Lazise sits on the Verona shore of Lake Garda, inside a ring of battlemented walls with three gates and the Scaliger castle at the entrance. In 983 a diploma of the emperor Otto II granted the community the right to govern itself as a free commune, and from that comes the title of first commune in Italy, spelled out in white stones on the grass at the edge of the village. The old centre is entirely pedestrian and takes less than an hour to walk; the place where you stop is the old harbour, with the Dogana Veneta and the Romanesque church of San Nicolò. For anyone travelling by motorhome it is a convenient base, with two campsites and the theme parks a few minutes away.
Sleeping
Stops and overnight stays
Two campsites, one inside the village and one to the south among the fields, plus a free car park for a daytime stop.
Campeggio Comunale Camping Lazise
Via Roma 1, Lungolago Cavazzocca Mazzanti, 37017 Lazise (VR)
the first campsite to open on Lake Garda, inside the old centre of Lazise, on 15,000 sqm, with 113 pitches and 13 brick bungalows. It stands right on the lakefront, with a beach on Lungolago Cavazzocca Mazzanti, and from here the centre and the water are a few steps away. A simple site, with electric hook-ups, well kept toilets, hot and cold water, disabled access and a motorhome service point. There is no booking: pitches are assigned on arrival according to availability. Opening was confirmed by telephone in September 2026; the exact season dates are still the ones declared for 2025.
a four star campsite of 20 hectares, open since 1958 and run by the Russo family, with direct access to the largest private sandy beach on Garda. Pitches of various sizes, some with a lake view, others near the pools or inside the park, as well as maxi caravans, bungalows and glamping tents. A water park with pools, slides and hydromassage beds, two restaurants, an ice cream parlour, a beach bar, a supermarket, a wellness centre, a medical service, entertainment by age group, courts for tennis, football, beach volleyball, basketball, bowls and table tennis, minigolf, windsurfing and canoeing, a farm with local produce. Pets welcome on every pitch, waste collected daily. The site says the centre of Lazise is about 1 km away, on foot, by bike or with the shuttles, but the coordinates give almost two: the distance is worth checking on the spot.
for a short daytime stop we found room here, ourselves and a couple of other motorhomes: it is free and sits east of the old centre. About staying overnight we know nothing.
The old centre is entirely pedestrian and takes less than an hour to walk round
Cycle paths link the hamlets to the lakefront and carry on towards Bardolino and Garda; many sites hire out bicycles, sometimes free
In summer local buses connect Pacengo and Colà with the centre of Lazise and the other villages on the lake
The landing stage is on the lakefront: the boats are the scenic way to move between the villages of the Verona shore
Gardaland, Movieland and Caneva Aquapark are a few minutes by road from the farm campsites of Pacengo, with shuttles in high season
Seeing
Sights
Five stops: the first four between the walls and the lakefront, the last in the hamlet of Colà, a few kilometres out of the village. Tap a marker on the map to open its entry below.
1
Castello Scaligero and the medieval walls
Castle · 45.50404, 10.73258
built between 1375 and 1381 at the wish of Cansignorio della Scala and completed by his sons Antonio and Bartolomeo II, it was part of the Scaliger defensive system of the Verona territory. The fortress has five towers and a keep, originally joined by a covered walkway. Today it is private property, Villa Bernini, and cannot be visited inside, but the fourteenth century walls around the village are well preserved and can be walked. The three gates are Porta San Zeno to the east, Porta Cansignorio to the north and Porta del Leone to the south. The park around the castle often hosts town events.
Porto Vecchio, Dogana Veneta and the Church of San Nicolò
Point of interest · 45.50506, 10.73138
the historic and commercial heart of the village. On the harbour stand the Dogana Veneta, of the fourteenth century, with arches designed to let the boats in and used for checking goods between Lombardy and the Republic of Venice, restored between 2003 and 2006 and now a venue for events and weddings, and the Romanesque church of San Nicolò, of the twelfth century, dedicated to the protector of sailors and fishermen, with fourteenth century frescoes attributed to the school of Giotto and a Byzantine Madonna in the tabernacle outside. Around them, cafés and restaurants in which to wait for the sunset.
