What is Sirmione known for?

Roman villa at the peninsula tip, the largest in northern Italy, named for the poet who returned here in his thirty-first poem. The only surviving fourteenth-century fortified port in Italy, built by the Della Scala family of Verona. Mineral water rises in Lake Garda at 70 degrees just off the peninsula, the source of the Terme di Catullo spa.

Sirmione is a comune in the province of Brescia, Lombardy region of Italy, about 41 kilometers from Verona.

Lombardy · Brescia

Sirmione

A 4-kilometer peninsula reaching into the southern Garda, with the Scaliger fortified port and the Roman villa called the Grotte di Catullo at its tip.

41 km / 25 mi

Nearest hub (Verona)

8,248

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Sirmione sits on a peninsula that stretches four kilometers into the southern end of Lake Garda. The old town occupies a triangle of land just over a mile long, with three low hills, Cortine, San Pietro, and the Grotte di Catullo. The poet Catullus came back here, in the famous Poem 31, to the family villa on the peninsula tip. The Roman complex that survives at that point, built between the late first century BC and the early first century AD, is the largest Roman private residence in northern Italy; the connection to Catullus is literary rather than archaeological, but the name has stayed for a thousand years. The Della Scala family of Verona built the Castello Scaligero in the late fourteenth century at the only entrance to the old town. It is the only surviving example of a fourteenth-century fortified port in Italy. Thermal water rises in Lake Garda just off the peninsula at 70 degrees, the source of the Terme di Catullo. Maria Callas kept a villa here through the 1950s and 60s.

The slow-trip planner

Building a trip? Find where Sirmione fits in a slow Italy circuit.

Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.

Plan your trip

Gallery

10 photos · scroll →

Known for

Castello Scaligero
Late fourteenth-century Della Scala fortress at the entrance to the old town, with a 37-meter keep and a fortified port still enclosing a piece of the lake.
Grotte di Catullo
Roman villa complex at the peninsula tip, largest Roman private residence in northern Italy, built late first century BC to early first century AD.
Terme di Catullo
Thermal spa using mineral water that rises in Lake Garda at 70 degrees just off the peninsula.
Chiesa di San Pietro in Mavino
Romanesque church on the highest hill of the peninsula, with frescoes from the twelfth to fourteenth centuries.
Centro storico di Sirmione
Walled old town inside the Castello Scaligero gates, with a triangle of medieval streets between three low hills.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through October is the lake season. The Grotte di Catullo open with the spring archaeological calendar, the Scaligero is open year-round, and the peninsula promenade fills with day-trippers from Verona and the German A22 corridor. July and August are the heaviest months, with the old town packed between ten and seven; April, May, September and October are the easier months. November through March is quiet. Lake fog sits over the peninsula for stretches at a time, many waterfront restaurants close, and the Castello and the Grotte stay open with shorter hours. The thermal spa runs year-round.