Why Riva del Garda is a town you walk
Riva del Garda sits where the Alps run straight into the lake. A thin strip of flat ground holds the old town, the harbor and the shore path, and everything worth seeing fits between the cliffs and the water. Walking it, you follow the same line traders, soldiers and spa guests used for centuries.
- On 12 September 1786 Goethe spent his first night on the lake at an inn in Torbole, and wrote that he finally felt he was in Italy. The house still stands on the little square that now carries his name.
- In September 1913 Franz Kafka spent three weeks at the von Hartungen sanatorium on Riva's shore, swimming, rowing and quietly falling for a Swiss girl. Thomas Mann had come before him, and the buildings are still there in the park.
- Every day the wind changes shift. The Peler blows from the north in the morning, the Ora from the south after midday, and from the 1970s that clockwork turned Torbole into a windsurfing capital.
What to eat
Carne salada — Trentino salted, spiced beef from the valleys behind Riva, served thin, raw or seared, a mountain way to keep meat.
Lake whitefish (coregone) with polenta — Fishermen still net it on Garda, and polenta is the corn staple of the Alpine side of the lake.
Garda Trentino olive oil — Some of the world's northernmost olive groves grow on the slopes around Riva, thanks to the lake's mild climate.
Strangolapreti — Bread and spinach dumplings from Trentino's thrifty kitchens, finished with butter and sage.