Tremalzo (Riva del Garda → Tremalzo, balcony road) - Italy

Start in Riva del Garda with the lake still asleep and swing onto the Gardesana Occidentale: gallery after gallery tunnelled straight through the cliff, each one spitting you back out into another flash of impossible blue. Limone sul Garda clings to its shore below, lemon terraces stacked like green amphitheatres, and the road keeps dancing between rock and water. Here's the thing about Tremalzo: you can't rush it and you can't shortcut it. Past Limone the proper road swings wide along the western shore before turning up into the mountains — and then the world changes. The tarmac narrows, the switchbacks begin, and the whole of Lake Garda slowly opens up beneath you until it looks like a fjord painted in turquoise. Past Gargnano the Via Tremalzo climbs in earnest, balcony ledges folded one over the other, and then the asphalt quietly gives up: the last stretch crosses the high plateau on gravel, through the dark of the old Corno della Marogna tunnel. Slow down. This is where the crowds disappear and the mountains take over. At the pass, a First World War open-air museum: trenches and ledges carved by soldiers a century ago, rocky pinnacles all around, and ridges walking away in every direction. Stand on the balcony. Breathe. This place has seen history, and now it's seeing you. Let the engine cool and pour the coffee you packed. Lake Garda glitters a thousand metres below on one side, the pale bowl of Lake Ledro waits on the other, and the eagles are riding the thermals in between. Riva, Limone, Tremalzo: three moods of Garda in one drive. Arrive with a full tank and an empty schedule.