Campsites are no longer what they used to be. There are also 5-star luxury ones, true “horizontal hotels”. Compared to the nineties memories made of spartan tents, pegs and bathrooms, today campsites are experiencing a new youth, even for us Italians. After months of lockdown, and partly for fear of Covid, the desire for holidays in the open air, in contact with nature, in happy social isolation, has returned, and here is that the searches for camping holidays have skyrocketed .
Following the trend, what have we discovered? That campsites today have little to do with those of teenage memories of backpacking trips and sleepless nights. It is no longer a question of price, camping (if we want to call it that) is no longer chosen to save money but to enjoy a holiday in the countryside and in complete freedom, without depriving oneself of the comforts of a hotel – or almost.
CAMPING TODAY
Campsites today are real villages, more or less equipped, more or less immersed in nature, but che offer in addition to pitches for campers and tents also mobile homes / bungalows / fixed tents to be the envy of a luxury hotel. From more traditional campsites to glamping, now they are structures that also cater to those who want to live a new experience, but without completely leaving their comfort zone – in fact there is an interest in the structures with swimming pool and wellness center, two services that are on the podium of the most desired (in searches on the leading site Campeggi.com) together with entertainment for the little ones. Spa? Jacuzzi? Yes, it was a discovery but now they even give you massages on the campsite.
Browse the gallery to discover the best campsites in Italy
THE TOP IS ON THE LAKES
You don’t have to go far to see the best equipped and most advanced campsites, because Italy boasts some of the best facilities in Europe. 3,000 facilities in all for a million beds, of which in pre-pandemic years, 50% occupied from abroad – over 80% if we talk about lakes. If in the rest of Italy there are still “old style” structures, here no, because those coming from Northern Europe where camping is a lifestyle, have super quality standards. That’s why to understand more about the world of luxury camping, we went right to Lake Garda, to experience three of three different types. Tired of the usual and classic hotel? In the gallery all the best campsites in Italy.
LAKE GARDA, WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
Italy is a chosen destination for campers from all over Europe, in fact, explains Sigmar Cavazza, who manages the family campsite. Fornella in San Felice del Benaco, on Lake Garda. If we go to the sea, the Germans and the Dutch stop on the shores of the lakes where their demanding presence has made the sector evolve, right from the shores of Brescia’s Garda. “Everything has changed in the last 10-15 years in which we have focused on quality,” he explains to me. What does camping mean? «Hospitality, number and cleanliness of bathrooms, spacious pitches, services and mobile homes, which were the real revolution. Tents in this market segment have almost disappeared ». And in fact here the campers or caravans count on spaces of at least 70 square meters, it is all a succession of cut hedges and flowers, there are two swimming pools, entertainment, a restaurant bar, a supermarket with fresh bread and delicatessen, private beaches on the lake, organized visits to the surroundings and to the farm.
SPA, ECO-SUSTAINABILITY AND DELIVERY IN THE PITCH
In 2019 they inaugurated an entire spa. «We are working for ever greater eco-sustainability, so solar panels, bio and ecological products in the shop, guided tours of our farm that produces oil. More bike tours and less baby dance ». The campers park among olive trees and rows of table grapes and there are left areas and woods, deliberately. Dogs are welcome and have hectares of land where they can run just beyond the gate, between the farm fields, and for this reason Fornella is full of dogs watching you from every pitch, they also have a beach dedicated to them. To the restaurant the classic Italian dishes in portions of German cyclops (68% of customers, the others are Dutch for a total of 1700 guests at full capacity) also leave room for local recipes and products. And the Italians? “Growing after Covid, which was the stimulus for the biggest change in recent years. We have changed everything, computerized the registration processes, increased the cleaning service and even activated delivery ». Because now pizza and dishes from the restaurant also arrive on the pitch. You can breathe the Made in Italy management and a family atmosphere, also because they do not work with tour operators and now after 63 years they go by word of mouth.
Browse the gallery to discover the best campsites in Italy
THE CHIC TENT
Lake Garda and its campsites are teaching, so much so that the Italian group was born here Baia Holiday than Italian-Dutch Holidays with the heart, l’inventor of glamping. It was a Dutchman who, having arrived in Italy in the seventies, opened his campsite and since it was not directly on the lake he bet everything on services and innovative structures: Bedouin tents, igloos and tunnels, designer villas with lake views and gradually new ideas designed with the leading manufacturer of these structures, CrippaConcept (most of those you see on Instagram). Two-storey high and narrow tents to stay there among the pine trees, houses with access and bathroom for dogs, car free areas, multilingual entertainment and even an adventure park with life-sized animals. Everything is designed for families and the success has been such that over the years from a campsite today there are four structures on the lake, three in Tuscany with slides and where you can also sleep on an American school bus, a new one on Lake Idro and one in the Netherlands. The two-story tents all in wood with 6 beds exceed € 200 per night in high season. But they are always full.
The same applies to the “boutique campsites” of Baia Holiday. Nato on Lake Garda from an idea by Mario Vezzola, he invented camping for the few, with only 6 pitches and 10 houses, high-end and which, in addition to the landscape, include services and a more contemporary style – such as the iconic Isuledda, one step away from the Costa Smeralda. The needs are changing in the hospitality sector, including camping, and more and more solutions for adventurous travelers are replacing widespread infrastructures that look much more like holiday villages where some guests arrive with their own vehicle. Entertainment, leisure facilities, even half board. Convinced?
Browse the gallery to discover the best campsites in Italy

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