South of Lake Garda, the land rises into a series of low hills, the moraines left behind by the glacier that carved the lake. Among them, in a hollow, lies a small heart-shaped lake, and on a ridge above it stands the walled village of Castellaro Lagusello, one of the most charming in Lombardy. The lake and its marshes are a nature reserve, and on its shore, at Fondo Tacoli, archaeologists found the remains of a Bronze Age pile dwelling settlement, part of the UNESCO group of prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps.
The village itself is a medieval fortified hamlet, with walls, a tower gate and a castle that later became a villa. The houses inside are small and carefully restored, and the views over the lake and the surrounding hills are lovely. The morainic hills around are full of history: a few kilometres north lie Solferino and San Martino, where in 1859 French and Piedmontese armies defeated the Austrians in a battle so bloody that it inspired Henri Dunant to found the Red Cross. The ossuary chapel at Solferino and the tower at San Martino are moving memorials.
The riding in the morainic hills is a delight. Small roads wind over the hills and through the vineyards, with constant changes of direction and gradient, and views of the Garda and the Alps to the north. Traffic is light, except on summer weekends when visitors head to the lake. The roads can be narrow and occasionally gravelly, and agricultural traffic is common. Spring and autumn are best, with mild temperatures and beautiful light.
The villages around, such as Monzambano, Cavriana and Pozzolengo, are small but have fuel and basic services, and Valeggio sul Mincio, eight kilometres away, is a larger town. Valeggio is famous for its tortellini, called nodi d'amore, love knots, and the nearby village of Borghetto, with its water mills on the Mincio, is very pretty. The local wines include Lugana, a white from the southern shore of the lake. On a summer evening, the lake below Castellaro is calm and the frogs begin to sing.