Parco Giardino Sigurtà: The Complete Visitor Guide

A Villa Garden Watered by the Mincio

The park covers 600,000 m2 spread over two moraine hills left behind by the glaciers that carved Lake Garda. The lake itself is only about 8 km away, which makes the garden an easy half-day trip from Peschiera or the south-east shore towns. What makes the garden possible is water.

Canon Antonio Maffei won the family the right to irrigate from the nearby Mincio river, and that old water right still feeds the ponds, the lakes and the avenues today. Plan your trip around the season dates and combine it with other Lake Garda sights.

Opened to Visitors in 1978

The estate dates back to a Domus Magna built in 1417 and later became a Maffei family villa. It was sold on in 1929 and left to decay until Carlo Sigurtà bought it on 2 April 1941 and revived the old Mincio water right to bring the land back to life. The garden opened to the public on 19 March 1978, at first with cars driving through the grounds.

Cars have been banned since 2000, so everyone now explores on foot or with the park's own vehicles. Today the third generation of the family runs the park, which draws over 400,000 visitors a year and lists among its awards second place as the most beautiful park in Europe. It belongs on any list of things to do inland from the lake.

The season runs every day from 7 March to 15 November. In April through September the park opens 9:00 to 19:00 with last entry at 18:00. March, October and November close earlier, 9:00 to 18:00 with last entry at 17:00.

The table below lays out the pattern. The dates to watch are the spring special dates, which are capped and require a dated online ticket, so do not arrive on those days with an open-date voucher expecting walk-up entry. Check the calendar against your Lake Garda itinerary before you fix the day.

The Autumn Squeeze

March, October and November close at 18:00 instead of 19:00. After the clocks go back, the squeeze gets tighter still: last entry is at 16:00 and everyone must be out by 17:00. The season itself ends on 15 November, and the park reopens the following spring.

The 2026 season opened on 7 March, so expect a similar early-March start and plan the first trip of the year accordingly. The spring special dates (in the last season: 8 March, 6, 24, 25 and 26 April, 1, 2 and 3 May) admit only dated online tickets bought on the park's site, so an open-date ticket does not work on those days. See the best time to visit and winter options around the lake for the closed months.

Viale delle Rose and the Castle View

The Viale delle Rose is the park's signature walk, an avenue of more than 30,000 roses with the towers of Valeggio's castle on the skyline. The Scaliger castle you see at the end of the avenue stands outside the park in the town itself. Its towers open on weekends and holidays from late March to late October, 10:00-13:00 and 15:00-18:00, so a garden morning can turn into a castle afternoon.

Roses, dahlias and water lilies carry on into autumn, so the avenue still earns the walk late in the season. Start at the entrance, walk the avenue first while legs are fresh, then branch off towards the ponds. It pairs well with the towns on the south-east shore listed in our towns guide.

The Eremo and the Water-Lily Ponds

This corner grew out of the English-style garden imagined by the poet Ippolito Pindemonte, who inspired its three follies: the Eremo, the Castelletto and the Grotta. The Eremo sits beside ponds covered in water lilies. Pindemonte's own epigram, 'Sì dilettosa qui scorre la vita', can still be read in the wood.

The paths here are porphyry and flat, easy with a stroller or a wheelchair. Use the paper map from the ticket office to find it, sit by the ponds for a while, then continue towards the maze. If you like gardens with follies, compare it with the grounds of the Vittoriale at Gardone Riviera on the west shore.

The Maze

The maze is the newest of the park's landmarks. The park's own history credits the third generation of the Sigurtà family with creating it, and calls it the symbol of the garden's botanical identity. Mazes run in the family: Giuseppe Sigurtà writes a column on labyrinths for the Italian garden magazine VilleGiardini, and the park's maze served as the set of a German television adventure game.

The ticket listing names the maze among the things the entry covers. It is the stop children remember, so work it into the middle of the visit rather than the end, when patience runs out. Families planning a garden-plus-park day can match it with Gardaland nearby.

Poggio degli Imperatori

The Hill of the Emperors takes its name from 1859, when Franz Joseph and Napoleon III stayed here during the Second War of Independence and watched the battles of Solferino and San Martino from this vantage point. The park's history ties the idea that led to the Red Cross to this hill and those battles. Earlier, the poet Ippolito Pindemonte stayed here as the guest of his uncle Antonio Maffei, which is how the English-style garden began.

Use the paper map to find the hill, and take a golf cart or e-bike if the full 10 km loop is too long on foot. The battlefields lie south towards Mantua, covered on Mantua from Lake Garda.

The bloom calendar below runs from tulips to asters. Tulips take over from the second half of March to mid-April, with late varieties holding to early May. Dogwood follows in April and May, then allium in May, canna through the summer and asters closing the season in September and October.

