I’m enjoying a springtime journey through northern Italy and the famous lakes.  First stop: Lake Garda

Starting in the province of Brescia in Lombardy,  Sirmione is a sweet little town whose historic center stands on the peninsula that divides the lower section of Lake Garda almost in half.

Sirmione is known to have been a popular resort town since the 1st century B.C.E., largely because of its thermal hot springs; there are Roman ruins in the historic center. The remains of a Roman villa are at the end of the peninsula, and are called the Grottoes of Catullus – the name of a Roman poet whose family lived in Sirmione in the 1st century B.C.E. Another attraction is the Rocca Scaligera, a 13th-century castle.  More recently, Maria Callas built a villa on the pennisula and, the 2017 film “Call me by your name” was partly filmed in Sirmione.

Below: there is nothing like sailing into a medieval port to start your day!