Ferragosto in Italy is the peak of the summer holiday. For many, the 15th of August is like a New Year’s celebration of the warm season, where debauchery and good company go hand in hand for a night full of adventures.
And so here we are, once again enjoying a day at Garda Lake, visiting in the afternoon two picturesque villages on the south-west coast. First the busy Desenzano for lunch and gelato, followed then by the aristocratic Salò for a late afternoon stroll. Its lungolago is dotted with cosy cafes backed by charming 19th century palazzi.
The warm light of the late afternoon sun makes this promenade a terrific spot for an aperitivo – obviously based on prosecco.
After dribbling some rain drops, our evening continued with another visit to Istinto Club (check our previous post about our afternoon in this naked pool garden). We were curious to check it out on the eve of Ferragosto. The weather wasn’t particularly warm and sunny on that day, and this meant that no Italian would dare to spend the afternoon at the poolside. Grey sky and outdoor activities are on separate levels of reality in Italy. Bring this 26°C dry weather – although grey – to a northern destination like Germany, Netherland or Denmark, and you can be quite sure that a few people will still show up. Mediterranean people are blessed by sunny weather, so it’s understandable that nothing less than perfect blue sky and a solid 30°C+ is worth an outdoor presence of any of the descendents of the Romans.
Jokes aside, we decided as well to skip the afternoon at Istinto pool garden and to focus our attention on the evening event. We came pretty early, before 10pm to find the club still very quiet. Our fault, since we are used to the rigorous 8pm start of many other parties we attended.
Their tasty buffet was already there, as well as the DJ pumping some good beats from a good-quality speaker system.
Soon after we sipped our first prosecco the dancefloor started to be busier, with a clear majority of couples. To our great surprise many were in their 30ies and early 40ies, maybe some of them even late 20ies. All in all, the mean age of the event was pretty low for a swinger club.
The dress code was as expected – classy Italian. Men in long casual-elegant trousers and shirt. Women in tight mini dresses or hotpants, paired with heels ranging from high to very high.
No Latex, Lack & Leder or male tartan or Viking-style skirts – the standard outfit for many German clubs targeting an older crowd.
With the clock approaching the wee hours, the dancefloor became fairly hot and the outfit even more minimal. Quite a few girls seemed as if they were openly supporting the free nipple movement.
Meanwhile, the playrooms in the “maze” got quite busy too, with people all over each other both in the corridor or inside the rooms. That was quite a scene to witness!
We could still at any time find at least a room free, so the ratio rooms/couples seemed pretty balanced.
Once again, we enjoyed Istinto Club. We think of it as a great choice for a foreign couple visiting Lake Garda or Verona, curious to explore a good Italian swinger club – since 2019 Istinto has even a profile on the big Joyclub community. With an entrance fee of 40 eur for couples – including two drinks but excluding the membership fee if it’s your first time – it’s good value for money. Entering as solo-man is three times more expensive, this probably explains the very limited number of singles guys. The price for solo-females is not even listed, as they are very rare in Italy. We assume they can enter for free or for a just a nominal fee.
If you would like to know more about clubbing in Europe or if you have specific requests for a city or a country, feel free to drop us a message or an email!
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Jo&Sarah
28/08/2018 at 11:55Great info guys, thx! We travel often to lake Garda, we gotta check this place out next time.
Arianna & Teseo
28/08/2018 at 12:01We are happy you like the post! Have fun on you vacation at lake Garda!