What is Limone sul Garda known for?

Stone-pillared lemon greenhouses, used from the seventeenth century to export citrus north into Austria, Poland and Russia. Mutant apolipoprotein traced to Giovanni Pomarelli in the eighteenth century, carried by about forty descendants and linked to longevity. The cliff road to Riva del Garda, finished in 1932, ended centuries of isolation when the town was reachable only by boat or mule track.

Where is Limone sul Garda?

Limone sul Garda is a comune in the province of Brescia, Lombardy region of Italy, about 52 kilometers from Trento.

Lombardy · Brescia

Limone sul Garda

The northernmost lemon-growing town in the world, at 46 degrees north on the western shore of Lake Garda, reached by road only in 1932.

52 km / 32 mi

Nearest hub (Trento)

1,130

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Limone sul Garda sits on the western shore of Lake Garda at the foot of vertical limestone cliffs, the northernmost commercial lemon-growing town in the world at almost 46 degrees north. The Latin limes, meaning border, gave the place its name; the Bettoni counts gave it its industry. From the seventeenth century, limonaie, stone-pillared greenhouses heated and covered through winter, allowed lemons to be exported to Austria, Germany, Poland and Russia. The road to Riva del Garda, the Gardesana Occidentale, was carved into the cliff and finished in 1932; until then the town reached the outside world by boat or mule track. In 1974 a Milanese pharmacologist traced a mutant apolipoprotein, ApoA-1 Milano, to a single eighteenth-century resident, Giovanni Pomarelli. Roughly forty of his descendants in town carry the variant, which suppresses cardiovascular disease and helps a handful of residents past one hundred.

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Gallery

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Known for

Limonaia del Castèl
Restored seventeenth-century lemon greenhouse on stone pillars above the lake, demonstrating the heated wooden cover that protected the trees through winter.
Chiesa di San Benedetto
Eighteenth-century parish church on the lake front, with a single nave and Baroque altars rebuilt over an older medieval foundation.
Centro storico
Tight grid of stone alleys between the old harbour and the cliff, with narrow porticoes that survive from the pre-road fishing and citrus village.
Lungolago
Lakefront promenade running below the cliff face, with views east across the lake to Monte Baldo and the Veronese shore.
Ciclopista del Garda
Cantilevered cycle path bolted to the cliff above the SS45bis, opened in 2018, running south toward Capo Reamol.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September into October are the months that suit Limone. The lake holds spring temperatures, the lemons flower, the cliff above the town keeps morning shade until noon. July and August fill the lakefront and the cycle path, with peak crowds on weekends drawn from Verona, Milano and German-speaking Europe. Winters are mild for the latitude, around 6 degrees in January, which is why the Bettoni counts could grow lemons here at all. Many hotels close from November through March, though the limonaie stay covered and visible from the lungolago. Olive harvest runs from late October into November, when the few remaining frantoi press the local extra virgin oil.