The western banks - the quite corner of the lake

The Quiet Corner of Lake Garda

Where it all started: In 1880, the German engineer Louis Wimmer spent a holiday in Gardone on the western shore of Lake Garda. He enjoyed it a lot and thought that his fellow countrymen would love it as well. So he started building the Grand Hotel Gardone, thus laying the foundations for tourism at the lake. Around the beginning of the 20th century, more first-class hotels were gradually erected, and the lemon gardens, vineyards and olive groves had to give way to superb parks. The majestic trees planted at that time have become an integral part of the region’s charm and with a bit of luck, you might even come across a simple family-run guesthouse that is actually a villa situated in a park with age-old trees.

The history of the western banks

More than a hundred years after the discovery of Lake Garda as a tourist resort, you can still breathe the whiff of decadence that is blowing through the villages along the Lombard shore. This holds especially true for Gardone as this is the place the Italian poet Gabriele D’Annunzio – an eccentric and dandy – chose as his home in 1921. His villa, the “Vittoriale degli Italiani”, was turned into a museum and is imbued with the spirit of those times. However beautiful the area may be today, it also has a historical background of a different type: In 1943 the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini proclaimed the neighbouring village of Salò as the fascist “Repubblica Sociale Italiana” (Italian Socialist Republic). With his family he took residence in the Villa Feltrinelli in Gargnano, while his mistress, Claretta Petacci, stayed in the Villa Fiordaliso in Gardone, now a noble restaurant.

Romantic port facility and good  kitchen from the area

Further down on the western shore, where the mountains recede, the lakeside road no longer has to pass through tunnels but meanders elegantly along the waterline. On some stretches, the road even runs further inland so that the old fishing villages constituting the municipal area of Gargnano can centre around their little harbours undisturbed by traffic. The visitors of these shores are neither looking for extreme sport adventures as offered in the north nor for large family beaches as in the east. Whoever chooses this area here probably just likes to sit peacefully in a café on the lakeside, sipping a nice cappuccino and enjoying the view on the lake. In fact, this is the where Lake Garda has its greatest width, and on a hazy day you will almost think you are at the seaside! In the evenings, the typical visitor of the western shores will probably indulge in the excellent cuisine that is yet another jewel in the crown of the Lombard shore..

On these shores, everything moves at a gentle pace, tourism just as well as the strolling holidaymakers on the Lungolago promenade. Even in the summer season you will always find a free table in the cafés without difficulty. If you come to Gardone, don’t miss its beautiful gardens and parks – they are well worth a visit. Climb one of the steep lanes leading uphill from the shore and marvel at the age-old cypresses and magnolia trees. In early summer you can even discern the perfume of jasmine and oleander in the air. The gardens, the grand villas and quaint hotels are witnesses of the great holiday tradition that Gardone had in the past. Today, however, the dignity of those days is largely gone by and instead, many visitors you meet here are eager to practice the handful of Italian words that they learned back home to be able to order their cappuccino correctly.