Guide to Lake Iseo, Lombardy, Italy

Introduction

Lake Iseo, also called Lake Zebina is the fourth largest lake in the Lombardy region in Italy. The lake was formed by glaciers and Valcamonica is 24 km long and up to 5 km wide. This width is not always clear, as the largest lake island in Europe, Monte Isola, is at the center of the lake. The lake is located north of Brescia and Bergamo, this is the fact that it is on the west bank of the district administration reflected BergamoCouncil and on the east bank of the District Council of Brescia. The River Oglio, and get results from Valcamonica Lovere Pisogne and nourished, especially the lake from the north. Valcamonica is spas and prehistoric rock paintings. At the southern end of the lake is the Bog, a peat bog and now a nature reserve. South of this lies the Franciacorta valley, producing the best sparkling wines in Italy.

On the eastern shore, not far from the lake,Natural Park of the Pyramids of Zone, a unique formation of pillars that were created by uneven glacial erosion. The sixty km perimeter of the lake is dotted with villages and towns, the main Iseo, Sarnico, Lovere Pisogne and chestnut. These cities are full of historical and cultural interest, but it is pleasant to walk along the promenade or enjoy a drink in a bar. There are a variety of water sports on the lake and fishing is very popular among the locals,Tench is the capture of value. This is a good selection of hiking and biking trails, in winter you can ski to the north of Lake Iseo in the area of taking him.

Individual points

The fact that Lake Iseo is not known outside of Italy and then becomes less attractive tourist. One of the main attractions is Monte Isola, the largest lake island in Europe, which is easily accessible by ferry and car-free island is very quiet, ideal for walking orCycling. There are the Pyramids of Zone, where the erosion of glacial deposits has pinnacles of earth up to ten meters left. On the western shore are the archers of Castro and Zorzino, limestone slabs, the jump in the lake. To the north of the lake in Val Camino you can see hundreds of prehistoric rock paintings in the National Park of Rock Engravings and the south of the lake is peat bogs bog and Franciacorta, the area where the famous sparkling wineproduced.

Getting there

Nearby airports

Bergamo (Orio al Serio)

Brescia

Verona

Milan (Malpensa)

Milan (Linate)

All these airports are within a reasonable distance to travel to Lake Iseo. Most international flights come into Milan Malpensa, although the low cost carrier Ryanair uses Bergamo and Brescia.

Car: Take the highway to go to Milan Venice (A4) for the western shore of Lake Iseo, you would come to a crossroads and SarnicoSS649. To reach the town of Iseo, eastbound on the A4, you should also Sarnico exit, and west on the A4 goes to Brescia, the SS510.

Public Transport: There are bus and train to Brescia from all the nearby airports, then connections from Brescia by bus and train to Iseo. The train goes on the East Bank Pisogne.

If you have reached Iseo the first choice of relaxing and picturesque lake, is theFerry.

Guide to Lake Iseo, Iseo, clockwise from the city on the southern coast.

ISEO TOWN

I'm really glad that the town of Iseo, has a relaxed atmosphere, great seats and a nice walk with a fantastic view of the lake and Monte Isola. And 'quite lively, mainly with Italian families and couples.

Iseo was a commercial center in Roman times and was an important port until the late 19th Century. The hero of Italian unification, Garibaldi, is celebrated with a statueand the fountain in the square. Also on this square is the Palazzo Vantini, built in 1833s and now used as City Hall. The Parish of St. Andrea dates back to the 12th Century, and is distinguished by its triangular bell tower. The 11th century castle Oldofredi was recently restored and now houses the municipal library.

Immediately south of town are the peat bogs; Sebino is now a nature reserve. Lake Iseo was around 10 meters deep in the past, but erosionthe bed of the River Oglio at the southern drainage has caused the lake level began to fall, cutting a shallow basin, which is becoming a large marsh with peat deposits. During the industrialization of the 19th century local factories began with peat as a source of energy, eventually excavating most of the peat deposits. Imagine digging turf with a spade in cages with five meters of control!

Evidence of prehistoric settlement was found during peat cutting: stoneArrowheads, knives and daggers from 5000 BC. Now the area is of great scientific interest and home to many species of birds and fish.

The Franciacorta region, south of Iseo, has become known for their sparkling wines known. In the mid-1950s a young entrepreneur began making sparkling wine emulation method that uses the French region of Champagne. This means that the second fermentation takes place in the wine bottle, a process that takes about two years. Now this valleyproduces the legally protected Franciacorta wine, assuring it is done by hand using traditional methods of champagne in one of the thirty wineries in the area. Cellar tours and tastings can be arranged. Wine lovers can ask for three days in September to visit the wine festival with wine tasting, winery tours and special dishes.

Villa Lechi, a Palladian-style mansion built in the 16th Century, can be visited by appointment (phone 392 706 3008 7 to arrange) OnlyErbusco west of the Oglio North Park on the east bank of the River.

SARNICO

Sarnico is the first resort heading west from Iseo. It was originally a prehistoric stilt village, in its current form, where the lakes narrows and once again, the river Oglio. There are frescoes in 1200 AD, the church of San Nazario e Rocca di Castione. Can still see ruined medieval ramparts.

