ZTL Sirmione
Sirmione occupies a long, narrow spit of land running out into Lake Garda, and the historic centre sits at the far end of it behind a moated castle. Everything about the geography does the work that a camera does elsewhere: there is one way in, it goes through a gate in a fortress, and the streets beyond are too narrow and too full of people to drive. Access to the old town is restricted to residents, permit holders and guests of the hotels inside.
Open Sirmione on the full interactive map
Limited Traffic Zones in Sirmione
-
ZTL Sirmione
Summer regime 23 Mar–13 Oct 2026 (Ord. 30/2026) · residents & hotel guests only · closed to all 14:00–19:00 on summer Sundays & holidays
The walled old town on the peninsula, entered over the castle drawbridge. One gate for the whole borgo.
One way in
The peninsula narrows to a few metres at the point where the Scaliger castle stands, and the bridge past it is the only entrance to the old town. That single approach makes the restriction unusually easy to understand and unusually hard to enter by accident: you cannot drift into Sirmione's centre while following a sat-nav, because there is one gate and it is obvious.
Beyond the castle the lanes are narrow, largely pedestrian and busy for most of the year. Even where a vehicle is permitted through, it is not a place where driving achieves much.
Park before the peninsula
Leave the car on the mainland side, before the neck of the peninsula, and walk in over the bridge. Car parks sit along the approach, and in summer they fill early — Sirmione is one of the busiest places on Garda and the approach road can queue a long way back on an August afternoon.
Arriving early or late in the day makes a substantial difference. So does arriving by boat: the lake ferries call at Sirmione and land you at the old town directly, which is a considerably more pleasant approach than the queue for the car park.
If you are staying in the old town
Hotels inside the peninsula can arrange access for a guest's vehicle to reach the property and unload, and this is the normal arrangement rather than an exception — it is how luggage gets in. It still has to be organised in advance with your number plate, and you should ask where the car goes afterwards, because the answer is generally a car park back on the mainland side.
The exact terms of the restriction and how hotel access is handled are set locally and are not fully reflected in the data we hold for Sirmione, so treat the property's own instructions as authoritative and confirm them when you book.
What is at the end of the spit
The point of coming is at the tip: the Grotte di Catullo, the ruins of a very large Roman villa spread across the end of the peninsula among olive trees, with the lake on three sides. The site is a walk beyond the old town, which is another reason the car stays behind.
The castle at the entrance is a Scaliger fortress of the thirteenth century with its own harbour inside the walls, and you can climb the towers for the view back down the peninsula — the clearest possible illustration of why there is only one road in.
See Sirmione in context — search nearby towns, or use your live location on the map.
Show Sirmione on the interactive mapOther ZTL cities in Lombardy
Zone shapes are derived from publicly available information, including accessibilitacentristorici.it and OpenStreetMap; base map © OpenStreetMap and © CARTO. Boundaries are simplified and hours are indicative — a guide, not an official source.