Andy and I went to Lake Garda on Sunday. I looked at the weather report all week and Sunday’s forecast was 70 and sunny. I reserved a tour to Isola del Garda which included a boat trip to the island and a tour of the gardens and villa, all with the perfect weather forecast in mind. Yeah, right. It rained and was really, really windy. Good thing we threw our windbreaker jackets in the car on the way out the door.

We had lunch at the Ristorante Da Rino and we shared a wonderful pumpkin ravioli. It was delicious. Kind of an Autumn season dish but it fit in well with the gray weather. This was my view at lunch. Still pretty spectacular.

Isola de Garda was amazing. Did I mention that I want to live on a private island? It is owned by the Borghese Cavazza family and four members of the family (3 siblings and the mom, Lady Charlotte) and their families live there year round. The kids take a boat to the mainland every day to attend school. They have renovated part of the villa to house four apartments for them. The first historical documentation of the island was in 879. Not 1879. That is not a typo. It was a monastery at one point and then the government including Napoleon was involved and then in 1800 it was sold to a private owner.

When we got off the boat we were greeted with this sign…

There are at least three Maremmano Sheepdogs on the island. They were huge. I couldn’t get a picture of them because they were under shelter due to the rain. These dogs are known for their fearless protection of their flocks. They were contained while the tour was there but there was white fur on the trails so I assume they have free run of the island . How cool for the dogs!

On the man-made part of the island there are gardens and a lawn area where I assume they hold their large events. The island can be rented for weddings and they hold concerts there. There are all of these really neat wood carvings to enhance the trails.

The Borghese Cavazza family opened the villa and island to tours to help pay for the upkeep and renovations constantly needed. I can’t even imagine how much it costs! Even though the weather was not ideal, it still was a fun day. Exploring Northern Italy with Andy is a lot of fun!