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The entrance to Sirmione's historic town center is over a moat attached to a medieval fortress. Sirmione is a peninsular town on Italy's Lake Garda, not far from Vicenza. (Nancy Montgomery/Stars and Stripes)
Wisteria covers several old stone buildings in Sirmione at the southern edge of Lake Garda in Italy. (Nancy Montgomery/Stars and Stripes)
Maria Callas, one of the most famous and gifted opera singers of the 20th century --- and whom Aristotle Onassis dumped to marry Jacqueline Kennedy --- lived for a time in Sirmione, Italy. Parks and a restaurant decorated with her photographs are named for her. (Nancy Montgomery/Stars and Stripes)
Restaurants abound in the village of Sirmione, many of them offering fresh, light cuisine, as well as pasta and pizza. Here's an appetizer of shrimp with orange and fennel slices. I'm still not sure what the green sauce was. Avocado? (Nancy Montgomery/Stars and Stripes)
Maria Callas' former residence, where she lived with her first husband, is typical of the homes in Sirmione, all green, and lush and landscaped. (Nancy Montgomery/Stars and Stripes)
Sunbathers at Sirmione on Lake Garda, Italy, relax among the olive trees. (Nancy Montgomery/Stars and Stripes)
One of Lake Garda's hot thermals is free at the peninsula town of Sirmione, Italy. (Nancy Montgomery/Stars and Stripes)
Sunlight dapples the clean, clear water of Italy's Lake Garda on a late August afternoon. If you like to swim, summer is the perfect time to go -- if you don't mind lots of other tourists. (Nancy Montgomery/Stars and Stripes)
Lake Garda laps at the Sirmione shore decorated by old stone walls and turrets. (Nancy Montgomery/Stars and Stripes)
Eat. Drink. Sun. Swim. Stroll. Repeat.
Sirmione, the peninsular little town on Italy’s Lake Garda’s southern edge, is a place to indulge your inner hedonist.
It’s all about leisure, long, alfresco lunches amid wisteria-covered buildings and masses of hydrangeas. It’s about watching the swans swim past on a warm sunny day, taking a dip yourself, then having to decide only whether to order the hazelnut gelato or the lemon.
The town’s historic center, reached across a bridge over a moat that was part of a 13th-century fortress, is in summer devoted to tourists, with its narrow cobbled streets filled with touristy shops, restaurants and hotels.
Yet nearly everywhere you glance, a lovely view presents itself.
The little center is punctuated with small parks abloom with flowers, herbs and olive trees, including one named for Maria Callas. Among the most revered opera stars of the 20th century, she lived in a pretty yellow house in town with her first husband before she met Aristotle Onassis, who supposedly broke her heart when he abandoned her to marry Jacqueline Kennedy.
And, if the walk through town raises a sweat, just minutes away the cool, clear water of Italy’s largest lake awaits.
What’s not to like? For some, no doubt, that would be the throngs of fellow tourists.
Sirmione welcomes its tourists. All the menus are polyglot, likewise the shop personnel, who often speak English and German as well as Italian.
But the truth is, during the summer, the narrow streets can become a bit claustrophobic.
According to the town’s tourist website, Sirmione has always attracted hordes of visitors, some more civilized than others. “Be they Romans or Cimbrians, Goths or Avars, Scaligers or Venetians, all were touched by its fabulous charm,” the website says.
Tourism sites generally list only three things to do in Sirmione. You can look at the ruins of the fortress, the Rocca Scaligera; you can check out the thermal spa; or you can visit the Catullus Villa and Grotto, the ruins of a Roman villa started near the end of the first century B.C. for a wealthy Veronese family.
There are also a couple of churches you can visit that have frescoes on the walls.
All of these are pleasant; none is taxing in the least.
It is possible, of course, to expend a good deal of energy in Sirmione. My brother, Brian, and his son, Ben, a duo who are forever hiking and engaged in other outdoors sports, spent hours during a June visit on long swims and cannonball contests.
The rest of us watched from shore, drinking our Aperol spritzes.
Sirmione, Lake Garda, Italy DIRECTIONS Sirmione, on the southern end of Lake Garda, is an hour from Vicenza. Take Autostrada 4 to the Sirmione exit and follow Route SP13 into town. Continue on Via XXV Aprile, then Viale Marconi through town to a parking lot at the old town wall. Only those on business or staying at a hotel can drive in the old town.
TIMES Go in the warm months if you like to swim. Otherwise, autumn and spring are also lovely and less crowded than in summer.
FOOD There are many, many restaurants offering pasta, pizza, fish and more, and seemingly infinite gelato stands.
INFORMATION Visit www.sirmione.com.
