Sirmione, Lake Garda Italy 🇮🇹 19th September 24

On Thursday the 19th September 2024, we left Camping Bella Italia in Peschiera Del Garda and walked along the lake into town.

Today Venice is ‘merely’ the capital of a region in Italy, but once it was the capital of an Empire that extended to the Eastern Mediterranean and in Italy. Like the Romans, even the Venetians used to create mighty fortifications just after conquering a stronghold... Even today these mighty walls are a testimony to Venetian power.

Peschiera del Garda is one of the places where you can admire one of these fortifications, recently included by UNESCO in the List of World Heritage Sites.

In the fifteenth century Peschiera's fortress passed under the control of the Republic of Venice, which decided to renew the existing fortifications entrusting the work to the famous architect Michele Sanmicheli. The new fortified 'modern wall' followed the course of the medieval one, with five sides and five corners protected by bastions. Along the perimeter there were also open two gates, Porta Verona and Porta Brescia, placed in the direction of the roads leading to the two major cities.

Around the middle of the sixteenth century, the Scaligera fortress was modified and submerged to fit it with new firearms. In the seventeenth century important restoration works took place and later, with the Treaty of Campoformio of 1797, the fortress of Peschiera passed under the rule of the Austrian Empire, which provided for its modernization: it became one of the four forts to form the famous square that joins Legnago, Mantua and Verona. Lastly, after passing in Italian hands, following the Third Independence War (1866), the fortress lost its strategic importance.

We decide to find the Railway Station in Peschiera and try to get tickets to Venice for tomorrow.

We pass a beautiful house on Viale Stazione on the way to the Station.

We find the station at the end of the road and it is much more expensive to buy tickets there than on Trainpal app. So I bought online and we walk back into town.

Piazza della Serenissima

We cross over to the ferry port to see about getting ferry tickets to Sirmione. The ticket office is at the end of the pier. Don't go to the kiosks at the start of the pier which are stupidly expensive!

The ticket office is closed for a while reopening soon, so we walk back across the road for pizza at a restaurant there while we wait.

I buy 4 tickets on the ferry one way to Sirmione for 20 euros and we board the ferry.

The ferry takes about 20 minutes to reach Sirmione, but its a nice ay to see the lake.

The view of the mountain ranges from the Lake is just immense!

We go around the headland and head into Sirmione and the ferry pier.

We disembark and head into the town.

Sirmione is a comune in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy (northern Italy). It is bounded by Desenzano del Garda (Lombardy) and Peschiera del Garda in the province of Verona and the region of Veneto. It has a historical centre which is located on the Sirmio peninsula that divides the lower part of Lake Garda.

The first traces of human presence in the area of Sirmione date from the 6th–5th millennia BC. Settlements on palafitte existed in the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC.

Starting from the 1st century BC, the area of the Garda, including what is now Sirmione, became a favourite resort for rich families coming from Verona, then the main Roman city in north-eastern Italy. The poet Catullus praised the beauties of the city and spoke of a villa he had in the area.

In the late Roman era (4th–5th centuries AD) the city became a fortified strongpoint defending the southern shore of the lake. A settlement existed also after the Lombard conquest of northern Italy: in the late years of the Lombard kingdom, the city was capital of a judiciary district directly subordinated to the king. Ansa, wife of King Desiderius, founded a monastery and a church in the city.

We pass the impressive Castello Scaligero di Sirmione.

Built in the latter half of the 14th century on the southernmost part of Lake Garda in the Northern Italy. Construction was initiated on behalf of the Della Scala family of Verona, who are known as the Scaligeri from which it takes its name. The family ruled Verona and a large part of the Venetian area from the years 1259 to 1387.

The castle was later controlled by the Republic of Venice from the 15th century after the Della Scala family submitted to Venice in 1405. It continued to be an important fortification in the area. Its decline in importance began with the completion of the nearby fortress in Peschiera del Garda in the 16th century.

It continued to be used as an armoury and fortification until the Unification of Italy when it became the office of the local government of Sirmione. Restoration began after World War I in 1919, when it became a museum and tourist attraction. However it was not fully restored until 2018 when the internal waters of the castle were cleared. The internal docks are the only surviving example of a 14th-century fortified port.

Around the year 1000, Sirmione was probably a free comune, but fell into the hands of the Scaliger in the early 13th century. Mastino I della Scala was probably the founder of the castle. In the same period, Sirmione was refuge for Patarines hereticals. The military role of the city continued until the 16th century, but a garrison remained in the castle until the 19th century.

