Desenzano has been a popular holiday destination since Roman times, and remains so today, with a street of very chic and expensive shops and lots of restaurants and cafes. It was a bit overcast when we arrived and there had been a storm the day before.
We took a turn round town and found our first lakeside villa, the Villa Romano, a grand Roman country estate dating from 4C, and while ruined still gave us an idea of the layout and we saw some lovely mosaics.
The inner harbour is pretty with the small boats bobbing with the backdrop of pretty pastel coloured buildings with balconies and shuttered windows, especially when the sun shines. We climbed to the small castle for a view of the town.
We took the 20 minute ferry to Sirmione, another chic destination, dominated by the 13C Rocca Scaligera, built to protect the promontory from attack, but looking less fearsome with a moat containing swans.
The small historical centre gets choked with tourists, browsing in shops and consuming ridiculously large cones of gelato so we escaped and went past the little Chiesa Di San Pietro with a fresco of the crucifixion …
… to to the Grotte di Catullo, ruins of another Roman villa which have belonged to the poet Catullo. The ruins are extensive, perched on the top of the headland, and offer great views of the lake.
Finally, we took the ferry further, to Gardone Riviera, which was once the smartest of all the lakeside resorts and still has hotels where suites are hundreds of euros a night. We were here to visit Il Vittoriale degli Italiani, former home of Gabriele d’Annuncio, soldier, poet and nationalist hero, who was given the villa by Mussolini to keep him away from politics. He was a shameless egotist and the villa is both grandiose and bizarre containing a huge eclectic collection including beautiful art and sculpture from all over the world and even a huge stuffed tortoise.
The huge garden contains not only his mausoleum …
but also an amphitheatre …
a battleship …
A corpse of columns with bombs …
and a blue horse.
Overall a really wacky place with great angles and shapes for photos, according to Chris. Do pop in if you are passing or google him for more info!
Departing, we looked back at the very splendid promenade, featuring the Grand Hotel.
We passed Isola del Garda, a private island topped by a confection of a villa surrounded by gardens and also the ruins at Sirmione on the way back, and there was even a sunset.
Our visit here has proved to be a very pleasant lakeside interlude to prevent museum and church overload. Relaxed and ready we set of for our last and probably busiest destination, Verona.
Off Travelling Together 