In America, one must be something, but in Italy one can simply be
Pietros Maneos
Lake Garda lies in northern Italy between Venice and Milan. After eight days of travel through France and Switzerland, we were excited for a few quiet days to relax and then ring in the new year Italian-style. Much of our time was spent either strolling around the lake or indulging in all our favorite Italian foods. Duck-stuffed tortellini, beef cheek braised in Amarone, gourmet pizza, lamb and mushroom ravioli, gnocchi with braised beef and truffle, piadinas, gelato….
Italians are the masters of il dolce far niente – the sweetness of doing nothing. And we have every intention to become masters as well. Desenzano del Garda was our home base for this strenuous task. We also spent some time leisurely appreciating the good life in Verona and Sirmione. All three had their own unique history and charm.
Sirmione
We took a short ferry ride from Desenzano to visit Sirmione, an ancient town on a narrow strip of land that stretches two miles into the lake from the southern shore.
The 13th-century fortress, Rocca Scaligera, rises above the rest of the town, greeting friendly visitors and scaring off foes. The castle ramparts are fun to explore and offer great views over the sparkling lake and the town’s winding, cobblestone streets.
The castle’s highlights included the rare protected dock, the drawbridge over the moat, and the “bird-tailed” merlons.
Rocca Scaligera is one of Italy’s best-preserved castles and an excellent example of a medieval port fortification. After our visit to the castle, we meandered along the lakeside promenade to the tip of the peninsula. Here, the ruins of a 2000-year-old Roman villa, Grotte di Catullo, still stand.
The arcade I’m standing in was once a covered walkway along the bottom floor of the 3-story villa. The silvery, undulating olive groves and the views of azure water through crumbling stone archways made for a serene environment.
Back in town, we warmed up with a glass (or two) of hot rum punch and practiced the art of dolce far niente before hopping back on the boat to Desenzano.
Verona
We took a short train ride to visit the city of love. Although there is a lot to see and do in Verona, we took a pretty laid-back approach and mostly just wandered around town to enjoy the ambiance, history, and architecture. The stone bridges, red-tiled roofs, and medieval structures certainly create the romantic vibe that you would expect from the city of Romeo and Juliet. The Verona Arena, built in the 1st century, is one of the best-preserved ancient Roman amphitheaters and is still in use today for internationally famous, large-scale opera performances.
The Castel Vecchio is the most important military construction of the medieval Scaliger dynasty, the same family that built the castle in Sirmione. Ponte Scaligero is a 14th century gothic, fortified bridge made from red bricks.
The richly decorated limestone Porta Borsari is an ancient Roman gate built in the 1st century that leads to the main street and a prominent square in town, Piazza della Erba.
Of course, when in the fair city of Verona, a visit to Juliet and her balcony is compulsory. We couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculous number of people crowded around to get a chance to fondle Juliet’s right breast for luck with love.
We got out of that tourist trap quickly and moved on to one of my favorite spots in the city, Ponte Pietra, a stone bridge from 100 BC. The views across the river to Castel St. Pietro are breathtaking, and I loved standing there listening to the water rushing over the rocks below and gazing up at the soaring Cyprus trees.
Our favorite activity while in Verona was wine tasting, which is not surprising given our love for Italian wine and its unique varietals. Most wineries were closed for the holidays, but we did get a quick, private tour and tasting at one of the best, Speri winery. Speri only grows Valpolicella native vine varieties and is considered one of the historical families of Valpolicella. For their famous Amarone, grapes grown from a single vineyard with the best soil conditions are harvested by hand, and only the bunches with the best characteristics are selected for the natural months-long drying process. This elegant red wine made from partially dried grapes is full-bodied and dry with notes of cherry, raisins, and chocolate.
Huge thanks to our travel buddies, Jeff and Dhruv, who originally introduced us to Amarone and recommended that we visit Speri. In addition, they recommended an amazing wine bar, Antico Bodega, that we went to after Speri to continue the wine tasting party. We tried Amarone from other vineyards and also fell in love with a local white wine called Lugana. Lugana wines are crisp and floral with extraordinary minerality thanks to the light-colored clay soil of glacial origins tied to the creation of Lake Garda. Falling in love with new wine varietals seemed like a fitting end to our day wandering the city of love.
Desenzano del Garda
The days spent in Desenzano were some of the most chill we have had while on vacation. Meals here deserve to be lingered over. The gorgeous waterfront promenade begs to be strolled. The unhurried pace of Italian life calls.
Desenzano is built on a hill with a small castle on top, which affords beautiful views across the lake and the snow-capped Alps on the other side.
Our only sightseeing activity was a visit to a 1st-century Roman villa. The highlight of this villa was the impressive tile mosaic floors with intricate designs and colorful imagery.
We needed the relaxing days in Desenzano, not only to be ready to face the real world as our vacation was coming to a close, but also to be able to ring in the new year with a big, Italian party. One of the local wineries, Salva Capuzza, hosts a grand party and feast at its fine dining restaurant, Cascina Capuzza, every year. We learned that over 100 guests attend and many of them return year after year. We got our reservation in early for this popular party and showed up when dinner was supposed to be served.
We found the beautiful dance hall decorated for the holiday but not a single other guest!! When the host walked in, we said “buona sera”, and he immediately replied, “ahh…you must be the Lovgrens”. Oh goodness, not only are we the first guests to arrive but we are apparently the only foreigners to be joining the party. No matter…he was very welcoming and quickly poured us a glass of sparkling rosé. Luckily, it wasn’t long before other guests began to arrive, and scrumptious appetizers started to appear all around us. I easily could have gotten full from just the yummy pre-dinner bites. In laid-back Italian style, we were escorted to our table about an hour later than expected, and we had no idea that we were in for a 4-hour feast.
Even with the slow pace of the meal, I could not remotely eat the volume of food we were presented with…four antipasti dishes, two pasta dishes, and two main dishes…and then an all-you-can eat dessert buffet! Thank goodness for GoogleTranslate’s instant camera translation so that we could figure out what all the courses actually were!
The winning dish of the night was the potato and herb pie with Padano sauce wrapped in bacon. I’m sure one of the desserts would have made the top list, but I was too stuffed to enjoy them. We later learned that most couples shared the meal and then had room to pig out on the plethora of desserts.
Although we were stuffed, we still managed to dance with the crowd when the Italian dance tunes started up. Midnight came quickly and before we knew it, the countdown was on. Tre…Due…Uno…Happy New Year!!
What a fantastic way to end our incredible two-week European railway adventure!!
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