The five major lakes in northern Italy are Maggiore, Como, Garda, Iseo, and Lugano. A twenty-minute train ride from Verona, Italy will bring you to beautiful Lake Garda.

The big cities are always fun to visit but the best way to learn about local culture is by exploring the small towns. I learned of the town of Sirmione by watching a YouTube video by Dennis Callan. He is the host of one of my favorite “go to” travel channels on YouTube.

From Verona, I took a regional train to Desenzano train station. It was a short twenty-minute train ride. At the train station, I took a bus to the town of Sirmione. What a beautiful ride along the coast of Lake Garda.

Upon arriving, the first thing you see is Scaligero Castle, one of Italy’s best-preserved castles.

The ***Scaligero Castle*** was built in the 14th century by the Della Scala family of Verona. This family ruled Verona and a large part of the Venetian area from 1259 to 1387. The castle was later controlled by the Republic of Venice in the 15th century and continued to be used as an armory and fortification until the Unification of Italy in 1848. Restoration began in 1919 after World War I and was completed in 2018.

Before entering the town through the castle bridge, I saw a sign for the Garda Boat Tours around the peninsula. I signed up as soon as I saw the sign. On this tour we could see the beautiful ruins of the Grottoes of Catullus. This structure was a Roman villa built at the end of the 1st century BC.

After the boat tour, I headed into the town of Sirmione through the castle bridge. This was a cute little town with lots of shopping options, restaurants, and walking trails.

While walking around the town, I found one of their churches – the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore built in the 15th century.

I was grateful for the sign outside the church with its name in four different languages – to include ENGLISH! If you’ve read my last blog, you know how I was fooled to think I had a picture of the sign with the name of the church – but instead, it was only the Mass times in Italian!

I had lunch at one of the restaurants in the historic town. I then decided to walk back to the train station. It was a long walk, but the weather was beautiful, and the scenery was absolutely breathtaking.

Let me know in the comments below if you’ve ever been to Lake Garda or any of the other lakes in northern Italy.

For those of you that have read my blog about my recent visit to Padua, Italy – today is the feast day for Saint Anthony of Padua. Happy Feast Day to all and remember if you’ve lost something, be sure to ask Saint Anthony for prayers.

Stay tuned for more blogs! Next blog will feature a new country - AUSTRIA!