October 2021

Almost a week ago I spent some days in Gargnano. I had been to this village last may.

Gargano is a nice village on the western shore of lake Garda; In the Lombardy region.

A visit of the village could start from via Roma. It is the main street in Gargnano.

Via Roma is lined with several shops, some cafes and a hotel.

Almost all the buildings in this street are tall and colourful.

At the end of via Roma there is the harbour. It is by the main square.

I took this picture from a wooden walkway; near the harbour.

Villa di Gargnano is a district of Gargnano. There are some hotels, a couple of shops and some cafes here.

Even this time I booked a room at hotel Lido in Villa di Gargnano.

I explored quite well Villa di Gargnano. I did it in the evening.

Villa has a small and nice harbour.

Another place I revisited was Gardone Riviera. This is a tourist resort not far from Gargnano.

It is made of two areas; Gardone di Sopra (upper Gardone) and Gardone di Sotto (lower Gardone).

In Gardone di Sopra I revisited il Vittoriale degli Italiani.

It is a hillside estate; a monumental complex commissioned by the writer, poet, jounalist Gabriele d' Annunzio.

At Il Vittoriale you can visit various museums, the last residence of d' Annunzio (the Prioria) and the park.

Gabriele d' Annunzio lived in the Prioria from february 1921 until his death in march 1938.

Quite near the entrance of this estate there is a large amphitheatre.

It it still used for performances today. It can hosts around 1500 people.

You can' t surely miss this huge statue of a blue horse at the ampitheatre.

This park is really large. I think it takes a couple of hours to visit it at leisure.

The rose garden.

There is the bow of a ship on the grounds of the estate. It is named Puglia.

This military vessel was donated in 1921 to d' Annunzio by the Italian navy.

On the highest point on the estate there is the Mausoleum.

D' Annunzio and some other people are buried here.

I also visited the Heller garden in Gardone Riviera. It is also known as the Giardino Botanico Arthur Hruska.

This garden was created in 1903 by Arthur Hruska. He was an Austrian dentist and botanic.

In 1988 the Austrian singer Andrè Heller bought it.

He also added a good number of sculptures made by artists as Keith Haring, Roy Lichtenstein and Mimmo Palladino.

Some big koi carps live in one of the lakes of the garden.

There are more than 3000 species of plants into this garden.

A beautiful stilt house. I checked if I could enter, but it isn' t possible.

A nice Buddha.

This statue should represent the god Ganesh.

There are the lavatories at the garden...and a water trick before these.

Almost at the end of the garden there is a cafe.

This garden is opened from march to october.

It was a good holiday.

Mel is a small village located almost halfway between Belluno and Feltre.

It is so small you can explore it in a couple of hours. Small, but beautiful.

The main square in Mel; piazza Papa Luciani is quite large. Papa Luciani was pope Johannes Paulus I. He was pope for a very short time.

This square is surrounded by several palaces built from the 1500.

Here you see the town hall; built in 1510. Besides it you see the Palazzo delle Contesse. It houses an archaeological museum, the tourist office and some halls for meetings.

There is also the parish church in the square. The Santa Maria Annunziata church. It was built in the 1600.

Another palace you see in piazza Papa Luciani is Casa Franceschi. Long ago it was completely covered with frescoes.

Mel has a couple of restaurants as far as I know. One of these is the Antica Locanda (inn) Cappello. It dates to the XVII century.

This restaurant is also in the main square. It is the orange building you see in this picture.

It was closed when I visited Mel.

Here you see another beautiful palace situated in piazza Papa Luciani; Casa Fulcis (and later Zadra).

Today it houses an ice cream parlour. Also this place was closed the day I was in Mel.

In Mel there is a cafe where you can buy newspapers, magazines and cigarettes, a pharmacy and some other shops, but not many.

There is a small bakery some meters from the square. It is also a grocery shop.

Here you can buy a good cake make with jam or Nutella and various other sweet treats.

Palazzo Pivetta is a palace you can find a little downill from piazza Papa Luciani.

As you can see this palace has an arch. Under this arch you will walk on a Roman road that takes to some other villages.

Mel is really a good place to visit as a day trip from where I live; even if it wasn' t easy to get there!

Me and my partner got lost in the countryside! Not for long.