The Cascate del Varone (Varone Falls) is located in the town of Tenno in Trentino, 3 km from Riva del Garda.
The falls has a height of almost 100 metres, and is sourced from the river Magnone, which runs beneath the valley of Ravizze and down to Lake Garda. Its waters are fed by underground leakage from Lake Tenno into the mountain that then forms the waterfall. The name Varone has its origin from the town of Varone a short distance away.
La Cascata del Varone was opened to the public on 20 June 1874. Patrons were the King of Saxony and Prince Nicholas of Montenegro, who were near Riva del Garda on holiday. Since then it has become a must-see for all tourists.
Names of artists and writers appearing in the visitors books include Prince Umberto II of Savoy, Gabriele D'Annunzio, the Emperor Franz Joseph I of Habsburg, Franz Kafka, Thomas Mann and many others.
Thomas Mann often visited Riva del Garda between 1901 and 1904, apparently drawing inspiration for some sections of his novel The Magic Mountain from the falls, for example the phrase "The water pours down with a deafening noise at the back of the deep, narrow chasm formed by paunchy, bare, slippery rocks that resemble huge fish bellies."
