Of all the places Ryan and I visited during our trip, we found Lago di Garda to be the most disappointing. The pictures you find on the internet, or even the pictures above that I took, make the lake seem beautiful and it was for that reason that we visited. We took a train to Desenzano del Garda and intended to got to Sirmione, the town on the nearby peninsula, by foot. DO NOT DO THIS. On google maps this seems a manageable distance but it is neither nearby nor a beautiful walk. We spent about two hours walking with, direct sun, high humidity, and bothersome bugs before we gave up and returned to the train station. If you want to visit Simione I suggest taking a bus, car, or bikes at very least.
Later in hour trip we made an hour long stop at Peschiera del Garda and I found it to be much more appealing than Desenzano but not nearly as nice as Como for instance. My advice for anyone visiting northern Italy is to skip Lago di Garda and visit some of the other great lakes.
Letters from Cremona 