Lazise

The name Lazise comes from the Latin word laceses (i.e. city on the lake) and the six towers of the Scaligeri Castle suggest that the town has also Medieval origins.

Throughout its history Lazise has always been a fighting village: as a border town its past is full of battles, sieges and invasions. Lake Garda has constantly acted as a natural boundary and a political dividing line between the Veneto and Lombard territories.

The claims to self-governement of this town actually date back to the Holy Roman Empire: as early as 983 AD the people of Lazise asked emperor Otto II to benefit from extensive legal and fiscal autonomy. The emperor, eager to keep good relations with the population and to exploit the defensive features of this territory for his troops, granted autonomy to the town. For this reason the town of Lazise is considered the first free municipality of Italy.

Since then many different governments followed one another: the Scaligeri, the Visconti, the Serenissima Republic of Venice, the Gonzaga, Napoleon, the Lombardo-Veneto Kingdom and finally, after the third independence war in 1866, the Kingdom of Italy.

All the subsequent governors left the original privileges to the community thus allowing the town to develop and accumulate an uncommon wealth. Nowadays Lazise still retains clear and interesting traces of its past history and prosperity.

Here the lake reaches it max width of 17 kilometres from one side to the other.

Lazise has a wonderful historic town centre with narrow alleys and picturesque tiny squares, a harbor and the veronese custom office located in the very heart of the town.

In Lazise we can find many important mansions: Villa Pergolana (the most famous), Villa Bernini, set near the lake shore and surrounded by walls, the medieval-style Villa Bottona, Villa Baratta with its enchanting park, Villa Bazzoli and Villa deiCedri, in the hamlet of Colà. The village of Colà is very well known for its amazing Garda Thermal Park which houses two fully-equipped thermal lakes. This park is definitely worth a visit.

Lazise is one of the most important tourist sites of Lake Garda, owing to the beauty of the place, the wide number of shops and restaurants, the variety of sport activities (in water and on land) and the proximity to the famous amusement parks of Gardaland and Canevaworld. There are also plenty of hotels, residences, holiday apartments, B&Bs and campsites with accommodation proposals able to satisfy all kinds of needs.

Strolling through the alleys of this ancient lakeside town tourists can clearly perceive the majesty and regality that characterized its fascinating history.