What is Lazise known for?

Otto I's grant to fortify the village and collect tolls, often cited as the founding act of the first comune in Italy. 1.5 kilometers of fourteenth-century fortifications with the castle and harbor, the most complete surviving Scaliger ring on the lake. Lazise grows the red Bardolino DOC on the morainic hills behind the town and joins Bardolino and Cavaion in the Strada del Vino.

Lazise is a comune in the province of Verona, Veneto region of Italy, about 28 kilometers from Verona.

Veneto · Verona

Lazise

The walled port on the southeastern shore of Lake Garda granted the right to fortify in 983, considered the first comune in Italy.

28 km / 17 mi

Nearest hub (Verona)

6,852

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Lazise sitson the southeastern shore of Lake Garda, twenty kilometers northwest of Verona. In 983 the Holy Roman Emperor Otto I granted the village the right to fortify itself and collect tolls, an act often cited as the first comunal charter in Italy. The first walls went up shortly after; the current ring of 1.5 kilometers, with twelve towers and three gates, was completed under Cansignorio della Scala between 1375 and 1381. The Scaligeri also built the rectangular castle at the southern corner of the wall, with its five square towers and the fortified dock for the lake galleys. Venice took the town in 1405 and held it until Napoleon arrived in 1796; Porta Lion, on the south, still carries the winged lion of Saint Mark. The Romanesque Chiesa di San Nicolò by the harbor holds twelfth-century frescoes attributed to the Giotto school. Lazise is also one of the Veneto's wine and honey communes.

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Gallery

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Known for

Castello Scaligero
Rectangular fortress built 1350-1381 by the Scaligeri at the south corner of the walls, with five square towers and a fortified dock for lake galleys.
Mura medievali
1.5 kilometers of walls completed in 1381 under Cansignorio della Scala, with thirteen surviving towers and three gates: San Zeno, Nuova and Lion.
Chiesa di San Nicolò
Twelfth-century Romanesque church on the harbor, with frescoes attributed to the Giotto school and a former function as a customs warehouse.
Porto Vecchio
Medieval harbor protected by the castle walls, the oldest enclosed port on Lake Garda, with the dogana veneta customs house on its northern edge.
Dogana Veneta
Customs house built in the sixteenth century, used by Venice to collect duties on lake trade, now an event venue overlooking the old harbor.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September through October are the right months for Lazise. The walled centro storico stays cool from the lake breeze, the harbor fills with sailboats, and the Bardolino hills behind the town are green in spring and gold in October. July and August are warm and very crowded: the southern Garda shore concentrates more than half of the lake's tourist beds, and the gates of Lazise queue from morning. November through March is quiet. Many lakefront restaurants close midweek, the ferries run a reduced schedule, and the walls and harbor belong to residents. The Festa del Vino Novello runs the first weekend of November, the last public event before winter shuts the port.