The thermal city of Sirmione has 25,000 residents, mainly living in the
hamlet Colombare. The historical city centre is situated on the tip of
the peninsula, well defended by the castle, the moat and the stone
slabs all around the tip that made an invasion by boat impossible.
The biggest Roman villa of Northern Italy has been built here in the
I century. The Della Scala family of Verona built the beautiful castle, completely
surrounded by water with a drawbridge and stone walks along the
walls, with a magnificent view of the military harbour where the fleet
found shelter. The castle has been completely restored and is open
to visitors. In the city centre, the parish church of Santa Maria
Maggiore of the XV century.
Sirmione is well-known as a thermal centre with sulphur water that
originates at a temperature of 69°C from the Boiola well, which is
piped to the thermal centres Catullo in the historical city centre and
Virgilio at Colombare di Sirmione.
When the water level of the Lake Garda is low, the tip of the
peninsula can be rounded on foot walking on the stone slabs
forming its base. We leave the car on the big Montebaldo parking
at 700 m from the castle and enter the historical centre: the walk
begins behind the parish church.
At the small beach, in front of the pizzeria, the Boiola spring is
situated under water at approx. 100 m distance. The walk around
the tip, under the Villa Catullo, is not easy but awesome and
interesting. At the farthest point a beacon warns passing
speedboats not to come too near. The walk ends at Punta Staffalo
where we return into the city centre.
THE STONE SLABS
When the water level of the Lake Garda is low, the tip of the peninsula can be rounded on foot walking on the stone slabs forming its base. We leave the car on the big Montebaldo parking at 700 m from the castle and enter the historical centre: the walk begins behind the parish church. At the small beach, in front of the pizzeria, the Boiola spring is situated under water at approx. 100 m distance. The walk around the tip, under the Villa Catullo, is not easy but awesome and interes-ting. At the farthest point a beacon warns passing speedboats not to come too near. Halfway the slab walk, a low wall with an iron fence can be easily climbed over by means of an impro-vised ladder put there on purpose. The walk ends at Punta Staffalo where we return into the city centre.
ROMAN VILLA “GROTTE DI CATULLO”
Along Via Catullo in the historical city centre we arrive at the Roman villa built between the I century B.C. and the I century A.C. Only ruins remain of this magnificent private dwelling of approx. 20,000 square meters, he most imposing Roman villa of Northern Italy. Near the entrance of the archeo-logical site, the interesting Antiquarium with a map of the building, photo-graphs of the excavations, mosaics, bronze objects and stoneware.
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