the Lungolago Marconi is a walk of more than a kilometre that runs south from the centre, among trees, bars and ice cream parlours, with the view over the lake and the castle. The main public beaches are the Spiaggia delle Rose, shingle and close to the old centre, and the Spiaggia Lazise, sand, almost a kilometre long and with facilities. In the hamlet of Pacengo there are Spiaggia Porto Pacengo, La Guglia and La Bosca.
lanes between craft workshops, wine bars and restaurants. Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II is the hub of village life and holds the Wednesday market. Via Rosenheim carries the name of the German town twinned with Lazise and joins the Scaliger fortress to Porta del Leone.
in the hamlet of Colà, a few kilometres from Lazise, inside an eighteenth century Venetian villa. The thermal water rises of its own accord and feeds a thermal lake and a number of pools, with anti-inflammatory effects and benefits for rheumatic and skin complaints.
more than 100 stalls between the old centre and the Lungolago Marconi, with craft work, Christmas food and decorations. Around them are the skating rink at Parco Prà del Principe, the artistic nativity scene in the little church of San Nicolò, the Babbo Lake Run on 14 December, the low noise firework display on 26 December and the Cuccagna della Befana on 6 January. At Pacengo and Colà there is Natale da Favola as well, with entertainment and shows.
Remember
Useful tips
With a motorhome it is not worth going near the old centre: the streets are narrow, the walls have only three ways in and the traffic gets heavy at weekends and in summer
At the municipal campsite there is no booking: pitches are assigned on arrival according to availability, so in high season it pays to get there early
Opening seasons change from year to year: the municipal site we confirmed by telephone in September 2026, while La Quercia is the season declared for 2026 and needs confirming before you set off
The Parco Termale Villa dei Cedri, at Colà, is the day in reserve for when the weather over the lake does not hold
If you are travelling with children, having Gardaland, Movieland and Caneva Aquapark close by counts when choosing where to stop: from the hamlets of Pacengo and Colà it is a few minutes
Lazise · part two
and then?
What to do, what to taste, and where to go tomorrow.
Experiences from here
What we did starting from here, ordered by driving time.
300 g of lake sardines, fresh, salted or in oil; failing those, salted anchovies
3 or 4 ripe cherry tomatoes
1 garlic clove
1 small white onion, optional
Garda PDO extra virgin olive oil
fresh parsley
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons of white wine, optional
Method
if you are using salted sardines, soak them in water for a few hours changing the water several times, or in milk for 30 minutes; if they are fresh, take off the head, bones and fins, lift the fillets and cut everything into small pieces
pour plenty of extra virgin olive oil into a large pan, soften the finely chopped onion over a medium heat without letting it colour, and add the chopped garlic
add the sardines and cook them over a medium low heat, stirring gently: they should not fry but melt into a cream
add the chopped cherry tomatoes and, if it needs it, deglaze with the white wine or loosen with two or three tablespoons of the pasta water
when the sardines have reduced to a sauce, after five to eight minutes, turn off the heat and add the chopped parsley, the pepper and a little salt, because the sardines are already savoury
cook the bigoli in plenty of salted water, adjusting the salt to the kind of sardines, and drain them al dente, keeping back a ladle of the cooking water
tip the bigoli into the pan, turn the heat back on and toss for a minute or two, loosening with the cooking water until the sauce is creamy
serve with a fresh cherry tomato and parsley, a spoonful of toasted breadcrumbs if you like, and a well chilled glass of Lugana DOC alongside
Distances and times by road, measured with OSRM on OpenStreetMap data.
Looking
Lazise in photographs
6 shots from our visit. Tap one to see it large.
the arched gate in the battlemented walls, with the keep of the Scaliger castle behindboats moored in the old harbour, the white bell tower and a mallard on the still waterthe bell tower and the stone church reflected in the harbour water, with a lit decoration sunk below the surfacethe words Lazise 1° Comune d'Italia laid out in white stones on the grass at the entrance to the villagethe columned front of a church in the old centre, with statues in the niches and the entrance stepsthe bronze statue of a seated woman by the lake, seen from behind, the green patina of the drapery falling over the base
