Il giornalista USA David Code racconta il Garda e Brescia, vere "perle nascoste"

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Gargnano, Lake Garda, Italy

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Hidden Gems: Lake Garda and Brescia, Italy David Code Follow UX Writer, Advocate for Non-T‌

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Lake Garda is popular with Germans who drive down from Bavaria, including this hardworking German tourist:

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But amazingly, almost no Americans come to Lake Garda. Mistake. This lake is huge, beautiful, and deserves your attention.

No alt text provided for this image I think the reason I love the Brescia region so much is that it is still exotic for local Italians to meet an American. It was so easy for me to strike up a conversation with locals, make friends, and have meals together, that this is one of my new favorites on my Italy travel list. And here are my previous articles: Florence, Tuscany, Lake Como, the Italian Alps, Genoa, Cinque Terre and Portofino.

For those of you who are less outgoing than I am, I recommend the first thing you do when planning a trip is to book your guide. If you have a good local guide, they will recommend the hotels and restaurants and tours that you want, and their local expertise and experience is invaluable. You need their good taste, and they can save you a bundle by avoiding mistakes you would have made if you booked everything yourself.

I did not take my own advice, but I got lucky when I arrived in Desenzano on Lake Garda. The Piccola Vela Hotel is a lovely place, only a few dozen yards from the lake.

No alt text provided for this image The big bonus was that, the night I arrived, they had a party at a neighboring villa that they kindly invited me to. There I met many locals who were thrilled to talk to an American, and by the end of the party I was sitting at a table with six or seven new friends.

Among them was Emanuela, a spunky, dynamic woman who had lived in America for several years, so she knew both my language and my culture. How fortunate for me! She offered to guide me the next day to see nearby Sirmione, and in the meantime I went out for drinks with my friends to a local hot spot until 2:00 in the morning, with the local barber-cum-politico, the local banker, and a hotel owner in the area. Super fun.

The next morning, I took the boat with Emanuela for Sirmione, a beautiful place. We went to Erica Ristorante, owned by a Russian emigrant named Victoria, who was a lovely hostess: No alt text provided for this image

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The pizza and pasta were excellent, as was our bottle of rosĂŠ. It's a nice, shady spot, far enough off the tourist path to be filled with locals and have great prices.

Next we visited a 13th-century medieval castle there, with beautiful views over the ocean and a lovely aesthetic.

No alt text provided for this image As you can see, the castle was enjoyed by tourists of all shapes and sizes: No alt text provided for this image Next we visited the local Roman ruins, which still has an amazing number of walls standing, and a view onto Jamaica Beach, a place famous with locals for its aquamarine, crystal clear waters over smooth rocks on the shores of the island.

No alt text provided for this image I ended up staying two extra nights at Emanuela's very comfortable bed and breakfast, across from a local mall and convenient to the downtown area. I loved her B&B, but she was an outstanding guide and I suggest you consult her early in your trip planning process.

Do you know the Hearst Castle in California? Emanuela introduced me to the Italian equivalent of opulent, quirky fabulousness at the Shrine of Italian Victories, which is the very fancy name of the private home of a very crazy writer named Gabriele d'Annunzio who was popular in the 1920's and 1930's. Here is his study: No alt text provided for this image He was so popular, in fact, that Mussolini and his fascist government pals saw him as a threat and threw wads of cash into expanding Ol' Gabe's house, to keep him away from political life in Rome.

The result is pretty darn close to the over-the-top opulence of the Hearst Castle, but with better (i.e., Italian) food: No alt text provided for this image Another tourist highlight on the lake is the Isola del Garda, a beautiful island that has seen use over the years as a Roman burial ground, a Franciscan monastery, a nesting ground for bands of pirates, and most recently a stunning chateau owned by the Cavazzi family.

No alt text provided for this image This is the owner, Alberta Cavazza, who offers personal tours of this amazing place, with one gorgeous view after another, such as the boat dock below: No alt text provided for this image Next, in The Mystical Department, once again I have my trusty guide Emanuela to thank for my fabulous stay at the Convent of San Tommaso in the lakeside village of Gargnano.

No alt text provided for this image After many weeks on the move, it was a joy for me to take up residence in this lovely, placid monastery to rest, relax, and re-charge my spiritual batteries. Built on a hill overlooking the lake, this convent has housed Franciscan monks since the 1500's, and they really chose a room with a view: No alt text provided for this image One logistical tip, mi amici: sure the ferry boats have nice views, but you cannot beat the public bus system around the lake for fast, cheap transport. I discovered this fact when leaving lake country for the often-overlooked but fabulous city of in Brescia.

I dropped my bags in my comfy room at Brescia's lovely Hotel Ambasciatori: No alt text provided for this image

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The Trattoria Porteri in Brescia makes a proud appearance in the Michelin Guide, but what really makes them shine is their devotion to preserving the recipes of their ancestors' local cuisine: No alt text provided for this image I chose to leave the ordering to the waitress, who brought me several dishes, matched with local wines and the pairings were much better than I could have chosen with my intermediate wine palate. I also loved the decor of this restaurant, which has been in the family for generations, and all the locals know it well.

No alt text provided for this image The old city in the center of Brescia has existed since Roman times, as you will see from the many ruins of the Roman buildings and the amphitheater.

No alt text provided for this image Elide, my guide was an expert in archeology and helped make the Santa Giulia museum of archeology come alive for me, with her descriptions of the Roman ruins over which we stood inside the museum, looking down at the patterns of tiling and the frescoes within those ruins. I was struck by just how much history you can find when you dig down under the streets of a city.

No alt text provided for this image Friends, my next adventure started when I asked for directions. A friend of mine had sent me to a restaurant in Brescia called Al Frate, but Google maps was mistaken about its location. But I saw two couples sitting at an outdoor table nearby, and they looked both dynamic and fun, so of course who do you think I chose to ask directions from? In my halting Italian I asked them where the Al Frate restaurant was, and one of them smiled and pointed up the street. When I said thank you, he said "No, thank you!" with a big smile, and I assumed he was making some kind of joke in Italian that I did not understand.

More on this later. Right now, I'm seated at an al fresco table at Al Frate, and I'm hungry!

No alt text provided for this image Never judge a book by its cover. At first, the owner of the Al Frate restaurant struck me as gruff, and I chalked it up to my poor Italian. But then he served me a fabulous meal with the local house wine that he paired for me, and when I went to pay the bill, he invited me inside.

In flawless English, he explained how this restaurant had originally been dedicated to partisans fallen in a local civil war, and he was continuing that legacy that had gone on for several generations. His story moved me, and he was obviously very proud to go out of his way to explain the history to me.

We went on to speak for at least 30 minutes about his experiences living abroad, and I realized I had totally misjudged this man. After I went for drinks at another place, I returned to speak with him again, and I cannot recommend his restaurant more highly for ambiente. This is a gem of a man: both humorous and at the same time philosophical about life. You really must meet him.

Now, back to The Fab Four, of whom I had asked directions to Al Frate: after dinner the four of them were still at the same table down the street, so I asked him to explain the joke about, "No, thank you!" He said that it wasn't sarcasm, it was merely a common form of politeness in Italian. Then he invited me to sit down with them, and thus began a three-hour encounter of talking, laughing, and getting to know each other. I don't know if I was the first American they ever met, but I do know that they were as curious about me as I was about them. It turns out that the two women of the couples were sisters, and they were not shy about asking about my background, my views on politics, what is good and bad about

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