For some Sarnico is best as the home of the premier companies Riva yacht known. One ofthe most fascinating aspects of the companys story to me is the journey of Pietro Riva from his hometown of Lake Como to Sarnico Lagio in 1842. The young Peter was on his way to start a new process of repairing boats in Sarnico, 70 miles of his journey took him two days of travel by ship, train and bus.

His repairs were so successful that soon commissioned to build boats. The shipbuilding industry has grown in Pietro's son, Ernesto, boats powered by piston production startedEngines.

In 1912, Ernest's son Serafino achieved a speed of 24 km / h in a motorboat. Bank was looking for a famous brand with its rich and famous as a status symbol. However, you no longer see speedboats on Lake Iseo because they were banned for environmental reasons in 1976!

Sarnico is home to the Bellini Gallery, a photo gallery displays some 150 pieces, most of the period between 16 and 18 centuries. The gallery is located in the old city andwas once a convent. Also on show are sculptures and furniture.

The palace of twenty Sarnico rail line along Oglio. Volunteers reopened this line recently. TrenoBlu is known is often steam locomotives. Trains in the summer. There are rail connections from Bergamo and Milan.

Just outside Sarnico, east, stands the Villa Faccononi, one of the best Art Nouveau architects Italie, Sommaruga, for the rich family Faccanoni. The VillaFloral trademark style lakefront example Sommaruga.

Riva Solto

The route from the north is the most dramatic Tavernola the West Bank. Just try to clear the quarry Tavernola! Riva is a fishing village, full of arches and alleys. The old town is the hill in Zorzino. The Bong Zorzino, with its vertical limestone plunging Mount Clem plate, creating a closed bay. Further north the Bogn Castro.

LOVERE

TheLovere area was inhabited by the Gauls in the Iron Age, and the second century BC Roman settlement began to take shape.

Lovere walls remaining from his days as a fortified medieval town. The oldest church in the 12th century Capell di San Martino. The city was in the 15th century as Venetian textile town famous. Most of the production of woolen cloth was sold in Germany and Austria. At the beginning of the 16th Century there was a period of turmoil, with periods ofRule by the French, the Holy Roman Empire and Spain, significantly influenced the production and distribution of tissue. Century was later struggles with pestilence and famine. In the 17th century, had approached the authorities of the security problem of bandits and some nobles of Lombardy in Lovere began to travel for their vacations. The Basilica of Santa Maria dates from the 15th Century and houses from the 16th Century organ case and frescoes. The lake contains the Palazzo TadiniSchool of Fine Arts, a gallery of paintings, sculptures and ceramics. Count Luigi Tadini began this collection in his house in the town of Crema. The Tadini familys only son died in 1799 in Lovere where they often took holidays. Count Tadini provided the funds to build the Palazzo, in memory of her son.

The English poet Lady Montague lived in a villa on the outskirts of Lovere in 1740. Lady Mary has written many letters to his daughter were in theVilla Garden, and was inspired to write poetry for the beauty of its surroundings. Actually declined the invitation to the Venice carnival saying, there are many things to do in this village, which is among other things, one of the most beautiful that exists. Lady Mary came to live in Italy in 1741, ostensibly for health reasons, although it is believed that she no longer wanted to live with her husband. Lady Mary had gone to Turkey as wife of the British, and we have comethe practice of vaccination against smallpox. Had their children inoculated but was never fair credit for introducing the practice in the United Kingdom since. Lady Mary's daughter married Lord Bute, the Prime Minister of Great Britain in 1762, a year after the death of Lady Mary.

Lovere has another literary connection in Georges Sand, the French writer who wrote of Lake Iseo to a friend in London, Come, I found a nice place to live. Sands real name was Georges Aurore Dupin, butHe had made a name Mans, as it was not suitable as, novelists of the 19th century for women, and she often dressed as a man. He had a long affair with Chopin. After their breakup in 1847 wrote the novel Lucrezia Floriana. The love story between a young Italian nobleman and an elderly lady is on Monte Isola. It is said that this novel inspired many visits by ladies seeking romance around!

Lovere in 1854 was the industrial revolution, with the development ofthe first large steel complex in the region. Lovere prospered as an industrial center until 1980, but this has left a scar in the landscape.

Camonica

As you head north around the lake, you can visit a small deviation in Vallecamonica. This valley is 90 km long and contains 41 towns and villages, making it the longest valley in Italy. The healing power of water from the spa town of Boario have been written about already in 1497 by naturalistParacelsus. The Italian Manzoni was a regular visitor, lives up to the age of 88. Near Capo di Ponte is the National Rock Engraving Park, with prehistoric rock paintings from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. The engravings relate to the history of the tribe of Camuni during this period. This is an amazing site, with thousands of figures: an enormous stone history book. One of the most common carvings is that Camuna Rose, who is now the emblem ofLombardy Region. This page shows the Archeopark, an open-air interactive park where you can experience the daily activities, such as prehistoric lighting a fire, grind shooting with bow and arrow, and wheat and bake bread. The Archeodromo is a realistic construction of a Neolithic village with six huts on a rocky hill. Some schools remain in the village for a few days to get an authentic taste of prehistoric life. I think personally Id rather go back to my hotel bed and goShower. The traditional art of woodcarving continues in this area. The wood workshops Cammunian Boario, where cribs all types of objects to religious ornaments for babies, can be found in the area. A fusion of modern and 16th century techniques are used to craft the right.