Sirmione was a possession of the Venetian Republic from 1405 until 1797, when it was acquired by the Habsburg Empire. It became part of the Kingdom of Italy in 1860.

The main historical landmark of Sirmione is the so-called Grottoes of Catullus (Grotte di Catullo), the most striking example of a Roman private edifice discovered in northern Italy. The edifice had a rectangular plan and measured 167 by 105 metres (548 ft × 344 ft).

The Scaligero Castle (13th century). This is a rare example of medieval port fortification, which was used by the Scaliger fleet. The building of this complex started in 1277 by Mastino della Scala. It presents the typical Ghibelline swallowtail merlons and the curtain-walls (with three corner towers) in pebbles alternating with two horizontal bands of brick courses. The walls on the inside were finished with plaster with graffiti, simulating blocks of stone. The castle stands at a strategic place at the entrance to the peninsula. It is surrounded by a moat and it can only be entered by two drawbridges. The castle was established mainly as a protection against enemies, but also against the locals. The main room houses a small museum with local finds from the Roman era and a few medieval artifacts.

Alfred Tennyson described his impressions of Sirmione in the summer of 1880 in his poem Frater Ave atque Vale.

Row us out from Desenzano, to your Sirmione row!

So they row'd, and there we landed-"O venusta Sirmio"

There to me through all the groves of olive in the summer glow,

There beneath the Roman ruin where the purple flowers grow,

Came that 'Ave atque Vale' of the Poet's hopeless woe,

Tenderest of Roman poets nineteen-hundred years ago,

'Frater Ave atque Vale' - as we wandered to and fro

Gazing at the Lydian laughter of the Garda Lake below

Sweet Catullus's all-but-island, olive-silvery Sirmio!

We walk down to the Lakes edge beside the castle.

We head back into the town.

We pass a typical Italian style garden of Giardino Grazia Deledda.

This small garden is located along the water in the Centro Storico of Sirmione. It is dedicated to Italian writer Grazia Deledda.

Mel refused to kiss me, Rude!

We down onto Spiaggia del Prete, a small pebbly beach.

We spend our time popping in and out of shops here.

We stroll along the peninsula, as we pass through alleys full of life, among ice cream parlours, restaurants with outdoor tables and shops in pure Italian style.

Typical house in the old town

We pop into Chiesa Parrocchiale di Santa Maria Maggiore.

A lovely old church!

One of the most photographed homes in Sirmione!

We stop off by a jetty for a rest and take in the pretty views whilst watching the ducks.

Another ferry arriving

We stop off in an Gelato Parlour, a lady is shouting Ice cream and insists everyone tries a sample.

We buy one each, wow best ice cream ever!

We walk on and stop at Aquaria Thermal.

The town was already known in the Middle Ages as a spring of thermal water, and today Aquaria Thermal Spa boasts a wide range of facilities and services: around the sulphurous salsobromoiodic thermal water, known for its healing and preventive properties, revolves a 360° wellness experience.

In Sirmione there are two thermal centres, Virgilio and Catullo, and hotels with internal thermal spas, where you can enjoy swimming pools, massages, beauty treatments, thermal mud pools and inhalation therapy.

We look around and we see a land train that takes you up to the Grottoes of Catullus.

We get off at the end and walk on along the path.

We stop at a bar here to try an Aperol Spritz and sit looking out at the bay, whilst being buzzed wasps and joined by a long line of House Sparrows sitting in front of us.

We walk down onto the beach and I wade out into the water.

The rocks here in the water are very slippery and I warn George as he makes his way out. Lucy then decides to join us. They both ignored my advice of the best way out, Lucy slips as George does nothing to stop her fall. She ends up arse down in the water! Roars of laughter from us all!

George doing the crab trying to get back without slipping!

We decide not to pay the entrance fee to see the Grottoes of Catullus, just looks like ruins from the outside.

Grottoes of Catullus is the name given to the ruins of a Roman villa built between the end of the 1st century BC and the beginning of the 1st century AD at the northernmost end of the Sirmione peninsula on the southern shore of Lake Garda.

The archaeological complex, which always remained uncovered over time, has been the subject of academic research since the 15th century. Today, it is the most valuable testament of the Roman period in Sirmione's territory and an exceptional find of a Roman villa in northern Italy. The site, which includes the archaeological museum of Sirmione, was the twenty-seventh most visited Italian site in 2013, with 215,961 visitors and a total gross income of €504,700.

