You do not enter Sirmione: you pass through a castle. The Scaliger fortress, built in the second half of the thirteenth century on the strip of land that closes the town, is the only gate to the old centre, and whoever arrives must cross the drawbridge like everyone who arrived before. It is also one of the few lake fortresses left in Europe: the water of Garda surrounds it on every side, and the moat was not dug, it is the lake itself.
What to see
The walls and the three towers have the swallowtail merlons of the Ghibellines, the trademark of the Scaligeri of Verona; behind them rises the keep, forty-seven metres, with the prisoners' cells at its foot. You climb to the rampart walks by a ramp of 146 steps, and from up there you see the thing that makes this castle singular: the darsena, a fortified inner harbour where the Scaliger fleet took shelter, closed by further towers and joined to the lake.
Look at the merlons of the harbour: they are not swallowtailed but shaped like spearheads, and the bricks differ from those of the fortress. It is the sign that the dock was added later, by other hands and other lords. From the walkway you also see the whole town, its roofs squeezed between the two shores, and beyond it the peninsula running on for two kilometres to the ruins of the Roman villa known as the grottoes of Catullus.
Visiting
The castle is a state museum, with a ticket and the option of a combined entry with the grottoes of Catullus; it is normally closed on Mondays, with longer hours in summer. An hour, more if you climb the keep. In high season the queue at the drawbridge is long: come early or late in the afternoon. The climb to the towers can be suspended in strong wind or rain.
Our editors' tip
Stay in the town until after sunset, when the coaches have left and Sirmione is the size of a village again. The castle lights up, the reflection of the towers stretches across the still water of the harbour, and from the bridge you hear only the ducks. It is the same place as five hours earlier, but it feels as though you found it yourself.