Inside Borgo Tre, Lake Garda's new farmhouse hotel with understated appeal

Not many castles have their own lemon grove, but as I walk into the conservatory of fruit-laden trees – known as the limonàra – at the Castello Scaligero museum in Torri del Benaco, a quiet waterfront village on the eastern side of Lake Garda, the wonderful fragrance of citrus blossom fills the air. Although lemons represent, to me, the scent of the lake (a nostalgic memory from a holiday in Limone as a teenager), this area is better known for the olive trees that cover the hillsides. More than 1,500 of them make up the old olive farm that surrounds Borgo Tre, a just-opened hideaway in an 18th-century stone farmhouse above Torri (as the locals call it). Having had a summer house here for a decade, the Hinteregger family – who own the Dolomites hotel Sonnwies – have renovated the rustico to create six apartment suites (including two in the garden).

The minimalist interiors could not be more different from classic Italian design. The materials are simple and natural – travertine floors, oak beams, white linens, wool rugs – so as not to detract from the spectacular mountain views. Breakfast, made with South Tyrolean produce, is delivered, although suites have a kitchenette for those who might want to cook. Sage shutters and linen curtains open onto individual terraces, most with an outdoor marble tub, while underfloor heating and a fireplace in the sitting area help to ward off any end-of-season chill. To one side of the building is a small communal pool with loungers and an outdoor kitchen where staff whip up snacks and drinks during the day; to the other, a rosemary-fringed path leads to a wellness area among the olive trees, with a hot tub, cold plunge bath, Finnish sauna and yoga platform. It is all deliberately low key and unfussy, in keeping with the style of Lake Garda, which remains less glitzy than the A-lister’s favourite Lake Como, known for its opulent mansion hotels and grand villas.

One exception is Isola del Garda, a gorgeous Venetian neo-Gothic villa on a private island, which is home to members of the Borghese Cavazza family and is open to the public for tours. Tickets include a boat taxi and the short journey from the town of Garda allows for an alternative perspective on the shoreline. (Hortus garden café, by the entrance to the park of Villa degli Albertini, is great for a cappuccino beforehand.) Being on the water gives a sense of its sheer scale: at 34 miles long and up to 11 miles wide, this is the largest of the Italian lakes. Ethereal wisps of morning cloud hang low as a shifting band of light etches the jagged mountain peaks in sharp relief to the blue sky behind. On the island itself, the two gardens are a highlight. One is English, with orange trees and geraniums in the glasshouse; the other is Italianate, on the terrace above, with persimmon and palm trees, and rambling apricot roses that soften clipped box hedges.

Back in Torri for a bowl of burrata, shrimp and truffle risotto at upscale restaurant La Regata dal Pesci and the afternoon is in full swing (a few doors down are the green-checked tablecloths of Pizzeria alla Grotta, which is also excellent). A painting class has set up easels by the horse-shoe-shaped port, where a five-piece band is entertaining the Aperol spritz-sipping audience. At the other end of the promenade, a handful of sunbathers are stretched out on a strip of pebbly beach. A 30-minute drive north, picture-postcard Malcesine, with its boutique-lined cobbled streets and cable car up Monte Baldo, is one of the big draws. But the real beauty of Lake Garda is that there are plenty of less-discovered places and quieter moments to be found.