PISOGNE

Pisogne was an important center for trade in the Middle Ages - a large weekly market was held there. The city had a wall and a system of gates but not much hasNow, let it rest. In Market Square, you should be hung in a cage suspended from the tower for non-payment of taxes due to the bishop. Taxes on almost everything has been through - Fishing, hunting, milling, salt and iron. The bishops were forbidden to impose no penalty, can cause loss of blood, so humiliation was the next best option to pull out their shares. In 1518 eight women accused of witchcraft were imprisoned in the Tower before burning widow.

Just off the Market Square is SantaMary Assunta, the church, which contains a body of 150 years. The facade of the Palace Fanzango with medallions representing the characters in the book, which I decorated boyfriend "(The Betrothed) written by Manzoni. This is an important piece of Italian literature, tells the story of how love triumphed for two farmers, despite the efforts of a local tyrant. The book also has a vivid description of the spread of plague in the 17th century in Milan.

At the end of the 17th Century, Pisognewas the home of the notorious bandit Giorgi Vicario. There was not much brotherly loyalty between the bandits as Vicario tracked down and killed Giuseppe Tech for a reward. Techis head on a platter decorated with laurel leaves was handed over to authorities. A double strike, a reward and less competition locally!

Pisogne host the festival of mushrooms and chestnuts, the last Sunday of September.

MARONE

Maron is a fine place in a green valley at the footMount William. There are remains of a Roman villa of the first century of Co Hela as you enter the city. On the lakeside is the parish church of Tours, 18 from Century Baroque style church with a marble altar. Marone was well known for the production of wool fabrics and felt, and mining of dolomite. Today, tourism is the main industry.

A few kilometers upstream from Marone on the road to Zone lie the pyramids. You are an amazing sight: thin towers of the earth as high as 30 feet,granite masses perched on top almost like hats. The Pyramids are not static, they can erode, dropping the stone and gradually new pyramids show.

On the way to the Pyramids is the church of San Giorgio and on the outer sidewall are frescoes from the 15th century painting, including that of Saint George slaying the dragon.

Higher up the hill is the area of the village. Going up you can see what I thought at first was a ski lift, above the road. E 'inIn fact suspended containers, the execution of dolomite from the quarry Calarusso. In some ways it is reminding me of a Swiss mountain village, the air was so fresh and crisp. There are two interesting churches in Piazza Almici: The octagonal 18th century Beata Suspension of Lourdes and the 17th Century Parish S Young Ballista, containing wooden works of art by Andrea Falconi. The festival of honey is held in place in early August. Since there are variousHiking trails and if you feel fit, one for the summit of Mount William.

MONTE ISOLA

The largest lake island in Europe is 3 km long, rises to a height of 600m, and is sometimes referred to as the pearl of Iseo. Only four public motor vehicles are prohibited on the island. If you see more of 'island, you can rent a bicycle or use the bus. It 'also possible, the level of cake walk taking place along the southern coast of the villagePeschiera Maraglio for Sensole back on the ferry from Sensole. If you feel you can fit in 13 The Shrine of Our Lady of Cerinola century, to visit the island's highest point.

The 14th Century, the fortress home of the family Olofredi Martinango. This is one of the best preserved castles in the region. It is unusual in that its highest tower in the center.

The island's population is about 1700, not withEmployed in tourism working as fishermen, in boatyards or making nets. In fact, the networks were the goalposts for the 1982 World Cup made locally. Guess' - Italy won the Cup this year! There are still many Naets, traditional wooden fishing boats to be seen. Some of the hook is out, left to dry in the sun in the traditional way.

Visit a traditional boatyard, Cantiere Nautico Peschiera del Maraglio, and see the construction of wooden handmadeBoats.

I think that Monte Isola is a charming place to visit comfortable, yet relatively quiet and relaxing. And 'rich woods, if you have to watch from the shore is hard to be able to reach the summit.

One of the great events on the island is the festival of Corzano, a village, dates back in 1600. This is only once every five years.

There are regular ferries from several towns on the lake, the coastal cities of MountainIsland.

Suggested Itineraries

Day Trip:

Guide: It 's possible to drive around the lake with a couple of stops in one day from Milan, Brescia and Bergamo, and unique places.

Public transport: bus / train to Iseo, ferry trip from there. Trains from Brescia operate every hour and a half hour journey to Iseo, and even go up to Pisogne, stopping Sulzano and tails for sale.

may weekend / short stay (2-3 nights) you should be based in Iseo, spending a dayVisiting Monte Isola, one day visit to the western shore of the lake and a day on the east bank. An alternative would be to the lake in one day tour and spend a day or in Bergamo or Verona.

Iseo town would be a good starting point for day trips to the cities of Bergamo, Verona, Venice, Brescia, Padua and Vicenza. Lake Garda and Lake Como are both nearby.