Desenzano Lake Garda – Lago di Garda
Desenzano is a smallish town on the southern shore of Lake Garda in the north of Italy, with a population of around 25,000. It’s known as Desenzano del Garda (or occasionally ‘Sul Garda’) to describe its location on the lake. The town is in the region of Lombardy and makes a convenient base for travellers using public transport, as it is on Italy’s rail network. The most convenient airport for the area is Verona. The last time we visited was 2017 celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary, we combined it with a two-day trip to Venice followed by a week in Desenzano. We were so impressed with the area, people, food, wine and just about everything else, that we added it to our wish list to visit again someday, but next time with our own car in order to explore more of this most beautiful area. Well five years on and here we are, a dream come true.
This southern end of Lake Garda is broad, fairly flat and not nearly as dramatic as the mountainous northern part. However, on a clear day there are still some great views, and Desenzano itself is a super nice place to stay. You can reach the lake’s other resorts – including nearby spectacular Sirmione – by boat, a must see, but be warned go early it gets really busy around lunch time. Ferries to all the other lake destinations leave from a jetty close to the main harbour; there is a ticket office alongside which we found really easy to use. Just grab a timetable and you can quite easily plan a great day out.
Desenzano del Garda has some pleasant winding historic streets between the town’s castle on its hill, and the lakeshore below. A busy road runs along the edge of the lake, and on the inland side is a small peaceful harbour, where little boats are moored and swans glide about in front of several comfortable cafe-bars. Lots of people watching available.
Definitely a great town on the lake for shopping, a wide selection of shops and stores and a bigger and better Tuesday market than in any other lake town.
The designer shops are mostly in the town centre and the prices are ridiculously high. We still enjoyed the window shopping though.
Our first couple of days after arriving here consisted mainly of doing as little as possible, apart from making a fairly quick trip to the local supermarket to stock up on the essentials, fruit, fresh pasta, water, wine and a few new mixers for the Gin, we were then good to go. A couple of Lazy days catching up on sleep and around the pool we soon felt ready to walk and explore. It’s just so beautiful here and with the fresh air being inhaled you don’t realise just how far you are able to walk without complaining.
During our week here we also managed to visit Sirmione & Salo both beautiful. As mentioned, Sirmione is very popular with thousands of visitors flooding in each day to view the picturesque peninsula, so off we went fairly early, we had a slow walk to the northern most tip, rich Romans, built holiday villas here on the end of the peninsula, of which one still exists, there is a small museum at the entrance and the site can be visited. We relaxed for a while, took in the views and headed down the steps to the lakeside edge. A couple of Limonata’s were had at a waterside bar called the Jamaica Bar and we people watched.
On route back towards the Castle we passed no other than Maria Callas’s home. Villa Callas is now privately owned; however, its external appearance has remained the same since it was purchased in the 1950s by Giovanni Battista Meneghini as a holiday home in Sirmione. Meneghini was an entrepreneur from Verona and the husband of the famous soprano Maria Callas. The villa was sold after their divorce and renovated in recent years.
The property has a plaque commemorating Maria Callas and Giovanni Battista Meneghini.
The garden has also remained the same, as has the swimming pool in the shape of the Lake Garda that Maria Callas commissioned.
Born in New York on December 2nd 1923 and passed away in Paris on September 16th 1977, Maria Callas, who made history as the first universally known star of the opera, spent plenty of time in the 50’s in the Sirmione villa of her husband, the wealthy businessman.
Maria loved Sirmione and she didn’t hide the pleasure that these stays gave her, far from the stress of busy life.
Chronicles of the time report that the villa, a three-story tall building with twenty-one rooms arranged on 780 square metres and furnished personally by Maria Callas, cost Meneghini sixty million lire.
Meneghini arrived in Sirmione for the first time 1952 it is said that he loved this place, that was far away from the lights of the stage, very much. However, the villa became the scene of a heart wrenching goodbye. After falling in love with the Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, Maria Callas went to Sirmione with him to talk to Meneghini. It is said that they shared a very quiet dinner, followed by a furious fight that marked a tragic separation.
Apparently, all its magnificence can be admired by a private boat during a navigation around the peninsula.
Sadly, we ran out off time to undertake that trip ☹
We headed back to Sirmione Castle or, to give it its proper name, the “Rocca Scaligera”
This fortification at the entrance to Sirmione historic centre is surrounded by water and was built near the end of the 12th century as part of a defensive network surrounding Verona.
Although the struggles between the Ghibellines and Guelphs featured largely in the history, the original military adventure onto the peninsula was to wipe out the population of Sirmione, who were heretic Cathars and 2,000 of whom were subsequently burned at the stake in the Arena in Verona.
The castle was maintained and extended first as part of the Veronese protection against their rivals in Milan and later under the control of the Venetian inland empire. After another fortification was built at nearby Peschiera, the castle lost its importance and was used as a storage depot. It was taken into government ownership at the start of the 20th century.
From the fall of the Venetian Republic in the days of Napoleon, the inhabitants of Sirmione enjoyed a less eventful life and were able to concentrate more on the fruit orchards and olive groves on land and the fisheries in the lake.
The modern-day concentration on tourism was helped along by the efforts of a diver who, at the end of the 19th century, managed to insert a metal pipe into a rock near the hot-water springs close to the northern end of the peninsula and thus bring the water to land for the first time since the Romans:
Sirmione also boasts Therma Baths:
The Terme di Catullo uses the water which bubbles out of Lake Garda near the northern shoreline of the Sirmione peninsula. Metal pipes which supplied the Grotto of Catullo have been discovered in the Roman ruins in fact, one theory says that it may actually have been a bathhouse and not a villa. The water – mineral-rich and at a temperature of 70°C when it leaves the rock – is used for health treatments in the two thermal baths and spas which exist on the peninsula. The principal one is located on the lakefront northwards from the ferry landing jetty.
A delicious early lunch was had with views of the castle, followed by a smooch around the many quaint shops and just before the streets slowly became overly populated, we headed back to the Getty to await out next ferry ride back to Desenzano.
Our week coming ever closer to its end on Thursday 8th September we heard the dreadful news of the passing of our most beloved Queen Elizabeth. We can only say how very sad we have felt, she has been part of both our lives from the very beginning of them. Shocked and feeling numb, we followed the British news unable to take in or believe this sad moment in history.
In our hearts, she will always be our Queen. I had the privilege to see her once, I was only 10 when she visited my Primary school (St Peters Eaton Square) for its Centenary year. On our best behaviour we were all ushered into the playground, the excitement almost unable to bear as we waited to see her, I remember thinking how beautiful she was. A memory I will always cherish.
Oh, and off course proud to have been given her name.
The Queen is dead, long live the King.
