Its imposing crenellated tower overlooks the plane towards the northern shore of Lake Garda and the northern part of the Sarca Valley, a narrow valley between the mountains that in past times was often crossed by soldiers directed towards the Po Valley. The Arco Castle looks like a impregnable but suggestive fortress, surrounded by wonderful and centuries-old cypresses. The attentive visitor who goes up the fortified hamlets of Arco will surely notice the close relationship between the village and its castle, that are connected by increasingly tightly spaced walls that go up the rocky spur and pass near wonderful olive trees. The hamlet could be accessed by four gates, but today only the Transfora (or Stranforio) gate has remained intact. In the past, there was also a drawbridge due to the presence of a moat that ran around the walls. Worth a visit is also the watchtower, inside which there is a cistern, that in the past was filled with rainwater and then piped through lead water-pipes to the rest of the building. The first information about the Arco Castle dates back to the 12th century, when the families of Sejano and Arco were fighting fot the ownership of the building. The Lords of Arco eventually took possession of the castle which they occupied until the end of the sixteenth century. Later they left the uncomfortable fortress to move to the more comfortable palaces of Arco. The castle stayed abandoned until 1703, year in which the French troops under the command of Marshall Vendôme, after having besieged and bombed Trento, ransacked and set fire to the castle. The Arco Castle can be visited all year round and during the summer it is the setting for shows of music and prose.