secondarie Italiane, which kept the line in operation during World War I, when due to wartime requirements civilian runs were almost suppressed in favor of military transport.Ganzerla, 2004, pp. 232-233 However, at the end of the conflict, recovery struggled to take off, so the operating company was forced to reduce traffic to only four pairs of runs per day in the summer and three in the winter.Chiericato & Rigato, 1993, p. 27
Due to insufficient service, in 1924, the Società Veneta no longer deemed it worthwhile to operate the line, which was therefore bought back by the province:Resolution of the Provincial Council of May 5, 1924 authorizing an expenditure of 1,751,000 lire.By Royal Decree February 20, 1925, registered high Court of Accounts on April 10, 1925, reg. no. 4 Public Works, folio no. 1428, effective June 1, 1921, the Verona provincial administration was recognized for all purposes as having succeeded the Società anonima per la ferrovia Verona-Caprino-Garda in the concession of the Verona-Caprino-Garda railway and the Affi-Garda branch line; see Royal Decree no. 1375 of July 15, 1938, published in the Official Gazette of the Kingdom of Italy. the public corporation made several investments including the purchase of accumulator railcars built by Rognini & Balbo which made it possible to increase the number of runs, moving to operating four winter and six summer runs for the entire network, to which were added two runs to Parona and three to Domegliara;Chiericato & Rigato, 1993, pp. 79-80 in addition, plans were made (following a resolution of December 14, 1925) to completely electrify the line, a change that was, however, never implemented due to disagreements between the Administration and the Fascist government.Chiericato & Rigato, 1993, p. 31
The year 1925 was marked by a number of accidents that fortunately did not cause injury to passengers. On March 11, a convoy derailed near Calmasino station due to an incomplete closure of a switch, while on July 9, due to human error on the part of the shunter, some wagons ran off the tracks, creating delays on the line of several hours. Also in the same year an attempt to tamper with the line was reported to the carabinieri with the discovery of some stones placed on the tracks at the Cavaion level crossing.
However, after about ten years of direct management, the province entered a difficult phase, so it decided to hand over management to the Società Anonima Esercizi Riuniti (SAER) in June 1935,Ganzerla, 2004, p. 233 which in the following years proceeded to reorganize the rolling stock, divesting what was considered obsolete.Chiericato & Rigato, 1993, p. 33
The railway during and after World War II During World War II the railway was affected by a difficult situation: in addition to the chronic problems derived from the difficulty of supplying water for the boilers, it was often subjected to attacks and bombings, particularly in 1943 when the most serious episodes occurred, namely in September the death of a passenger following a machine-gun attack by a British aircraft between the Costermano and Pesina stations, and a similar assault on November 3, with an even more serious toll.Chiericato & Rigato, 1993, p. 66 Between July 1944 and April 1945, the railway was interrupted nineteen times by Anglo-American bombing, despite which restorations were always timely as the line was used by the German army for supplies. Due to the difficulty of finding means, moreover, the coal transport service between Domegliara and Caprino was also suspended for a time. Severe damage to the line's infrastructure occurred on April 25, 1945, at the end of the German occupation, when soldiers, by then on the run, undermined and blew up the Sega bridge, which was rebuilt the following year with reinforced concrete arches at an expense of 29,600,000 lire totally borne by the state.
In 1948 the SAER purchased ALn 556 railcars from the State Railways, which were used for passenger transport: the new rolling stock exposed all the limitations of the old equipment, which was incapable of sustaining increases in speed. However, new investments were needed, which the Province did not want to make, so in 1954 it was decided to close the line.Ganzerla, 2004, pp. 234-235
The end of the line