First impressions and other Lago di Garda, Italy General Tips

Favorite Thing: There's some ridiculous theory that humans form 42 different opinions about someone in the first 30 seconds when they're meeting them for the first time.
Well, call me a sceptic, but I concede wholeheartedly that while first impressions do count, I find it hard to believe you can have that many.
Which brings me to my first impression of Desenzano.

Fondest Memory: I like water. Living lakeside or seaside as I have most of my life I have found its calming influence invaluable. Thus it was that when I pulled up lakeside at Desenzano I was liking the place already. Wanted to get a picture of myself by the attractive marina.
Lo and behold, no need to set up the tripod, there was a fellow snapper anxious for me to take a picture of him and his partner and I would return the favour. Thus you see a picture of me waving to him as he runs away with my camera..........no, only joking!

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Favorite Thing: So it was that my brief acquaintance with my new found friends ended as they walked away into the town of Desenzano.

Fondest Memory: You may also notice the geese in this picture. Very tame and not frightened to indicate that they might be partial to some food if you have any.

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Favorite Thing: At times, however briefly, you may think that you might not see another castle or Renaissance building while travelling in Italy if you only have an hour or two left of daylight. Put such thoughts out of your head.

Fondest Memory: This is taken at the eastern end of Desenzano, en route to Sirmione, and only made me envious that I wasn't spending the night there overlooking the lake.

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Favorite Thing: I really hadn't planned on spending much time at all in Desenzano. Actually, I hadn't even planned to stop there. Then again, I really hadn't planned anything.

Fondest Memory: However, with my cat's curiousity I was tempted by the domes and medieval towers peeping above the more immediate buildings and I walked on into the vias of Desenzano.

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Favorite Thing: It's refreshing to walk through a town or village in Italy and see some new works of art. They provide such a contrast to the Roman/Middle Age/Medieval/Renaissance stuff that appears on every street corner.

Fondest Memory: So it was that when I came upon a modern fountain and sculpture (the very dark thing in the background) I was pleasantly surprised.

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Favorite Thing: Either of these streets, the Via Castello (left) or the Via Stretto Castello (right) will take you uphill to, no surprises here, the castello!
They are lined with shops though, when I walked past at siesta time, they were, like most other things in Italy at the time I visited, closed.


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Favorite Thing: On the other side of Desenzano (to the east) and again inland, are two sites, close to each other and historically inseparable that are a must for all interested in the Napoleonic campaigns and just history in general.
At San Martino della Battaglia, on 24 June (Midsummer's Day) 1859 a Piemontean army under Vittorio Emanuele II defeated the right wing of the Austrian army here, while a few kilometers to the south at Solferino, Napoleon III crushed the main body of the Austrians, a victory commemorated in name by a bridge over the Seine in Paris. The day had few equals in the Wars of Italian Independence, but it also has a significance that was even more far-reaching as the Red Cross was set up as a direct result of the suffering of survivors of the battle at nearby Solferino.

Fondest Memory: This castle had nothing to with that, I just thought you'd be interested.
The ties to the Roman era are maintained at Capo la Terra, the higher part of the town, where these remains of a castle, constructed spasmodically from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries to guard against attacks by marauders from the north can be found.
The ageing walls, the crumbling brick, the classic look of a castle. Can't get enough of them.

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Favorite Thing: Buildings slapped together are commonplace everywhere in Italy. Using materials from former structures are something you do.
That type of construction is nowhere better exemplified than in the castle at Desenzano, though I suspect the plant life invading the brickwork weren't in the original plans


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Favorite Thing: The castle stands on the remains of a Roman fort, so the strategic merits of this spot must have been obvious 2,000 years ago. The Romans had a market here, chiefly for grain, and Desenzano held its position as an important market town right through to its time under Venetian rule


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Favorite Thing: Marinas are dotted everywhere, as indicated in other photos and this, in Desenzano, was about the prettiest I saw. The only detraction was the floating (and sunken) debris that man has left behind.


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