District Tournament

Every year on the day of the Assumption, the Palio delle Contrade takes place in Garda, the most significant festival for the local fishing community and one of the dearest to the residents of Lake Garda. The first celebration dates back to September 1952, the five hundredth anniversary of the Corporation of the Ancient Originators of Garda, but the current regulation is from 1998. In the stretch of the lakeside between the harbor and the town hall, at dusk, the flat-bottomed gondolas of nine districts take to the water, contending for the city title with their oars. Each crew consists of four Venetian rowers who row standing with alternating oars, in the style of local fishermen, along a stretch of 400 meters that is covered three times.
At the command: Boats in the water!, the three elimination heats commence until the crowning of the winning District.

The boats used in the palio regatta, the bisse, are modeled after those used daily for fishing on the lake.
The rowing competition, characterized by district members and rowers in costume, has as its prize the wooden statue of the Madonna Assunta, and before the race, the crews will be blessed at the Church of Santa Maria Assunta.

Parades and shows precede the regatta along the streets of the town, while the day concludes with a fireworks display on the shores of the lake and music with a DJ.

Contrada Rosa presents the green-black colors with the symbol of the lavarello; Antiche Mura yellow-red with the perch; Corsetto the yellow-black colors with the carpione; Pio is blue-red with the eel; La Losa red-black with the pike; Il Borgo is yellow-green and has the trout as its symbol; Porto yellow-blue with the sardine; Via Spagna green-red with the tench and La Piasa blue-light blue with the aola.