Weather moves these dates every year, so treat them as a guide rather than a promise. The park posts daily bloom updates on its social pages, which is the fastest way to time a tulip visit. If flowers are your reason for coming, book admission for the right weeks and check our Lake Garda weather page for that month.

About 10 km of porphyry paths with gentle ups and downs cross the park, and a free paper map from the ticket office covers them all. The table below compares the ways round. The little train runs a fixed 35-minute circuit with no stops, e-bikes rent by the hour with child seats available, an electric shuttle makes a guided hour with photo stops, and golf carts go by the hour with GPS commentary in four languages.

Heavy rain can stop carts, bikes and the train, and you are back to walking. Wheelchair users should note that the entry ticket listing describes all areas and the transport options as wheelchair accessible.

The Golf Cart Catch

The electric golf cart is the most comfortable way to cover the 10 km circuit, with GPS audio commentary in Italian, English, German or French, and room for up to 4 people including children. It costs $22.34 (€20) an hour per vehicle. The catch is that carts cannot be booked.

Renting is first come, first served at the park, and the renter must be 18 or over with an ID and a category B driving licence. Families should send the licensed driver straight to the cart desk on arrival in high season, then tour on foot if none are left. Heavy rain stops the carts along with the bikes and the train, so keep a walking plan in reserve.

The park says the average visit lasts half a day, which matches what the 600,000 m2 and the 10 km of paths demand. The table below compares three ways to spend that time: the little train only for a quick look, half a day on foot for the avenue, ponds and maze, or a full loop by e-bike for the complete circuit including the Poggio. Anything beyond the park's half-day figure is our estimate, so build in extra for lunch and the maze with children.

Fit the visit into a wider trip with our two-day Lake Garda plan or the three-day version.

The Rules That Matter

• Kiosks sell coffee, fresh sandwiches, drinks and ice cream, all with children's seats.
• Packed lunches are allowed on a blanket on the lawn and at the tables by the kiosks, but no barbecues or fires.
• Dogs are not allowed, except guide dogs, so leave the pet at the accommodation.
• The park opens in the rain but closes in storms, and heavy rain can halt the carts, bikes and little train.
• The only covered place in the whole park is the farm portico, a 20-minute walk from the entrance.
• Strollers work well on the lawns and porphyry paths, and there are two free stroller parks.
• There is no bag storage, but you can leave and re-enter the same day with a wrist stamp.

By Car

From the A4 Milan-Venice motorway, leave at the Peschiera del Garda exit and drive about 12 km to Valeggio. From the A22, the Modena direction uses the Nogarole Rocca exit, while the Brenner direction exits at Affi and follows the SS450 towards Peschiera. Free unguarded car parks sit about 600 m from the entrance, so allow a short walk with bags and children.

If you are renting a car for the trip, read our Lake Garda car rental page first, and check how to reach the lake from the airports to pick the most convenient arrival point.

By Train and Bus

The nearest station is Peschiera del Garda, about 12 km from the park, served by trains from Verona and Milan. From there, take APAM bus 46 or a seasonal ATV bus to Valeggio. From Verona Porta Nuova, about 28 km away, ATV bus 160 runs Monday to Saturday.

In the warmer months, seasonal ATV 482 links Verona airport and Villafranca with Valeggio and Peschiera, and in high season extends to Lazise, Bardolino and Garda, which makes a car-free day trip from the east shore towns realistic. Check the return times on the ATV or APAM timetable before you go in.

By Bike on the Mincio Path

The park lies 1 km from the Mantua-Peschiera cycle path, a 45.2 km route, and the Peschiera to Borghetto stretch alone is 14 km, which makes a garden visit a natural stop on a cycling day. Bring your own bike and entry is free of any bike charge, so the path turns the trip into a full day out. No bike? The guided e-bike tour from Peschiera to Borghetto sul Mincio runs 4 hours along the same river corridor with a 1-hour break in the village and is rated 5.0 from 26 reviews.

See more routes in our Lake Garda cycling guide.

Little-Known Sigurtà

• Two emperors, Franz Joseph and Napoleon III, watched the battles of Solferino and San Martino from the Poggio degli Imperatori in 1859, and the idea that led to the Red Cross arose there (Parco Giardino Sigurtà)
• The garden only exists because a canon won the family the right to irrigate from the Mincio, a water right Carlo Sigurtà revived in 1941 (Parco Giardino Sigurtà)
• Cars drove through the grounds from the 1978 opening until 2000, when the park banned them for good (Parco Giardino Sigurtà)
• The castle at the end of the rose avenue is not part of the park at all, and its towers open only on weekends and holidays (Parco Giardino Sigurtà)
• After the clocks go back, everyone must enter by 16:00 and leave by 17:00 (Parco Giardino Sigurtà)