Lombardy · Wine route · Half day
Strada dei Vini del Garda The Lake Garda southern shore route, from Sirmione's Lugana flats to the Valtenesi headland and its Chiaretto cellars.
30
km end to end
1
Half day
4
stops, Sirmione to Pasini San Giovanni
2
denominations crossed
Why this drive: Lugana is the rare Italian white Britain already buys by name, and this is the shore it comes from: Turbiana vines on glacial clay between Sirmione's castle and the lake. Add the Valtenesi's Groppello-based Chiaretto, pale, dry and best drunk young, and you get two distinct wines inside a half-day sweep that ends on a harbour wall in Moniga.
The route, drawn
See the whole road, then drive it stop by stop
The map stays with you as you read: scroll the stops and it follows, or press a marker to jump. Leg times are door to door, before the views slow you down.
Layers
The drive
Numbered stops
Estates near the route
Stop 1 of 4 · Sirmione
1
Stop 1 · The peninsula start
Sirmione
ZTL city, see the driving notesThe peninsula town, gateway to the Lugana zone with lake-front lunch options.
What to taste here
- LuganaDOC Turbiana off glacial clay; Riserva shows why Britain buys it by name
- Chiaretto The west shore's pale rose, presented new each February
Go before ten or after five: the Scaliger castle and the Grotte di Catullo at the tip repay it, above the flats where Lugana began. Park before the drawbridge, always.
Where to eat
A starred tasting beside the castle
La Rucola 2.0. Vicolo Strentelle 3, in the alleys beside the Scaliger castle. One Michelin star and the peninsula's most polished room.
2
Stop 2 · Lugana's flagship door
Ca' dei Frati
Dal Cero family estate in Lugana di Sirmione, reference Lugana Riserva Brolettino and I Frati.
What to taste here
- LuganaDOC Brolettino and the late releases prove the grape ages
Taste the benchmark I Frati against the oak-touched Brolettino side by side; booking required. The cellar sits in the Lugana di Sirmione hamlet, five minutes from the A4 exit.
Where to taste
Azienda Agricola Ca’ dei Frati
Tastings from €0 · About 30 minutes plus tasting
Booking required
Wines to Try
A few wines from the estates above.
3
Stop 3 · Into the Valtenesi
Costaripa
Vezzola family Valtenesi cellar in Moniga del Garda, reference Chiaretto Rosé Mazane.
What to taste here
- ValtenesiDOC Groppello pressed on the night of harvest for the pale style
- Groppello rosso The red version, drunk almost entirely beside the lake
Mattia Vezzola made his name on sparkling wine at Bellavista before focusing the family cellar on Chiaretto: taste RosaMara against the single-vineyard bottlings. Moniga's little port below is the aperitivo stop.
4
Stop 4 · The harbour-side finish
Pasini San Giovanni
Raffa di Puegnago estate, balanced range of Lugana, Valtenesi Chiaretto and red Groppello.
What to taste here
- ValtenesiDOC Chiaretto beside the Moniga harbour wall closes the loop
An organic-certified family estate whose range spans the whole route: Lugana, Chiaretto and Groppello under one roof at the San Giovanni hamlet above Raffa.
Before you go
The practicalities
Visit prices are set by the winery and availability should be checked before travelling. Bookings open on the estate page or the provider's site.
When to go
Catch the new Chiaretto in spring
May, June and September: the lake warm enough, the roads still moving, the cellars with time for you. Chiaretto is a spring wine, presented each February and at its best young, so an early-season visit catches the new vintage. July and August double every drive time and halve the parking.
Booking reality
Ca' dei Frati books ahead, call the rest
Ca' dei Frati, the one estate on this drive with bookable visits in our data, requires booking ahead. The Lugana zone is dense with cellar doors around Desenzano and Pozzolengo; call before detouring.
Driving notes
The shore crawls, the vineyard lanes move
Sirmione's peninsula is closed past the drawbridge to all but residents and hotel guests: park at the big lots before the castle and walk in. The A4's Sirmione exit puts you on the route in ten minutes. Summer weekends jam the SS572 shore road, and the inland SP25 through the Lugana vineyards keeps moving when the lakefront does not. Fuel anywhere around Desenzano.
ZTL
The drawbridge is the line
Sirmione is not a camera ZTL but something stricter: the old town past the Scaliger drawbridge admits only residents and overnight guests. Park at the paid lots on the approach and walk the last five hundred metres.
Getting a car
Collect at Verona, leave it before the drawbridge
Verona's airport desks are half an hour from Sirmione on the A4, and Desenzano's station covers arrivals by rail. You need the car for the Valtenesi shore, not for Sirmione: the old town past the Scaliger drawbridge admits only residents and hotel guests, so the approach lots are where every visitor's car stops.
Leave the driving out
Do this route with a guide
Some booking links earn italianwines.co.uk a commission. This never affects price or what we recommend.
Tours in this wine area
Nearby, not the route itself
Lake Garda: Historic Castle Cruise with Wine Tasting
Cruise around the beautiful Lake Garda and admire its historic castles while enjoying a Bardolino wine tasting on a half-day boat tour.
4 hours
From €100
Book via
Getyourguide
Olive Oil Tasting with Local Food on Lake Garda Hills
During this experience, you'll have the opportunity to taste our extra virgin olive oil, produced with passion and care by us and embodying the flavors and characteris...
2 hours
From €55
Book via
Viator
Sirmione: 4 Lugana Wine-Tasting with Cellar Tour
Start your journey at a family-run winery near the southern shores of Lake Garda, nestled in the renowned Lugana and Valtenesi wine regions. Visit the cellars and lear...
2 hours
From €50
Book via
Getyourguide
Before you ask
Strada dei Vini del Garda, answered
Turbiana, grown on the glacial clays at the lake's southern end; modern research links it closely to Verdicchio. Basic Lugana is citrus and almond, while Riserva and late-released bottlings like Ca' dei Frati's Brolettino age surprisingly well.
The pale rosé of the lake's western shore, led by the local red grape Groppello and pressed gently on the night of harvest. The new vintage is presented each February and drinks best inside two years.
Partly. Trains reach Desenzano and buses serve Sirmione, which covers the Lugana side. The Valtenesi cellars at Moniga and Puegnago need wheels; a taxi from Desenzano is the car-free fallback.
At the big pay lots on the approach road before the Scaliger drawbridge, then walk the last five hundred metres. The old town beyond it admits only residents' and hotel guests' cars.
Half a day of driving and tasting, which is the point: the loop leaves the afternoon for the lake, a swim at Moniga or the queue-early boat from Sirmione.
Two shores, two wines. Lugana is the white, Turbiana grown on the glacial clays at the lake's southern end; Valtenesi is the western shore's Groppello, made above all as the pale Chiaretto rose.
More drives in Lombardy
All Lombardy routes1 day
Strada del Franciacorta
The signposted loop through the Franciacorta DOCG amphitheatre between Brescia and Lake Iseo.
- Erbusco
- Bellavista
- Adro
- Guido Berlucchi
- Il Mosnel
- Iseo
Take it with you
Save the one estate on this road as a trip
They land in a trip named after the route, in drive order. Reorder them, drop one, add a night, before you book anything.
You'll need to sign in, and we bring you straight back to this route.
