One stop

Mid-summer 2022, visiting the village of Sirmione (on Italy's Lago di Garda) is not your pleasant and relaxing stroll.

That's apparently a well-known; little did I know! Even a blistering Monday, late August sees a swell of visitors. Eager to consume whatever's touristy: suppose you might have missed something!

I'm not the only one with this issue. Magnificantworld has a recent (Jul. 13) guide with 12 tips for visiting Sirmione, most on how to avoid / deal with the crowds!

If fit to contend with this tsunami of visitors, certainly you'll need to visit Sirmione. It's possibly even easy to understand the attraction: located halfway up a peninsula jutting off the lake's southern shore, it's medieval core houses a castle, a few small winding streets (lined with ice-cream stores) and beyond: Roman ruins, beaches and vista's over the lake towards the mountains.

And then there is it's fame for it's thermal waters. Sunstylefiles (May 22):

'Terme di Sirmione is one of the most important spa centres in Europe. Precious sulphurous water, containing sodium chloride, bromine and iodine, flowing naturally from the depths of Lake Garda, aid in the cure of pathologies of the respiratory system, the treatment of rheumatic complaints and motor rehabilitation. The spa water feeds the “Virgilio” and “Catullo” spa complex and a new well-being spa centre, Aquaria.

Aquaria, awarded as Europe’s Best Thermal Resort in 2018, is a one-stop wellness oasis where one can spend the day being pampered by massages and relaxing in the magnificent thermal waters overlooking Lake Garda'.

Aquaria thus. The Terme di Sirmione website clarifies:

'The offer of Terme di Sirmione is spread over four areas, health, wellness, hospitality and branded products, through different structures: 

Terme Virgilio a health center for prevention, treatment and rehabilitation

Aquaria Thermal SPA, the thermal day SPA with over 14,000 square meters of lakefront wellness.

Four hotels, the five-star Grand Hotel Terme, the four-star Hotel Sirmione and Promessi Sposi and Hotel Acquaviva del Garda and the three-star Hotel Fonte Boiola. All hotels have an internal SPA, three of them are thermal'.

Though this other world mentioned piques my interest, it might to have to wait for another time / another dimension (older, more sedate?) / another life maybe.

Suffice to say, I'm not here for the tacky houses (though the gelateria's are tempting), not for the overrun ruins. Nor the vista's.

Yes, I'm here, because somewhere a free soak is to be had!

Shrunk

Or so I am made to believe. There's this photo from a 2017 posting:

lindseyvng

Natural thermal springs of Lake Garda, temperature up to 70degrees ! #veronacity #lakegarda #thermal #hotsprings #verona #italy #italia #travelgram #travel #winetour #beach #summer #wanderlust #vscocam #lugana #luganadisirmione

And a youtube venture by Sojourn:

So beyond the haven of commercialism there might lie a small chunk of freedom.

My hopes are not high. What with the (unexpected) crowds, the midday heat (craziness), but also the Lago di Garda is at all-time lows. Euronews (Aug. 18):

'Tourists flocking to Italy's largest lake ahead of the country's long summer weekend have found a vastly different landscape than in past years.

Lake Garda in northern Italy has shrunk to nearly its lowest level ever recorded, revealing swathes of underwater rocks and warming the water to temperatures seen in the Caribbean'.

Apparently water levels are a meter of more lower than usual.

Now -readers- comes a difficult section to comprehend, which helps to establish how the springs are faring. And where to find them.

The source of the following is none other than the Beeboatservice: which surprises with the following very informative and extensive info.

'The Boiola Spring

During [their] circumnavigation of the [Sirmione] peninsula we’ll be able to see bubbles surfacing from the depths of the lake who take the name of the Boiola Spring.

Everything started in 1889, when a venetian diver called Procopio, equipped with a diving suit and special pumps imported especially from England, dove in Lake Garda, and at a depth of 20 metres, near Catullo’s Grottos in Sirmione found the hot water spring, the Boiola. Nobody had been there before despite the fact that the spring was already known for 3 centuries.

