Verona: a first glimpse of the city is love at first sight, and will entice you to come back and explore it thoroughly. For the past two thousand years and more, the city walls enclose a unique and breathtaking range of art-works and monuments. Recently awarded the status of a "World Heritage Site", Verona has delighted painters, poets, travellers and celebrities for centuries. Verona is a work of art in itself: a fascinating cross-roads of historical periods and cultures (both classical and Germanic), a blend of both Nordic and "Mediterranean" influences; the city is at the same time both ancient and modern. A walk through its narrow streets allows you to get in touch with its varied and fascinating past: traces of its splendid Roman origins, its prevailing medieval structure dating back to the time of knights and castles, its magnificent Renaissance palaces as well as the impressive fortifications which protect it. A suggestive blend of art and history which continuously fascinates the onlooker.
Garda Lake: Shaped by the last Ice Age, Lake Garda has always fascinated its visitors, starting with its first visitor and enthusiast Wolfgang Goethe, who saw it in 1786. Lake Benacus (as it was called by the Romans and celebrated by one of their most illustrious poets, Catullus) is the biggest and the most typical of all of the pre-alpine lakes. Its particular shade of sky-blue and the varied landscape which surrounds it has made it unforgettable. The southern section of the lake, embraced by the gentle slopes of the Riviera of Olives, looks decidedly Mediterranean, however, just a few kilometres north where Monte Baldo rises above it, it completely changes character and turns into a narrow fiord. |