“Actually, on September 13, 1786, the poet prince only wanted to sail past Malcesine from Torbole. But even then there were the famous sea breezes that surfers enjoy today. When the wind suddenly changed at noon and the Ora blew violently towards the boat from the south, Goethe had to make an emergency landing in Malcesine. In order to spend the time sensibly, he climbed up to the castle and began to sketch it energetically. But these unusual activities aroused the suspicions of the villagers, because the castle was a ruin, but still a military object. Could the stranger be an Austrian spy? At that time, the border between Venetia and the Habsburg monarchy was only a few kilometers further north. Only an Italian who happened to be there, who had worked in Frankfurt for a long time and was talking to Goethe about his hometown, was finally able to report to the mayor: 'Mr Podestà, I am convinced that this is a good, artful man, well educated, who travels around 'to teach himself.' Nevertheless, Goethe only stayed until the next day, and then at midnight, with the onset of the north wind Vento, he sailed on to Bardolino, where he continued his journey by mule to Verona. The episode, however, broadly rolled out in his 'Italian journey', carried the name Malcesine into high literature."
“Lake Garda” travel guide by Eberhard Fohrer (Michael-Müller-Verlag)