This is my first post, so it seems appropriate for me to start with writing about what persuaded me to come to Italy in the first place, the architecture. While researching where I would eventually go for study abroad, the photos of the buildings in Florence compelled me to look no further. However, my best friend who lives in Italy, Francesca Martin, told me that I had to check out a place called Lake Garda. I looked into it when I had two days free to venture away from Florence. She assured me that all of my medieval fantasies would come true as I feasted my eyes on enormous castles and colorful lakeside villages.
“The streets are straight out of a romance novel,” Martin said.
Well, after browsing the inter-webs to look into Martin’s advice, I was able to easily confirm that she was not wrong. Lake Garda, the largest lake in Italy, seemed to have no lack of success in the beauty department. Fortunately, I was able to garner a good group of friends to join me on my adventure, all excited while booking our trains and accommodation.
We booked our trains on trainline.eu. The trains left from Firenze Santa Maria Novella station and arrived at Peschiera del Garda station. What is normally a two-and-a-half-hour train journey, took us 4 hours both ways because we chose the cheapest tickets. The round trip tickets came out to be 40 euros each. How could you pass that up? We booked our hostel in the town of Peschiera del Garda, using the hostelworld app. It was 23 euros a night, and we stayed for two nights.
We arrived to Lake Garda on Friday at around 2 p.m. After checking into the eclectic Meet Gardalake Hostel, I asked the woman at the front desk for advice on how to see the best castle Garda has to offer. She directed us to Sirmione, a town at the end point of a peninsula that stretches out into the lake. We put our bags into our lockers and made our way to the bus station that would take us to the town. On our way to the bus stop, we took our time as we walked through the serene place we were staying in, Peschiera del Garda. Canals cut through the city, and bridges lined with flower pots added to its charm. The water was a deep turquoise. Sail boats and swans dominated it.
To enter the historic center of the city, we had to go over a bridge and through a tunnel. That doesn’t sound too exciting, but this was one of the most majestic pieces of architecture I had ever laid my eyes on. The structure is known as Porta Verona. An informative sign at the beginning of the bridge gave some insight into its history. It was used by the Bersaglieri (marksmen) to cross the waterway during the First World War. Before the French domination, the center of the tunnel entrance wall had a crest of a lion (the lion of San Marco). It is now broken off, leaving an indentation where it once was. Many other symbols of the Serenissima Republic (now referred to as the Venice Republic) were destroyed as a symbol of defiance. The tunnel’s large gates and the wall around it were designed to keep out unwanted guests during this time of conflict. The waterway and single bridge made it especially difficult to find an alternative entrance.
After passing through the tunnel, I was instantly shocked by how drastically different the scenery changed within thirty seconds. Now don’t get me wrong, it was gorgeous before, but the historic center was like nothing I had ever seen. It seemed as though the architects and designers of the city tried to make it as perfect as possible. Most of the buildings were symmetrical. They would alternate in different pastel colors adding to the city’s magic. The trees lining the streets were equally distanced from one another and lined up perfectly with the buildings. Even the boats tied to the docks in the canal seemed to have an order to them.
After a meal at a floating restaurant, we made our way to the bus stop, located at the beginning of the city’s main dock. We had twenty minutes until the next bus arrived. My six friends and I walked to the end of the dock, sitting down admiring the view of the city. The contrast of the shimmering lake water and mountains surrounding it made Peschiera del Garda even more surreal.
While sitting, I noticed how the city was protected by large walls that emerged from the water. Known as venetian walls, their purpose was to protect the city from invaders in times of conflict. An informative sign provided me with the name of the architectural design that was used to create the walls: “alla moderna.” The walls created a moat. The bottom base was made with moraine stone pebbles, followed by large rusticated stone blocks and coating escarpment brick that made up the outer layer. Pileworks with oak trunks were used to anchor the wall into the sediment.
Once the bus came, it took 20 minutes to arrive to Sirmione. The one-way ticket was two euros. All of the bus tickets can be purchased at the Info Point office across from the bus stop.
Stepping off, I instantly saw the castle. You can’t miss it. It’s massive. The sunset pierced through the flags that waved from its towers, and I felt as though I was taking a stroll through King’s Landing from “The Game of Thrones.”
The castle, known as Castello Scaligero, is from the Scaliger era.
A British student we met while traveling, Dan Davidson, said that the castle is believed to be Italy’s most well-conserved castle, having been built in the thirteenth century with brick, stone and mortar. We spent as much time as we could walking around the castle, but the sun had set. It was time to get a taxi home as all of the buses stopped running. The taxi back was forty euros total.
My time in Lake Garda was an incessant party for the eyes. I could not stop looking around at the intricacies of the cities and how they were shaped. I remember laughing with my friend Lindsay Gowens about how every five minutes we would hear someone say “wow” or “this place is not real,” simply stunned by the pure beauty of what surrounded us.
