It’s hard to believe you’re not peering out over a clear blue sea. You are in fact in the heart of Northern Italy on the shores of its largest lake. This area affords a myriad of choice from day trips to the cradles of culture in Venice, Milan or Bologna to an evening at perhaps the World’s most spectacular opera in the Coliseum in Verona.

The unique microclimate from the cool mountain air nearby Alps coupled with the warm summer sun make the Olive Riviera one of Europe’s culinary hotspots with a cuisine all of its own. After a long lunch accompanied by a vintage bardolino, hop on the lake’s ferry to explore its many beauties such as Sirmione, “the pearl of Garda” or try your skills with a rod to land one of the fierce zander which lurk below the crystal waters or simply relax a breath in the clear fresh air.