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Stemma di Costermano sul Garda

Veneto · Verona

Costermano sul Garda

A morainal-hill communeabove the eastern shore of Lake Garda, with one of the largest German military cemeteries in Italy.

35 km / 22 mi

Nearest hub (Verona)

3,974

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Why come

Costermano sul Garda sitson the moraine amphitheater behind the eastern shore of Lake Garda, twenty-five kilometers northwest of Verona. The hills here were a feud of the Brescia monastery of Santa Giulia in the early Middle Ages and passed through Scaliger and Venetian rule before joining Italy in 1866. The municipality added sul Garda to its name in 2018 to anchor its tourism positioning. The largest single visitor draw is somber: the Deutsche Soldatenfriedhof Costermano, opened in 1967, holds 21,931 German military graves from the Second World War on a hill above the lake, the second-largest German cemetery in Italy after Pomezia. The Sanctuary of the Madonna del Castello of Marciaga sits on the spur above the village, with frescoes from the fifteenth century. The economy runs on olive oil, Bardolino DOC vines, and the holiday accommodation that has filled the morainal hills since the 1970s. The view from the parish church of San Siro looks straight west across Lake Garda toward the Monte Baldo ridge.

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Gallery

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Known for

  • Santuario della Madonna del Castello

    Sanctuary on the spur of Marciaga, with fifteenth-century frescoes and a panoramic terrace over Lake Garda and the eastern shore.

  • Deutsche Soldatenfriedhof

    German military cemetery opened in 1967, with 21,931 graves from the Second World War; the second-largest in Italy.

  • Chiesa di San Siro

    Parish church in the centro of Costermano, rebuilt in the nineteenth century, with a freestanding campanile and views to Monte Baldo.

  • Belvedere di Marciaga

    Lookout above the village at around 350 meters, used as the principal viewpoint to the lake and the morainal amphitheater.

  • Bardolino DOC vineyards

    Hillside vines for the Corvina-Rondinella-Molinara wines of the Bardolino zone, with cantine open through the warm months.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

  • J
  • F
  • M
  • A
  • M
  • J
  • J
  • A
  • S
  • O
  • N
  • D
  • Best
  • Hot or crowded
  • Quiet
  • Mostly closed

April through October is the working window. April and May bring the lake back to swimming temperature on the shore four kilometers below, and the morainal hills into wildflower. June through August fills the holiday rentals and the lakefront day-traffic from Garda and Bardolino; the hills stay a few degrees cooler than the shore. September and October are the harvest months for olives and wine. November through March is quiet, with the cemetery still open daily and most holiday accommodation closed. Fog can sit over the lake for days at this elevation. The view from the Madonna del Castello toward Monte Baldo is clearest after the first October rain when the haze lifts off the basin.

How to get there

From Verona, Costermano sul Garda is roughly 35 km by road. Allow about 30–42 minutes depending on traffic and route choice (autostrada vs scenic).

Drive time to the nearest gateway airports

  • Verona42m
  • Milan1h 22m
  • Bologna1h 46m

Elevation 237 m

Reachable by train

Google MapsApple MapsDirections from Verona

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