We get the land train back, now we are on a mission to find Lucy some new and dry trousers from the shops.

We head back to the ferry, we just missed one and the next and last ferry was not for some time, so tickets bought we head back to the beach for hot chocolate and coffee.

We wander slowly back to the ferry and everything is lit up in a warm glow as the sun begins to set.

We sit and wait for the ferry watching the sunset.

As we sat some buskers started in the square behind and we wander over to watch them!

Bella Ciao, that George knew from the Tv Series Bank Heist!

We catch the fast ferry back, this much faster but cost a bit more!

Soon we are back in Pescheria for the walk back along the Lake.

We arrive back at Camping Bella Italia and we grab some dinner from the restaurant there!

Travel to Lake Garda,Italy 🇮🇹 18th September 24

So after waiting a year since we booked the trip to Lake Garda, the day to travel out is finally here. I’ve been wanting to see Lake Garda for years, one of those things I never thought we’d get to do. We never left the UK for at least 25 years or more. But since the mortgage has been paid off and our dog Ben passed away almost 3 years ago we have started travelling abroad now.

So we drove to Stansted airport and parked up at Jetparks car park and got the transfer bus to the terminal.

We boarded the Jet2 flight to Verona and we were off! It’s Georges first time on a plane too!

After a while flying we were alerted to the fact that we were to be flying over the Austrian Alps.

The Central Eastern Alps are also referred to as Austrian Central Alps.

The Central Alps have the highest peaks of the Eastern Alps, and are located between the Northern Limestone Alps and the Southern Limestone Alps, from which they differ in geological composition.

The term "Central Eastern Alps" may also be used more broadly to refer to a larger area of the Eastern Alps, mainly located in Austria, extending from the foot of the Bergamasque Alps at Lake Como and the Bernina Range in the Graubünden canton of eastern Switzerland along the Liechtenstein shore of the Rhine in the west as far as to the lower promontories east of the river Mur including the Hochwechsel in Austrian Styria. The valleys of the rivers Inn, Salzach and Enns mark their northern boundary, the Drau river (roughly corresponding to the Periadriatic Seam) their southern border. In the proposed SOIUSA system, the "Central-eastern Alps" include the Rhaetian Alps, of which the Bernina Range includes the 4,049-meter Piz Bernina in Switzerland, the easternmost 4,000-meter peak of the Alps. In the AVE system, however, the full list of mountain groups in the Alpine Club classification of the Eastern Alps includes the Bernina and neighbouring ranges within the Western Limestone Alps, not the Central Eastern Alps as the Alpine Club defines them.

We finally land in Verona Italy, after getting our cases and getting through security we are met by the Jet2 rep and taken to our transfer coach. We are the first stop for the coach and we disembark at Camping Bella Italia in Peschiera Del Garda and make our way into reception, expecting just to be dropping our cases there. But after a chat we are lucky enough to be getting into our apartment 4 hours early.

We start the long walk through the park as it starts to rain. We reach the area of our apartment and we struggle to find it, but a cleaner points us in the right direction.

After we unpacked and had a rest, we took a walk down to Lake Garda. It is as beautiful as it is in the pictures. I imagine even more so in the sunshine, but right now it is overcast but at least the rain has stopped. Finally here after years of dreaming.

Lake Garda, in northern Italy, is known for its crystal clear water. At the South end, the town of Sirmione is dominated by the Rocca Scaligera, a fortress with harbour views. The nearby Grotte di Catullo archaeological site includes a Roman villa. On the lake's western shore, in Gardone Riviera, is Il Vittoriale degli Italiani, former home of poet d’Annunzio. The Dolomites frame Riva del Garda, a resort in the North.

In Roman times the lake was known as Benacus and by some it was revered as god Benacus, the personification of the lake, sometimes associated with the cult of Neptune. Today it is better known as Lake Garda, a toponym of Germanic origin attested since the Middle Ages and deriving from that of the homonymous town on the Veronese shore of the lake, which, together with another famous locality of the lake, Gardone Riviera, and others less known – such as Gàrdola, Gardoncino, Gardoni, Guàrdola and Le Garde – testifies to the Germanic presence in the area that dated from the 6th to the 8th century CE, in particular, the Lombard one. The name Garda is evolved from the Germanic word warda, meaning "place of guard", "place of observation" or "place of safety".

The classic toponym of the lake, or Benācus lacus (Benaco), is almost certainly of Celtic origin, therefore prior to romanization, and should derive from bennacus, comparable with the Irish bennach, which means "horned". The term may derive from the many promontories of the lake.

