Lake
Garda - Garda Trentino, A Mediterranean Corner at the Foot of the Dolomites
by Daniele Matteotti
The places
Villages, old townships,
the beach and all the surrounding area stretch out on a wide, lush plain,
making a splendid setting for all your holiday activities in this perfect
location. If you go out on the lake, you have a view of the houses facing
onto it and the rocks towering above it over the water. The air is always
sparkling clear, so you can see the skyline of the Dolomites, the very
world's famous mountains, a short distance away, the hills studded with
green vineyards and silvery olive groves. If you go for a bike ride or
an extra long walk, you're sure to come across unexpected horizons, romantic
views and the strong scent of hay.
 Historical
sites and remains tell us of when this area was at the crossroads, both
logistically and culturally, between the Latin and Germanic worlds. The
various places of interest are marked by the presence of medieval manor
houses, churches, large buildings and imposing ruins.
There's the Rocca, an ancient
defensive fortress, the Torre Apponale, the Palazzo Pretorio, the Church
of the Inviolate - a wonderful example of Baroque style - and the characteristic
squares and small squares in the historic town centre of Riva del Garda,
which has today also become a "Roman town" because of the recent archaeological
discoveries that were made there. And at Arco, famous for its favourable
climate, there's the Municipal Casino with the veranda attached and the
Archducal Villa and Park harking back to a time when the town was a meeting
place for Central European nobility. Torbole is a picturesque, lively place,
famous for inspiring poets and writers and for accommodating Goethe in
the late 18th century. Other places worth seeing are Dro, with its Roman
bridge, the lunar scenery of the Marocche area and the village of Tenno
with the large expanse of turquoise-coloured alpine lake, and the delightful
medieval Canale township. Then there arethe castles at Arco, Drena and
Tenno, Castello di Penede at Nago and the Torre Guaita at Pietramurata
- all making their unmistakeable imprint on the landscape. For those who
want to explore further afield, there are various other places of interest
in the area: the Castello del Buonconsiglio in Trento and the MART in Rovereto
- the modern and contemporary art museum with its futuristic architecture.
Or skirting the lake, there's the romantic Punta San Vigilio, Peschiera
and the castle, Sirmione and the Caves of Catullus, Gardone and D'Annunzio's
"Museo del Vittoriale degli Italiani". Then, of course, there's Verona
and the famous Arena.
Sport
A whole network of trails
unfolds in the area between the lake and the mountains, making Garda Trentino
a superb destination for lovers of fresh air and outdoor activities. There
are routes for walking or cycling, like the panoramic cycle track, or numerous
paths for trekking and biking tours. For cross-country skiers, the new
Nordic Fitness Sports ParkTM Lago di Garda - Arco offers 100 km of tracks
both high up and along paths that come right down to the shores of Lake
Garda. The overhanging rocks offer a natural training ground for bold,
resolute climbers, and the mountain tracks are the perfect place for mountain
bikers to test their skills. And finally, the winds are the regular, constant
companions of sailors and windsurfers, that make Garda Trentino an international
and top active holiday destination.
In tune with nature
The waters of Lake Garda,
washing over white pebble beaches, are crystal clear, light and cool. They
are full of the colours of the sea, they arewarm in summer and give off
heat in winter, thus softening the extremes of the weather and contributing
to create an exceptional microclimate with mild temperatures, just like
at the seaside. The sun shines for most of the year, encouraging Mediterranean-type
vegetation to grow, and in this "ecological niche", exotic plants flourish;
these were introduced from America, Asia and Australia at the end of the
nineteenth century, and allow this area to be considered as a highly esteemed
natural arboretum.
The wonderful sights provided
by nature here are the result of a very remote, but also recent, history
of geological-climatic events. Water, rock, waterfalls, botanical species,
coasts, beaches and mountains form the natural framework for this region's
microcosm: Garda Trentino contains within it all the identity of Lake Garda.
Several different winds can
be identified among those that blow over Upper Lake Garda: there's the
Pelér, the wind that blows from north to south in the morning, when
the warm air from the lake rises and attracts air down from the Sarca Valley.
Then there's the Ora, wafting from the south from late morning until evening,
taking the cooler air up to the mountains; this is wind that is most welcomed
and best loved, an elixir of vitality to accompany the rhythm of the land
and of holidays. The Marocche Biotope at Dro is an imposing mass of loose
rocky material brought down during the Quaternary period; this geological,
natural area can be viewed along educational trails with observation points.
The Arco Arboretum, an ancient park that belonged to Archduke Albert of
Hapsburg, is today a botanical garden of great interest because of the
variety of tree and shrub species linked to the sub-Mediterranean, alpineclimate.
At Riva del Garda, the Varone waterfall cave park is a rare example of
a waterfall in a natural ravine, gouged out inside a rocky hollow and fed
by waters from Lake Tenno above. The Monte Brione protected biotope is
a climatic, botanical, geological and historical oasis, in terms of its
preservation, cultural development and the environmental education it offers.
The Marmitte dei Giganti at Nago are enormous cavities that were formed
in the limestone by glaciers flowing down.
Good food and wine
It is here that the flavours
of the lake mix with Italian taste and Central European tradition. You'll
meet menus with a strong personality, inkeeping with their origins, but
modern and diversified and characterised by unique ingredients such as
extra virgin olive oil, fish from thelake, carne salada - a dish that is
the symbol of the Trentino Garda area, deriving from an ancient recipe
for preserving meat - and polenta.
There are also Chardonnay,
Pinot Bianco, Pinot Grigio, Nosiola, Müller Thurgau, Schiava, Merlot
and Cabernet wines, and also grappa andVino Santo - the traditional wine
to accompany desserts such as apple strudel or fregoloti and fruit tarts.
You'll discover some excellent
flavours here, with delicate grappas from single grape-varieties, made
with herbs or berries, roots, flowers and little woodland fruits. And there
are all sorts of varieties of honey - rhododendron, raspberry, apple and
dandelion - precious is the Vino Santo Trentino D.O.C. made from bunches
of Nosiola grapes left to wither on wooden trellises, pressed during Holy
Week and fermented for
three years in oak casks,
and finally, the Garda Trentino extra virgin olive oil, unique of its kind
because of the types of olive used; it's very light, with less than 0.5%
acidity, a sweet taste and a fruity fragrance. The olive oil is produced
at this latitude in no other place in Europe.
Enjoying yourself
Hours spent in the sunshine
will recharge your batteries for the night. In the daytime, sport, nature
and culture offer myriad possibilities, but in the night, the sails are
drawn in and the waters of the lake come to life with lights and reflections,
offering a different kind of enjoyment in different surroundings. You can
spend wonderful evenings in the elegant restaurants, cafés, trattorias,
ice-cream parlours, pubs, piano bars and nightclubs. There is a continual
choice throughout the year of events, small concerts, shows and occasions
for wine tasting and for sampling gourmet specialities, in the squares,
parks, on the shores of the lake, in the large palazzos and on stage in
the small towns, hamlets and villages of Garda Trentino.
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