Guided walk in Gargnano

Among the activities that the hotel offers, there is an exclusive walk outdoors, once a week, through the country's oldest streets. It is a guided tour steeped in the history of Gargnano, which traces the complexity and uniqueness of the Alto-Gardesano territory, through the everyday lives of people who have gone before us.

Starting from the Hotel Gardenia al Lago, in fact, on a summer's day of the new millennium, you can walk through late nineteenth and early twentieth century cobbled mule-tracks, dating back further to even more ancient times, and gradually reconstruct the traditional agricultural ecosystem of Gargnano, the religious life of its inhabitants, the daily grind of work, artistic and architectural evolution, and the spectacular landscape that inspired the poetry of writers like D.H. Lawrence, during his stay at Villa Igea between the winter of 1912 and the spring of 1913.

To fully enjoy this unusual experience and perceive the soul of the country, you must free your senses and become involved in all the aspects of daily life that today’s busy schedule has taught us to consider cheap and trivial.

Following the Guide's stories, the mere sound of footsteps on the gravel of the mule track can suddenly recreate the coming and going of carts pulled by donkeys or horses, laden with baskets of lemons as large as oranges and with a fragrant aroma unique today: “You smell the scent of lemons before you even see them.” (Se sintìa el profumo de limù, amò prima de vèderli) said our elders. The dialects and lively voices meeting among the village shops awaken an atmosphere of familiarity with very deep roots. The repetitive movements of the fishermen, fixing their nets and selling the fish they caught the night before, remind us that in addition to the life dedicated to the land, the local fishing economy is an important tradition. The art in the ancient Chiostro di San Francesco (cloister of St. Francis) depicts a full collection of local activities. The old sign of the “Tre gobi” tavern shows another aspect of viticulture; after a day of work and sacrifice, neighbors and friends gather to play cards and share a bottle of good wine. The inner streets, quieter, leading to the parish church, are filled with ancient and still original architectural aspects. From vantage points on Via Crocefisso, visitors can enjoy a full demonstration of Gargnano’s agricultural ecosystem, surrounded by a background of azure, blue and green. You see the pillars of the lemon house that rise relentlessly upward, the rows of vines, the tufts of olive trees, smell the scent of capers, and glimpse the silent and solitary fishermen's boats from which they dip their nets, and so on until you reach the Fondo Crocifisso, where these activities are continuing today. Here, guests refreshing themselves at the lemon house and savoring some local produce prepared by our Lakefront Boutique Hotels may see in practice many of the activities related along the tour, learning more about important historic and economic aspects that for centuries have made the lemon groves of Alto Garda Bresciano famous.