It stretches along the Via Gardesana Orientale (Strada Statale 249) and is nestled between Lake Garda and the slopes of Monte Baldo.

Malcesine is the northernmost comune on the Veneto shore of the lake, immediately to its north lies Trentino Alto Adige.

Over the centuries there are many documentary variants: Manascicines (932), Malesicine (1023), Malesisicis (1154), Malesisinum (1159), Malasilice (1225), Malsexeno (1422), Malsesene (1611) to name but a few of the Maffezzoli.

[8] Malcesine's most prominent landmark is the Castello Scaligero, which has 13th-century fortifications and an older medieval tower in white natural stone.

Like the castle of Sirmione at the southern end of the lake, it is named for the della Scala family of Verona who ruled the region in the 13th and 14th centuries, and has the characteristic swallow-tail Ghibelline merlon crenellations.

In September 1786, Johann Wolfgang Goethe was questioned by the local magistrate on suspicion of being an Austrian spy after drawing sketches of the castle, and recalled the incident in his published travel report Italienische Reise (Italian Journey).

[9] During the period of Austrian rule, which ended in 1866 after the Third Italian War of Independence, major renovation work took place inside the castle.

[5] The Austrians turned it into a military garrison[4] and the munition store they constructed was later used by the Guardia di Finanza of the Kingdom of Italy as a prison.

After being reduced to a simple shell, possibly in an earthquake or by a fire, the building became the property of Francesco Mercanti, from Verona and he passed it on to his heirs.

In 1618, Verona purchased the building on the behest of the Republic of Venice for use as the residence of the official called Capitano del Lago.