Lake Garda
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About this ebook
The use of fresh ingredients in Italian cooking seems to put the UK and the USA to shame. The joy of eating fresh tomatoes and excellent olive oil is without equal. It’s hard to travel anywhere in Italy without also enjoying the fine wines that are on offer. Drinking wine with a meal is very much part of the culture here. If you have previously visited many of the larger Italian cities, you can wonder how the region around Lake Garda would compare.
You can read in your guidebook that the area is mostly made up of relatively small villages, towns, and resorts. This would be a trip that would be considerably different from previous visits to the country. During your stay on the shores of Lake Garda, you can opt to move around and visit as many of the lakeside villages as possible. You will be delighted to find thriving markets and restaurants in many of them.
This is a guide to a visit to the Garda Lake, taking a drive clockwise from Desenzano and touching in sequence the small towns of Salo, Gardone Riviera, Toscolano Maderno, Gargnano, Tignale, Tremosine, Limone Sul Garda, Riva del Garda, Torbole, Malcesine, Brenzone, Torri del Benaco, Bardolino, Garda, Lazise, Peschiera del Garda and Sirmione. All the beaches are described.
It also includes a one-day boat ride on the Lake that starts in Peschiera del Garda and then touches the towns of Lazise, Bardolino, Garda, Salo, Gardone Riviera, Malcesine, Limone del Garda, Torbole and Riva del Garda.
There are extensive descriptions and photos of the attractions.
It contains many reviews for the best-recommended restaurants that are at the location described.
Enrico Massetti
Enrico Massetti was born in Milan, Italy, where he lived for more than 30 years, visiting countless tourist destinations from the mountains of the Alps to the sea of Sicily. He now lives in Washington, DC, USA. However, he regularly visits his hometown and enjoys touring all the places in his country, especially those he can reach by public transportation.You can reach Enrico at [email protected].
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Lake Garda - Enrico Massetti
Lake Garda
A Car Journey Around the Lake
Enrico Massetti
Text Copyright © Enrico Massetti 2015-2021
Images ©, or CC Creative Commons license, as specified for each image
Cover image © Adobe inc.
Published by Enrico Massetti
All Rights Reserved
2022-10 edition
Lake Garda - a visit
Lake Garda from Monte Baldo - Ellingo CC BY-SA 3.0
Lake Garda is the largest Italian lake, situated at the foot of the Alps in a beautiful southern Europe area. At only 30 km from Verona, 100 km from Milan, and 130 km from Venice, it is in a good position for road, rail, and air connections.
Lake Garda offers the visitor splendid natural scenery, full of colors, surrounded by the Dolomites of Brenta in the north and the gentle slopes of the morainic hills in the south. A rich vegetation flourishes thanks to the Mediterranean climate: lemon trees, oleanders, magnolias, and bougainvillea.
The cultivation of vineyards and olive groves produces excellent wines and olive oil. Strolling around the small village centers, going on a boat trip, and exploring the surroundings in a wide choice of itineraries are the best ways of enjoying the lake's lively atmosphere and the landscape’s beauty.
Moreover, Lake Garda has an ideal position for excursions: to the historic cities of Verona, Brescia, Mantua, Trent, and Venice, to the Dolomites, and to a performance at the Arena in Verona during the Opera Season.
In this region, you can practice almost every sport, from tennis to paragliding, free-climbing, scuba-diving, clay-pigeon shooting, and karting.
Sailing and windsurfing enthusiasts find here their ideal conditions, and over the last years, lovers of mountain-bike chosen Lake Garda, and it has become world-famous for the quality of its golf courses.
If looking for fun and relaxation, there is an excellent choice of amusement parks and gardens; for those who love shopping, opportunities meet all needs, from the picturesque street markets to the most elegant shops.
Lake Garda is also well known for its exciting nightlife and dolce vita: restaurants, cafes, the trendiest discos, and entertainment that you can find everywhere.
