During our trip to Lake Garda, we also stopped by here.
Lazise is a picturesque town located on the south-eastern shore of Lake Garda. It is one of the oldest towns in northern Italy and has a rich history dating back to the Middle Ages.
The town is surrounded by well-preserved defensive walls, which give it a unique character.
In the centre of Lazise, there is a charming harbour
and Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, full of restaurants, cafés and shops.
One of the most important monuments is the Romanesque church of San Nicolò from the 12th century, which can be admired right by the harbour.
We strolled around the port for a while
We also checked the offerings of local shops
We had lunch in one of the restaurants by the lake.
Here too, for the first time during this trip, we observed that in Italy smoking cigarettes on the streets, in café gardens, or even on restaurant terraces is still very common. Despite increasingly stringent anti-smoking regulations, seeing people smoking in public places is not a rarity. Particularly in the company of others over coffee or wine, many Italians treat a cigarette as part of their daily ritual.
For people from outside Italy, especially those used to more restrictive smoking regulations, this may be a sign of a lack of personal culture. In the photo below, one of the cafés we did not enter because it was shrouded in smoke...
A few days later, we visited the town from the lake side during our boat trip.