Gardone Riviera

With its lakeside walk, large villas and grand hotels, Gardone Riviera preserves a charm of times past, it has been a famous destination for international tourism since the end of the 19th century. The most recently constructed part of the town is Gardone di Sotto, the pedestrian section alongside the water where bars, ice-cream shops and boutiques jostle for space. In the centre of a large public garden stands Villa Alba and lower, on the lake shore, the Torre di San Marco, once the Vittoriale dock. In 1900 the tsar’s doctor Arthur Hruska created a botanical garden now propeity of the André Heller Foundation. In just 15.000 m2 there are over 3.000 varieties of plants and flowers from all over the world which match with artificial structures, contemporary sculptures and surprising scenographic effects. The older section of the town, Gardone di Sopra, still has its large villas surrounded by gardens and its 18th century Parish Church.