Padenghe sul Garda · Lombardia · Italy
Sunset Serenity Villa · Padenghe sul Garda
A house for eight in the hills above Lake Garda, with a private pool, a long terrace, and the whole bay in front of you.
The villa sits on a terraced hillside above Padenghe, screened by cypresses and olive trees, with the bay of Manerba opening out below. It's the kind of position people come to Garda hoping to find and usually don't.
Inside, the living room runs the length of the house under whitewashed timber beams, with sliding glass most of the way along one wall. Push them back and the terrace becomes another room. The dining table seats eight without anyone squeezing.
A lift runs from the garage to every floor, which tends to be the detail that settles it for anyone travelling with grandparents, a pushchair, or a fortnight’s luggage. The pool sits on its own terrace a little apart from the house, edged in pale stone, with a shallow curved end for children and a long stretch to swim. It’s heated, so it’s still worth it in May and late September. Beyond it, lawn, olive trees, and quiet. Under the house, an arched portico stays cool all afternoon — table tennis at one end, a view of the hills through the arch at the other.
Whitewashed beams, stone floors that stay cool, and glass along one whole wall. The kitchen and the table are part of the same room, so whoever's cooking is never shut away from everyone else.
Downstairs there's a taverna the length of the house: chestnut beams, a wood-fired pizza oven, an open hearth, and a refectory table that seats everyone at once with room to spare.
It has its own full kitchen along one wall — second oven, extractor, dishwasher — so a long lunch for a big group never has to run through the kitchen upstairs. Light the oven at six and you'll still be at the table at midnight. There’s a WC and basin down here too, so nobody troops upstairs mid-meal.
Three are proper bedrooms, each with its own bathroom leading off it. The fourth is a quiet room off the hall with a double sofa bed and the orange bathroom next door. The fifth is the playroom on the same floor, which takes another double sofa bed. Six bathrooms in all — five with a bath or a shower, plus a WC and basin in the taverna.
Double, doors to the garden, own bathroom with a whirlpool bath and a steam shower. Room for a cot.
Sleeps 2Double, own bathroom with a bath and shower over it.
Sleeps 2A bed and a half — a generous room with its own bathroom and a walk-in wardrobe.
Sleeps 1–2A quiet room off the hall with a double sofa bed, and the orange bathroom next door all to itself.
Sleeps 2On the same floor as the bedrooms, with a second double sofa bed if you need it.
Sleeps 2Straight about the beds: five rooms you can sleep in, but three of them are proper bedrooms with real beds and their own bathrooms. The fourth room and the playroom each have a double sofa bed. Whichever way you arrange it, we let the villa for eight. Bathrooms, six in all: one for each of the three bedrooms, one off the living area, the orange one by the fourth room, and a WC with a basin in the taverna.
House rules, plainly: eight guests maximum, no parties or events, no stag or hen groups, no smoking indoors, no pets. Quiet between 10pm and 8am — the neighbours live here all year. A €300 damage deposit applies. A cot is free on request.
Two honest notes. There are security cameras outside the building, covering the approach and the parking. None of them face the pool or the terrace. And there's a separate studio flat on the property that isn't part of the rental and isn't used during your stay. The villa, the pool and the garden are yours alone.
The property is behind its own gate off a quiet road, with an intercom at the pillar and space to park several cars inside. There's a garage as well, big enough for two.
Off the garage there’s a proper laundry room — washing machine, deep sink, ceiling drying racks — which earns its keep on a two-week stay. A lift runs from the garage level to every floor of the house — worth knowing if you're travelling with a pushchair, a lot of luggage, or anyone who'd rather not do stairs. Full arrival instructions and access details are sent to you before check-in.
Close enough to Sirmione and Desenzano for a day out, far enough that you can hear the cicadas at lunch. Vineyards behind, water in front. Verona airport is forty minutes down the A4, so you can land in the morning and be in the pool by lunch.
Driving times are door to door from the villa, measured on a normal weekday. Add a little in August, when the lake road gets busy.
If you’d rather come by train, Desenzano del Garda–Sirmione is the station, twenty minutes down the hill. It’s about twenty minutes from Verona Porta Nuova and about fifty from Milano Centrale on the fast trains — but not every Frecciarossa stops at Desenzano, so check the timetable rather than assuming. The slower regional services stop at all of them and take a little over an hour from Milan.
Not a list off the internet. These are the places we use ourselves.
The butcher and deli on Via Italo Barbieri, and the reason you needn’t bring anything for the barbecue. Ready-made dishes too, and the Brescian spiedo if you order ahead. Mornings only, and closed on Mondays — worth planning around.
The supermarket on Via Meucci, open every day and close enough that forgetting the milk isn’t a problem. Whoever’s cooking will end up here at least twice.
Up in the hills behind the lake rather than on it, looking down the valley. A serious wine list and cooking to match. Book.
Family-run since 1967, on the water at Porto Torchio. Order the tagliolini al coregone — whitefish from the lake, and the thing to eat here. It sells out, so go early and book first.
Spanish, on the lakefront at the marina, and the terrace is the point — tapas and paella with the water in front of you. Easy-going rather than formal, which some evenings is exactly what you want.
In the old town, not on the water. Around a thousand wines and food that earns them. Salò traffic and parking are a trial in high summer — go early or go in the evening.
A restaurant and beach club on the Spiaggia d’Oro, open from lunch through to a drink after dinner. Further than the rest, and we still make the drive.
The smart one, at the West Garda Marina below the village: candles, a terrace over the moorings, and a cellar of some nine hundred labels. For the evening you’ve decided to make a proper occasion.
Opening days and hours change with the season, and the good ones fill up. Ring ahead.
This reads from the live calendar, so it already accounts for every booking taken anywhere. Minimum stay three nights. Write to us with your dates and we’ll come back the same day.
Checking the calendar…
Free Taken
Ask anyway. Some blocked dates are owner stays rather than bookings, so do enquire — outside July, August and September especially, we can often make your dates work.
Open all year round. Minimum stay three nights. Write to us with your dates — and do ask even if the calendar above says those days are taken. We answer the same day.
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Professionally managed locally · Registered tourist rental · CIN IT017129C2UAY8XAPE