After several attempts, Procopio managed to embed a long conduit in the rocky layer, where a gush of sulphuric water emerged 5 meters above the level of the lake. The endeavour was clamorous, but it was only the beginning of a long and delicate work of channelling over 300 metres of metal tubes.

Finally, the precious thermal water was conducted to Sirmione, and in 1900 the first thermal establishment was built. At the old Boiola spring, after the perforation of two more wells, two sources with thermal mineral water with the same chemical, physical, and therapeutical properties as the Boiola spring were added.

A conductor system brings the thermal mineral water to the Valerio Catullo establishment site in the town centre and in the thermal wings of hotels and at the Virgilio Establishment, inaugurated in 1987, a site at the feet of the peninsula'.

Try

So essentially are we looking for an overflow from near the pumping station? 

Seems like it. 

In all honesty Google maps has two potential locations, one named Terme naturali all’aperto (Outdoor hot spring; 1 review) and another named Sorgente Acqua Sulfurea Calda which has 17 reviews. If anything it still confirms that a soak is to be had. Quite helpful.

Though reviewer Sabrina notes:

'La source d’eau chaude était très sympa lors de ma première visite en août 2019 (petit endroit en accès libre) ! Malheureusement elle n’était pas « en fonctionnement » lors de ma seconde visite en mai 2022.

Anyroads, there's a pathway on the eastern side of the peninsula directly north of the village, which follows what some creative person might refer to as a beach.

Looking back towards Sirmione, a rocky 'beach'.

From here, head onwards past a restaurant (Il or Al Molo) and then you will come to what is the pumping station building.

Some pipes are laid out, originating from the low-on-water lake. 

There are also a couple of puddles. See also lead photo.

Looking back from the lake towards pump building.

Now, if a soak would be too had, would said soaker thus try to soak in the searing heat? Or is he/she/whichever one ids with on the lakes edge where the waters might be surging up? Investigation / investigation. 

We seek the surroundings and conclude:

1. the right location,
2. no soaking, possibly no soaking for a long long time.

Because probably the soak is from an overflow. Waters in premium, high season, max evaporation, etc. So probably no overflow currently. 

So no soak. Oh well, max points for trying, let's have more luck next time (confession: didn't happen)

A bit more info on the water itself. Again Beeboatservice:

'The Water of Sirmione

The water of Sirmione is of meteoric origin and, before gushing from the Boiola spring, follows a long path in over 20 years.

It is born in the basin of Mount Baldo, over 800 metres high, and falls down for more than 2100 metres below sea level, where it is enriched with minerals and raises its temperature to 69°C. Finally it pours into the Boiola spring, where a complex system of metal tubes channels it into two wells, Catullo and Virgilio, both on the eastern side of Sirmione.

The water of the hot springs of Sirmione is categorised as mineral and hyperthermal water, since arose bacteriologically pure, with a fixed residue more than 0,50g/l (precisely it is 2,542g/l) and emerges at a temperature of 69°C. The mineral waters are unique since they only exist and nature and are practically unreproducible.

Such attempts have, in fact, demonstrated that artificial mineral waters present different biological activity than the natural ones. Based on its chemical-physical characteristics, the water of Sirmione is categorised as bromine-iodine: it contains in fact a relevant amount of sulphur, in the form of hydrogen sulphide, sodium, bromine, and iodine. The trace elements present (lithium, potassium, iron, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, nickel, selenium, and zinc) all function as catalysts and thus activate chemical reactions.

Medical literature shows a peculiar attention for sulphuric and bromine-iodine waters, so we know their biological actions well. Generally, thermal waters determine both a local action and an action on the entire organism (tonic-sedative action on the endocrine system, antiallergenic, and the metabolism).

The water of Sirmione has revealed itself as healthy for the absorption of sulphur through the skin and the tropism for articular cartilages, the mucus of the respiratory tracts, the average ear and the vaginal mucus.

Furthermore it stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, with an increase of the vasal permeability and a reduction of the systemic arterial pressure'.

Evidence of a free soaking past