The Sirmione peninsula at the southern end of Lake Garda in Italy nowadays has the Castle of the Lords of Scala as its dreamy landmark. The massive bulwark is a picturesque water castle on the outside, but inside a dark medieval fortress.

Alberto Della Scala was to gather the Veronian militias that attacked Sirmione here on 7 November 1276 and instigated a bloodbath. And this at the urgent request of the Pope, at a time when it was a centre of the Patarin heresy.

Later the Romans turned the island into a recreational area. The typical stone houses of the Middle Ages were built, which have been preserved in their great splendour and are still inhabited today.

At the top we visit the romanesque church San Pietro, which was founded by Longobard monks in 765. From the fragrant vegetation of the south arise the remains of an ancient monumental building, the Grottos of Catull.

The wide Piazza Carducci, framed by old house facades, in front of which cafés and trattorias are set up with tables under parasols. Here the visitors gather before many leave by boat and the poet Gajus Valerius Catullos bids them farewell like a Roman emperor.