Lake Garda is the largest, and possibly the loveliest, of the Italian Lakes. The wooded and snow-covered Alps rise from the northern shores, while the southern half of the lake opens onto the softer and more expansive landscape of the Po valley. From here the Veneto runs east towards Venice and the Adriatic.

This five-day tour is based in a four-star hotel in the historic centre of Verona. We will visit a garden on a private island on Lake Garda, gardens in the city and the vine covered hills just outside, explore three of Palladio’s villas near Vicenza, and finish, after a visit to the Botanic Garden at Padua, founded in 1545, with a final lunch in a spectacular villa in the heart of the Veneto.