Peschiera del Garda was once the site of an ancient lake-dwelling settlement. The fortress played a prominent part in most military campaigns conducted in northern Italy after 1400. In the middle of the 16th century the fortress and town passed into the hands of the Venetians, who ordered reconstruction of the fortress according to projects by Guidobaldo da Urbino and Sanmicheli. Napoleon added two new fortresses there. At the beginning of the 19th century the Austrians redesigned and expanded the fort. With Mantua, Verona, and Legnano, it became one of the strongholds of the Quadruple Alliance. After the end of the Third War of Independence (1866), Peschiera del Garda became part of the Kingdom of Italy. During the First Italian War of Independence, it was taken by the Piedmontese from the Austrians, after a gallant defence by General Rath lasting six weeks, on May 30, 1848.
References:Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.
Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.
There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.