Rome - The breathtaking beauty and sheer size of Lake Garda, the largest lake in Italy, makes it a popular holiday destination for Italians and foreigners alike.
Picturesque towns line the lake’s shores, making a tour of the 145km shoreline a delight.
Limone sul Garda, on the narrower, more mountainous stretch of the lake to the north, is one of the most captivating.
Limone is Italian for “lemon” and the town used to be known for growing lemons and other citrus – but the name is a coincidence. The town is much older than the lemon groves and its name could come from the Latin for “boundary”.
Among the most striking features of Limone are the pillars and walls that remain from gardens where lemons were grown. They were described by the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in the 18th century, bringing the town to the attention of an international literary audience.
Limone has another claim to fame. In the 1970s, a resident was found to have a protein in his blood that removed fats from arteries and took them to the liver, where they were eliminated.
Testing of Limone residents established that all carriers of the gene were descended from a married couple in Limone in the 17th century.
The typical Limone diet is rich in local fish, olive oil and citrus fruits and the climate is moderate, so it is not surprising that a high percentage of Limone’s residents are more than 80 years old.
Limone was a small and isolated village only accessible by boat or mountain path until the 1930s, with people making a living from olive groves, citrus fruit and fishing.
Isolation ended, however, when the so-called Gardesana road was dug out of the mountainside, connecting Limone with neighbouring towns and opening it up to tourism.
The scenic road has become famous in its own right.
The car chase that opened the 2008 James Bond movie Quantum of Solace was filmed on an arched stretch to Limone from the town of Riva.
Limone’s first lemon groves date back centuries and great effort was put into building structures that worked rather like greenhouses in protecting the trees from winter temperatures.
The village was the northernmost location in the world where citrus was grown commercially, and the fruit was exported to Germany, Austria, Poland, Hungary, other parts of northern Europe and Russia.
Competition from the south reduced demand for Limone’s lemons and by the 1900s production started to die off.
Vestiges of the industry remain all over Limone, however, from the lemon grove pillars to the lemon emblem that appears on many buildings and streets.
The town is appealing for its beauty and elegance, while Lake Garda’s immense, shimmering blue is captivating.
The bright sails of boats, windsurfers and kite surfers dot the lake.
Lake Garda attracts many sailors and surfers. When the wind picks it up, it is strong and blows steadily. Swimming is highly recommended on a hot day in the refreshing water.
For those who prefer to be on dry land, many hotels and restaurants are built on the edge of the lake, offering spectacular views, and there are public beaches.
An apperitivo of Aperol Spritz (Aperol, Prosecco and sparkling water) or a Hugo (elderflower syrup, Prosecco, fresh mint and sparkling water) is an ideal accompaniment to watching the sailboats pass by.
Reuters