Italy: Lago di Santa Croce and Morto
Every time you can't find a parking space in Malcesine at seven o'clock in the morning, someone in the know whispers about a sacred place hidden somewhere behind the peaks of the Dolomites. In this place of tranquillity, there would be salvation: Snow White? No, but wind and hardly any crowds! Lago di Santa Croce is the name of the lake, the lake with the holy cross. There's no sign of the cross for miles around when I first set eyes on the lake. Only three surfers, believe it or not, are cruising across the lake in the late summer sunshine on shimmering green water in a force four wind.
But the region wouldn't be a real alternative to Lake Garda if there wasn't another morning secret hidden behind the 400 metre high lake (Lake Garda is almost at sea level at 60 metres): The dead lake, il Lago Morto.
You can find everything about the secret spots in the download.
