Not to be missed! Our TOP 10 hits – from the absolute No. 1 to No. 10 – TOP 10 help you plan your tour of the most important sights. SIRMIONE P50 PIAZZA BRA & ARENA DI Beautifully located on the south of VERONA P102 the lake, Sirmione boasts one of the Who wouldn’t want to sit on Verona’s best preserved moated fortresses in world-famous square, gazing at the Europe. Roman amphitheatre and dream of being Romeo or Juliet? MALCESINE & MONTE BALDO P78 PIAZZA DEI SIGNORI P108 The 13th-century Castello Scaligero Shakespeare may be better known (left) is one of the best-known land- but the memorial in the centre of marks on Lake Garda; Monte Baldo a Verona honours another great place to escape the heat of summer writer, the poet Dante Alighieri down on the water. who wrote his masterpiece, the Divine Comedy, in this city. GARDA P83 With its wonderful lakeside prome- PIAZZA DELLE ERBE P111 nade (Lungolago), Punta di San Verona’s ‘belly’ – its market – Vigilio around the corner and Isola provides a stage for everyday life del Garda a few minutes away by set against a magnificent backdrop boat, the variety of attractions Lake of palazzi from various eras and Garda has to offer can all be enjoyed the Torre dei Lamberti. from just one place. BERGAMO P128 SALÒ P55 The Città Alta (Old Town) with the Reminders of the town’s eventful Piazza Vecchia is one of the most history can be seen all down beautiful in northern Italy. Simply Lungolago, one of the most elegant taking the funicolare from the lower promenades on the lake with a so- town is an experience in itself. phisticated atmosphere to match. LAGO D’ISEO P133 RIVA DEL GARDA P85 Framed by wooded slopes in the This little town became the haunt southern foothills of the Alps, Lago of poets, writers and philosophers d’Iseo has the longest lake island in at the turn of the 20th century. Its Central Europe – Monte Isola – with grandezza and beautiful architec- a scattering of idyllic villages, olive ture can still be seen today. groves, cherry and chestnut trees. The Magazine The MOUNTAINS, the RIVER and the LAKES Sandwiched between the Alps to the north and the Apennines in the south is the Lombardy Plain. This low-lying, fertile region is bisected by the River Po. The river rises below Monte Viso – near Italy’s western border with France – in Piedmont, named after its location at the ‘foot of the mountains’. The river then flows eastwards, prevented from turning north or south by the mountain massifs and, on its way, it collects the water that flows out of the great lakes which define the geography of northern Italy. During the Pleistocene Ice Age, a period of about 1.5 million years, the Hiking from the Pregasina tunnel towards Riva, Lake Garda can be seen at its very best. movement of huge glaciers from the Alps followed the line of least resist- ance between ridges of harder rock. As they advanced the glaciers Today the vines are still there, growing grapes for Bardolino wines. Olive gouged out the valleys and ground the loose rock to a paste which was trees still flourish here too, giving the eastern shore its name – the Olive deposited as a moraine at the sides and head of the glacier. When the Riviera – although cultivation is now less than it was. Only a few limonaie ice finally retreated, freshwater lakes, dammed by the moraine, formed growing lemon trees are to be found now on the western ‘Lemon coast’. in the extra deep valleys. While other lakes in northern Italy are long and thin and confined to their valleys, Lake Garda owes its axe shape to the Piedmont glacier LAKE GARDA’S STATISTICS that formed it, so-called because once it moved away from the foot of n Lake Garda covers an area of 370km² (143mi²) and is the largest of the the mountains the ice spread out sideways as well as flowing forwards, Italian lakes. forming a wide ‘foot’. n From top to toe Lake Garda measures 50km (30mi) – about 10km (6mi) shorter than Lake Maggiore which is only Italy’s biggest lake by name. Fertile Shores n Lake Garda’s shoreline is 125km (77mi) long, about 45km (28mi) less Lake Garda’s fertile shores and abundance of freshwater fish attracted than those of Lake Como and Lake Maggiore. human settlers from the earliest times. The wide band of rich soil around n The lake has a maximum depth of 346m (1131ft). At its deepest point the the edge of the lake was formed by the magnesium-rich limestone bed is 281m (919ft) below sea level. brought down as a glacial moraine from the Brenta Dolomites to the n Of Italy’s great lakes Garda does not have any islands of any size; instead north. On the northern shore the strip of fertile moraine is much narrower. there are just five islets. In places on the western shore the high ridge descends directly into the lake. n The River Sarco feeds Lake Garda from the north, while the River Mincio On this shore agriculture was more difficult, although more concentrated flows out to the south. crops flourished – olives and vines on the eastern side, lemons on the west. 10 11 Western Lake Garda Getting Your Bearings TOP 10 At Your Leisure Getting Your Bearings ! Sirmione P50 , Lago di Ledro P62 $ Salò P55 - Limone sul Garda P62 . P The west shore of Lake Garda (Lago di Garda) is often referred to as Tremosine & Tignale 63 ‘the Italian side’ – which isn’t really true any more. This was the shore Don’t Miss / Gargnano P63 where big villas were built, despite the fact that the terrace between + Gardone Riviera P58 0 Villa & Bogliaco P64 the foot of the risng mountains and the water’s edge is narrower here. 1 Lago di Valvestino P65 So narrow, in fact, that on occasions the lakeside road has had to 2 Lago d’Idro P65 burrow its way through the cliffs that plunge straight into the water. 3 Toscolano-Maderno P67 4 Isola del Garda P67 5 Desenzano del Garda P67 TRENTINO Condino Bezzecca 12 Lago di Ledro Storo Bagolino Limone sul Garda 13 Tremosine 14 a Anfo 18 Lago d’Idro The famous Gardesana Occidentale – for which 74 tunnels It was only d were blasted through the rock – leads down the western after the r side of the lake from Riva del Garda in the far north to Salò Gardesana Idro Lago Tignale 14 in the south. Virtually everywhere sheer cliff faces stretch up Occidentale di 17 a Valvestino towards the sky. Nevertheless, there are several lovely places was built that Vestone along the route and on the slopes above that all exude a the settlements Gargnano 15 G 0 10 km charm of their very own. Among sites worth seeing are on the western LOMBARDIA Villa16 magnificent estates such as Vittoriale degli Italiani created shore of the Bogliaco16 0 5 mi i by the eccentric writer Gabriele d’Annunzio in Gardone that lake developed Gardone 19 Toscolano Riviera 19 also boasts another attraction, the Botanic Garden at the into tourist d 11 Maderno Fondazione André Heller. Salò, that adjoins immediately centres to the south, was turned into the capital of the fascist Salò 4 Repubblica Sociale Italiana for two years under Mussolini. Gavardo 20 Isola o Fortunately, the breathtaking location – one of the most del Garda beautiful on the lake – proved to be more enduring that the Manerba g Republic itself. del Garda Here, too, are Sirmione – very much a ‘southern shore’ a town – perhaps the most picturesque on the lake, Desenzano, with its marvellous old port and Limone where, Desenzano 1 L it is said, the lemons that once made the lake famous del Garda Sirmione 21 were first grown. But the western shore is certainly not A 4 Lonato just towns and villas. High above Limone and Gardone are the twin plateaus of Tignale and Tremosine where the peace of the countryside contrasts with the comings and goings down on the water’s edge. 46 47.