This itinerary on Lake Garda illustrates a drive around the lake. It starts from the Lombardy town of Desenzano. Driving North on the Gardesana Occidentale (Western Garda lake road) continues clockwise until it reaches the lake’s tip at Riva del Garda. Then, it remains on the Gardesana Orientale (Eastern Garda lake road).
History
The lake’s shores had inhabitants already during the age of iron and bronze. They saw to alternate Ligurians, Veneti, Etruscans, and Gauls, until the Roman conquest.
Cities arose, a series of crops were born, and traffic on the lake intensified. For centuries Garda remained a strategic point of passage between northern Europe and the Po Valley.
The lake's control meant managing traffic between these two areas. Thus, there was an almost uninterrupted succession of conflicts.
After the barbarian invasions and the Longobardi occupation, it was the turn of Charlemagne and, later, of the Communes and the Signories.
In the fourteenth century, the lake was under the Scaligeri and Visconti.
This predominance was in opposition to the Community of Garda, formed by the municipalities of the Brescia Riviera, placed under the protection of Venice.
After a series of bloody battles with the Visconti, the Serenissima managed to obtain total control of the lake, maintaining it throughout the fifteenth century.
With the League of Cambrai, its prestige decreased, but the navigation right remained in its hands until 1797, when Napoleon conquered the whole area.
A few years later, in 1815, Garda passed to the Hapsburgs, becoming part of the Lombardy-Venetia Kingdom. With the wars of the Risorgimento, the Italians conquered the lake. Only the northern part remained Austrian, annexed after the First World War.
Desenzano
Desenzano port
Dynamic and lively town rich in memories and activities, Desenzano is the ideal place for a holiday, a perfect balance between relaxation and fun, nature, and culture. Thanks to its easy access and geographical position, it is one of the most accessible destinations, the ideal departure points for your next holiday on Lake Garda.
Desenzano and Lake Garda: in the heart and in Europe's history, where customs and cultures meet and blend. A famous Riviera, set between the Alpine snows and the Mediterranean sun, caressed by a unique, mild climate all year round.
This land, which was formed by thousands of years of glacial activity, still bears the traces of prehistoric man, Roman colonization, the passage of the Celts, and the Venetian culture, of France and Central Europe.
Time stood still on the lake shores. It fixed the memories and emotions of the past. It reminds its works of art, the rich museums, and the precious monuments on the corners of the streets of Desenzano.
Roman remains, Middle-age fortresses, old parish churches, and Renaissance paintings frame a rich center in history, art, and culture.
A necessary confirmation of the most critical historical eras is available in Desenzano, starting with the Civic Archaeological Museum, which houses a plow from 2000 B.C. (the oldest to be exposed to date), the Roman Villa with its mosaic floors and the relics housed in the Antiquarium.
The Castle, from the High Middle Ages, and the Cathedral, which houses some precious paintings, such as Tiepolo's Last Supper,
are both fascinating.
The Port of Desenzano
Desenzano boats in the port
The Republic of Venice ese fished itself permanently in the Garda region and Brescia and Bergamo's territories after the peace of Lodi in 1454. During this time, they completely renovated the port of Desenzano. However, the outer breakwater, up to the lighthouse with its lantern, dates back to the nineteenth century.
Before the nineteenth century, a large quay and some rocks protected the small port (nowadays known as the Old Port), which curbed the waters' force when the lake was stormy. They could also moor boats to the pier opposite the port.
In the nineteenth century, goods traffic was noteworthy; goods departed from Desenzano or arrived there from other lakeside towns, either on small boats or larger craft towed by little tugs.
A tramline set out from a small square, which now houses the gardens at the start of the lakeside promenade C. Battisti,
and linked Desenzano to Castiglione and Mantova. The Venetian-style bridge, which crosses the small port entrance, was built in the thirties this century, like the sizeable wet dock to the south.
Nowadays, the nineteenth-century style
steamboats, with their beautiful slender shape, have all but disappeared, to be replaced by motorboat-ferries and high-speed hydrofoils.
The Roman Villa
Roman Villa - Son of