IN SEARCH OF THE PRODUCTS OF LAND AND WATER
Getting to know an area also means discovering its food and wine, linked to the land and the culinary and cultural traditions of its people.
The particular geography of the area around Lake Garda results in a fusion of mediterranean and alpine flavours, combined with the aromas and tastes of olive oil and fish. The very presence of the Lake has since ancient times ensured an enormously important revenue from fishing, with over thirty different species of fish.
Undisputed stars of the lake shore are the olive trees, whose cultivation dates back to Roman times: writers such as Catullus, D'Annunzio, Goethe and Carducci have mentioned their presence. Thanks to the favourable mediterranean microclimate, the oil produced here can boast of being the world's most northerly olive oil.
But these lands are also famous for their substantial and prestigious wine production; vineyards have been cultivated in the Garda area since the Bronze Age, as we know from the numerous wine-related articles unearthed in the prehistoric sites at Peschiera, Pacengo, Cisano and Bardolino. The Romans undoubtedly produced wine in the various rural villas whose remains have been discovered around the lake, although documentary evidence of wine-making dates back only to the Middle Ages.
The wine-growing areas extending over these slopes can be travelled on the "wine routes", excellent for voyages of discover of this land and its products.
