Veneto · Verona
Lazise
The walled port granted the right to fortify in 983, considered the first comune in Italy.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Lazise is on our list
It holds Città del Vino and Città del Miele.
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Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 36 min from Verona
- Population
- 6,850
- J8°
- F12°
- M15°
- A18°
- M22°
- J27°
- J30°
- A29°
- S25°
- O20°
- N13°
- D9°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Lazise sits on the southeastern shore of Lake Garda, twenty kilometers northwest of Verona. The first walls went up shortly after the 983 charter; Venice took the town in 1405 and held it until Napoleon arrived in 1796, and Porta Lion, on the south, still carries the winged lion of Saint Mark from that period of rule. The castle anchors the southern corner of the fortifications while the harbor sits enclosed within their reach, and the church and the customs house both face onto that same stretch of water, one built for worship and later pressed into use as a warehouse, the other built outright for Venice to tax what passed through the port.
Behind the town, the morainic hills carry the vines of the Bardolino DOC, and Lazise counts itself among the Veneto's wine and honey communes. The town reads, in short, as a small fortified port whose walls, harbor and customs works were all built to serve and guard the same trade on the same shore.
How to get there
From Verona (VRN), about 40 min by car.
Milan Bergamo (BGY) is about 1 h 11 min away.
By car from the center of Brescia 48 min or Trento 1 h 5 min.
Coming by train into Verona Porta Nuova? Lazise is about 33 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Verona airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Castello Scaligero
Rectangular fortress at the south corner of the walls, with five square towers and a fortified dock built for the lake galleys, facing Lake Garda.
Mura medievali
Thirteen surviving towers and three gates, San Zeno, Nuova and Lion, ring the old town along the shore of Lake Garda.
Chiesa di San Nicolò
Romanesque church on the harbor, with frescoes attributed to the Giotto school and a former function as a customs warehouse.
Porto Vecchio
Medieval harbor protected by the castle walls, the oldest enclosed port on Lake Garda, with the customs house on its northern edge.
Dogana Veneta
Customs house built in the sixteenth century, used by Venice to collect duties on lake trade, now an event venue overlooking the old harbor.
From the guides
Where to stay
Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.
Natiia RelaisHotel
Natiia Relais holds a place in the Michelin hotel guide.
Living here
Could you live here?
Lazise meets both of our rules for a small town.
- 6,850 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Verona, a city of 255,039, is 36 min by car. Inside our 30 to 60 minutes: close for the services, far enough to keep its own life.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
- Population 6,850, down 1.3% since 2015
- Nearest city Verona, 36 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Peschiera del Garda, 9 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €2,950 to €4,400 per m² to buy
Weighing a move here? See the moving year.
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- In-between
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 55% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Verona airport (VRN), 40 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Venice, 1 h 40 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
11% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, Brazil and Germany, against 9% across Italy. 116 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. There are 232 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 54% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Verona province ranks 7th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Peschiera del Garda, 9 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Verona, 22 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Verona, 22 km away. The nearest IB school is International School of Verona, 20 km as the crow flies. There are 2 within 30 km.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 0.88% a year in property tax, charged on the cadastral value rather than the price. A main home pays none unless it is in a luxury category. 7% pensioner tax: this town is not in a qualifying area.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Veneto spends about €2,310 a month, €560 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €490 a year for water, on the Veneto average. In Verona, the provincial capital, in September 2026, an espresso cost €1.25, a meal in a pizzeria €11.58 and a man's haircut €22.03.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone E, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from October 15 to April 15, up to 14 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. 2% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 2% in a high or medium one. They show no residents in a high landslide zone.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
Known for
983 CHARTER
Otto I's grant to fortify the village and collect tolls, often cited as the founding act of the first comune in Italy.
SCALIGER WALLS
1.5 kilometers of fourteenth-century fortifications with the castle and harbor, the most complete surviving Scaliger ring on the lake.
BARDOLINO DOC
Lazise grows the red Bardolino DOC on the morainic hills behind the town and joins Bardolino and Cavaion in the Strada del Vino.
PESCA DI VERONA
The commune also lies inside the Pesca di Verona IGP production zone.
Common questions
- What is Lazise known for?
- Lazise is the walled port granted the right to fortify in 983, considered the first comune in Italy.
- Where is Lazise?
- Lazise is a comune in the province of Verona, in Veneto, at 76 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Lazise?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Verona (VRN), about 40 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Brescia to Lazise?
- About 48 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Lazise?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 30 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 16 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Lazise?
- Bardolino, Malcesine and Trevignano Romano.
- How many people live in Lazise?
- 6,850 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Lazise a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Lazise is a small town that meets both of our rules. The nearest city, Verona, is 36 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Peschiera del Garda, 9 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 55% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 76 m
- Population: 6,850
- Surface area: 63.15 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
The ranked lists
Lists Lazise appears in
- The best lake towns within two hours of BolognaNear Bolognalakewithin 2 hours6 towns · smallest 3,967 residents · closest 106 min away
- The best towns known for what they grow within 90 minutes of BresciaNear Bresciawithin 90 minproduce zone6 towns · smallest 1,500 residents · closest 48 min away
- The best towns known for what they grow within an hour of VeronaNear Veronawithin 60 minproduce zone6 towns · smallest 1,500 residents · closest 34 min away
- The best towns known for what they grow within two hours of MilanNear Milanwithin 2 hoursproduce zone6 towns · smallest 4,080 residents · closest 77 min away
- The best wine towns within an hour of BresciaNear Bresciawithin 60 minwine zone6 towns · smallest 3,967 residents · closest 28 min away
- The best wine towns within 75 minutes of TrentoNear Trentowithin 75 minwine zone7 towns · smallest 2,888 residents · closest 57 min away
Featured on
Lazise appears on 2 themed picks from our Collections:
Similar
Towns like Lazise
What all six share with Lazise: lake towns · between 3,000 and 10,000 people · near sea level
The letter
Lazise is on our list. Its letter is still to come.
We are writing about all 1,000 of these towns, one at a time, in a free letter: the photo, what is worth eating, and when to turn up. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Lazise comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Chioggia, 125 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.