The island has a long and varied history, having been used as a Roman burial ground, pirate lair, a site for a Franciscan monastery, border fortification and as a residential villa.

The island has been visited by numerous famous people over the centuries, reportedly including Francis of Assisi, Anthony of Padua and Dante Alighieri.

After having been abandoned during the period of decline of the Roman Empire, the island served for a long time as a hideout for pirates preying on shipping on Lake Garda.

[4] According to local legend, in 1304, Dante Alighieri came to the island and later referred to it in his Divine Comedy as:[5] Loco è nel mezzo là dove 'l trentino pastore e quel di Brescia e 'l veronese segnar poria, s'e' fesse quel cammino (Inferno, Canto XX) In 1422, Bernardino of Siena was on the island for the first of several visits and in that period a Franciscan convent was constructed.

[4] In 1470, Father Francesco Licheto (1450–1520), a member of the noble Lechi family from Brescia, founded a school of theology and philosophy on the island.

Lechi was also a poet and among his guests were composers Gioachino Rossini and Gaetano Donizetti, the writers Ippolito Pindemonte and Cesare Arici [it] as well as painter Luigi Basiletti and architect Rodolfo Vantini.

In 1837, Luigi Lechi passed the property on to his brother Teodoro (1778–1866), a former general in the Napoleonic army, who – among other changes – added the terraces at the front of the villa.

[3] In 1860, the island was expropriated by the newly unified Italian state and turned into a border fortification against the Austrians, who at the time still held the region of Venetia including the eastern shore of Lake Garda.

[3] After the Duchess died, her daughter Anna Maria (1874–1924), wife of Prince Scipione Borghese from Rome, inherited the island but she survived her mother by only a few months.

In 1927, the prince died, leaving the island to his daughter, Princess Livia Borghese (1901–1969), who was married to Count Alessandro Cavazza from Bologna (1895–1969).

[9] The family also owns properties on the nearby peninsula where they run businesses that include boat rental, olive growing,[11] a camping site, an agriturismo[12] and a riding school.