We take a walk along the lake into Pescheira.

Peschiera del Garda is a town and comune in the province of Verona, in Veneto, Italy. When Lombardy-Venetia was under Austrian rule, Peschiera was the northwest anchor of the four fortified towns constituting the Quadrilatero. The fortress is on an island in the river Mincio at its outlet from Lake Garda.

The town is encircled by massive Venetian defensive systems that have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 9 July 2017.

Roman Ardelica was a town of Gallia Transpadana that occupied the site of the modern Peschiera del Garda, at the southeast angle of the Lacus Benacus (Lago di Garda), just where the Mincius (modern Mincio) issued from the lake. The name is found under the corrupted form Ariolica in the Tabula Peutingeriana, which correctly places it between Brixia and Verona; the true form is preserved by inscriptions, of which one says that it was a trading place, with a corporation of ship-owners, collegium naviculariorum Ardelicensium. (Orell. Inscr. 4108.) The town is mentioned as Arilica in Pliny the Elder's Naturalis Historia.

The fortress at Peschiera played a prominent part in most military campaigns conducted in northern Italy after 1400, especially during the Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. At the Battle of Peschiera fought on 6 August 1796, the day after the major French victory at the Battle of Castiglione, a French force commanded by general Masséna drove out the Austrians. After the Siege of Peschiera, during the First Italian War of Independence, it was taken by the Piedmontese from the Austrians, following a gallant defence by general Rath lasting six weeks, on 30 May, 1848.

During World War I, the Peschiera conference between the British and French premiers and the Italian king took place on 8 November 1917.

Peschiera del Garda was also known for its military jail, which closed in 2002.

The commune is part of the Associazione Città del vino ("Association of Wine Cities").

We mooch around the shops in between the light showers.

We stop for lunch, the pizza was great. George was wowed by the lasagne.

Such a pretty town, looking forward to seeing more of the Lake over the week.

We pass the Parish of St. Martino Vescovo.

The parish church of San Martino Vescovo in Peschiera del Garda is located in the heart of our city, in the historic center, and is one of the oldest churches in the diocese of Verona.

The parchments that mention it date back to the first half of the 11th century. In that period Peschiera (the ancient Arilica) was a thriving village dedicated to fishing and commerce.

In one of these parchments, dated 8 December 1008, which tells us that Peschiera was the seat of the "Collegiate Pieve di San Martino" whose deacon was Dominico ("De plebe S. Martini sita in vico Piscaria"). This parish was equipped with two wooden fish ponds belonging to the monastery of San Zeno, which had been donated by Charlemagne in 878.

In the 15th century the church was remodeled and in 1454 that of Peschiera was already a “parish church with archpriest”.

In the 19th century, there were two cemeteries on either side of the church, one for civilians and one for the military. These cemeteries were abolished with the Napoleonic law of 1810 (the year in which the Municipality procured the land for the Frassino cemetery).

But that was not the only upheaval of the Napoleonic period of Peschiera, which began in 1796 with the occupation of the stronghold of Peschiera. Among the measures adopted by the French, in fact, there was also the closure of the parish church to worship (with the performance of religious functions in the Church of the Discipline) to use the building as a hospital and military warehouse.

In 1812 the evacuation of the temple took place which was rededicated in 1814. Unfortunately, however, the building was unsafe and badly suited to religious rites, so the government authority decided to tear it down. The pastor of the time, Don Vincenzo Fusina, promised to rebuild it.

From a report requested by the Bishop of Verona to the parish priest in anticipation of a pastoral visit (year 1815), we know that the ancient facade of the religious building was on the opposite side from the current one: that is, facing the current rectory, then not existing.

The new construction was finished in 1822 and except for some changes is what we see today.

The bombing of 1848 (Wars of Independence) caused damage to the bell tower which was later repaired. The new facade, on the other hand, with its current layout was built around 1933, while Don Giuseppe Lenotti was parish priest.

In 1966, major renovations were carried out inside and on the facade.

As we start to walk back we pass the Town Hall and the Tourist Information Centre across the road.

The weather has improved somewhat as we walk back to Camping Bella Italia.

Back at the apartment, we settle down and find the hot water wasn't working, but a trip to reception and this was sorted quickly.

George and I walk down to the lake later that night to see the towns across the lake lit up.

Camping Bella Italia is nice, pools by the apartments aside from the main pools and right on the lake!