Easter Monday at Lake Idro — A Garden BBQ Between Good Food and Mountains
Written on April 6th, 2026 by Marco
Easter Monday at Lake Idro has its own rhythm: clear skies, the first genuinely warm days of the year, and that irresistible urge to spend time outside after winter. This year we kept it simple — at home, lighting the BBQ in the garden with friends and family. No complicated plans, no driving anywhere — just fire, good food, and the mountains all around.
A Wonderfully Simple Italian Tradition
In Italy, Pasquetta — the Monday after Easter — is the day for an outdoor outing or, even more often, for a barbecue. It’s one of those occasions where the ritual isn’t formal: people gather, light the fire, drag out the tables, wait for the embers to reach the right temperature and chat in the meantime. There’s no rush. It’s exactly the kind of day Lake Idro does best: mild weather, clean air, and that feeling of being far from the chaos while only steps from your front door.
The Garden: the Real Luxury of Living Here
When you live at Lake Idro, one of the things you take for granted is space. Having a garden with a barbecue, grass to spread out picnic blankets, trees, and — in the background — the mountains is one of those small fortunes you only realise you have when you see how life is elsewhere. Blankets stretched out on the lawn, a few cushions, kids running between hedges and flowers, adults seated at the table chatting with a glass in hand: it’s an ordinary scene around here, but it’s exactly the quality of life many people travel for.
What Goes on the Grill
Nothing too elaborate, because Italian cooking works when the raw ingredients are good. In the Lake Idro valley that’s easy: the village butcher has local meat, eggs come from neighbours, the bread is baked fresh that morning. On the Easter Monday grill you’ll typically find sausages, ribs, a few steaks and seasonal vegetables — radicchio, peppers, aubergines — that pair perfectly with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. To drink, a red from Valle Sabbia or a crisp white from nearby Lake Garda. To finish, the inevitable colomba (Italian Easter cake), maybe with a small glass of homemade nocino from a neighbour.
What Makes Easter Monday in the Valley Special
It isn’t the menu, and it isn’t even the BBQ itself. It’s the whole picture: the fire crackling in the stone chimney, the smell of wood and rosemary on the meat, the April light stretching across the mountain ridges around you, voices overlapping in the garden. It’s a day that needs nothing special to be special — and I think that, in the end, is the most honest way to describe what life at Lake Idro really feels like.
If you’re visiting and want a similar experience, many agriturismi and B&Bs in the area will organise garden BBQs on request, especially on spring weekends. It’s the best way to taste the local food without the filter of a restaurant, and to enjoy the slow pace that’s the real reason people come back to Lake Idro year after year.
If this kind of day speaks to you, take a look at my story about life at Lake Idro or some of the outdoor activities in the area.