All things you need to know about living in Desenzano del Garda
Desenzano del Garda, in the province of Brescia, is home to 141 Russians: 0.48% of its 29,313 residents.
That is the 46th-highest concentration of Russians among the 5,872 Italian comuni with at least 1,000 residents.
Within Lombardia it ranks 14th.
ISTAT counts 3,570 residents with a foreign citizenship in Desenzano del Garda, 12.18% of the population. The largest groups among the nationalities we follow most closely are Russians (141), Brazilians (100), Germans (56).
That is above the national average for an Italian comune, which is 7.30%.
On ISTAT's well-being measures, the province of Brescia scores in the top quarter of Italian provinces for life expectancy at birth and hospital beds in high-care wards.
It scores in the bottom quarter for burglaries reported and PM10 Annual average concentration.
These figures describe the province, not the town. A comune can sit some way from its province's average.
Summers average a high of 28.5°C (83°F) and winters a low of 2.6°C (37°F), measured over 2015 to 2024.
Desenzano del Garda sees about 21 days a year above 30°C (86°F).
It gets about 1,067mm of rain a year, spread across roughly 132 days.
These come from ERA5-Land reanalysis at the comune itself, not from the nearest weather station.
OMI puts residential purchase prices in Desenzano del Garda at about €2,720 per square meter in the second half of 2025.
Desenzano del Garda population over time
By nationality
| Nationality | Citizens | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Romania | 678 | 2.31% |
| Ukraine | 341 | 1.16% |
| Albania | 247 | 0.84% |
| Russia | 141 | 0.48% |
| Brazil | 100 | 0.34% |
| Poland | 59 | 0.20% |
| Germany | 56 | 0.19% |
| Netherlands | 30 | 0.10% |
| France | 27 | 0.09% |
| Bulgaria | 25 | 0.09% |
| Latvia | 24 | 0.08% |
| United States | 19 | 0.06% |
| Hungary | 18 | 0.06% |
| Lithuania | 18 | 0.06% |
| Spain | 17 | 0.06% |
| United Kingdom | 16 | 0.05% |
| Argentina | 14 | 0.05% |
| Czechia | 14 | 0.05% |
| Estonia | 14 | 0.05% |
| Venezuela | 13 | 0.04% |
| Portugal | 12 | 0.04% |
| Belgium | 11 | 0.04% |
| Croatia | 10 | 0.03% |
| Norway | 10 | 0.03% |
| Denmark | 8 | 0.03% |
| Finland | 6 | 0.02% |
| Ireland | 6 | 0.02% |
| Japan | 6 | 0.02% |
| Mexico | 6 | 0.02% |
| Sweden | 6 | 0.02% |
| Slovakia | 6 | 0.02% |
| Greece | 5 | 0.02% |
| Austria | 4 | 0.01% |
| Cyprus | 3 | 0.01% |
| Slovenia | 3 | 0.01% |
| Australia | 2 | 0.01% |
| Switzerland | 2 | 0.01% |
| South Korea | 2 | 0.01% |
| Malta | 1 | 0.00% |
| Canada | 0 | 0.00% |
| Luxembourg | 0 | 0.00% |
Country of birth
| Group | Residents | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Born in Italy | 24,244 | 82.71% |
| Born elsewhere in the EU | 1,116 | 3.81% |
| Born outside the EU | 3,953 | 13.49% |
Russians over time
Quality of life in Brescia
Full BES profile for Brescia →Brescia on cost vs quality of life (province-level) →
Property prices
Buying in Desenzano del Garda is far above the Brescia average of €1,392/m². Averaged across 5 OMI micro-zones, which can differ substantially within the same town.
26 years of rent here equal the purchase price — above the national median of 22.2 years.
A ratio between two OMI prices, not a return on investment. It leaves out purchase taxes, IMU, maintenance, financing and the months a place sits empty — all of which push the real figure up. Useful for the question it does answer: whether this town looks expensive to buy relative to what renting in it costs.
Housing here in excellent condition costs 25% more than ordinary condition — €3,408/m² against €2,720.
That gap is what the market charges for a place you don’t have to work on. It is not what the work would cost you — OMI prices property, not builders.
A detached house here averages €2,944/m², against €2,720 for an apartment.
Compared street for street — houses and flats priced in the same neighborhood — a house costs 21% more per square meter.
OMI prices “Ville e Villini” separately from the apartments every other figure on this page describes. Nationally a house costs about 14% more per square meter, but in 450 comuni it costs less — worth checking rather than assuming.
Seismic zone
Desenzano del Garda is in seismic zone 2. Of the four zones, zone 1 is the highest hazard and zone 4 the lowest. The Department of Civil Protection describes zone 2 as a zone where strong earthquakes are possible.
This is the legal classification the Region gave the comune, used for planning and for control of building works. It is not a forecast, and it says nothing about the building you are looking at: since the 2018 building code the design load of a new building comes from site-specific hazard, not from the zone. Have any specific property checked by a qualified engineer.
Not to be confused with the “seismic” routes of the 7% pensioner regime. Those turn on whether the comune was in the 2009 L’Aquila or 2016–17 central-Italy earthquake areas, not on its zone, and being in zone 1 does not make anyone eligible for that regime, or for any tax treatment.
See every comune on the map →Hospital, airport and daily-needs distance
Nearest hospital: Ospedale di Desenzano, about 2.2 km / 3 minutes by road from Desenzano del Garda (the main town).
Nearest emergency department: Ospedale di Desenzano, Desenzano del Garda (DEA level I), about 2.2 km / 3 minutes by road from Desenzano del Garda (the main town).
Nearest airport: Verona Villafranca Valerio Catullo Airport (VRN), about 37.1 km / 26 minutes by road from Desenzano del Garda (the main town).
Nearest supermarket (OpenStreetMap): In's Mercato, about 0.7 km / 1 minute by road from Desenzano del Garda (the main town).
Nearest pharmacy: Farmacia Granelli Cupolo di Maria Granelli e C. Snc, about 0.1 km / 1 minute by road from Desenzano del Garda (the main town).
Nearest railway station (OpenStreetMap): Desenzano del Garda-Sirmione, about 0.8 km / 1 minute by road from Desenzano del Garda (the main town).
Measured by road from the main town of the comune (its OpenStreetMap place point; the geographic center for the few comuni with none), at free-flow speeds with no traffic. It is approximate. For Desenzano del Garda, a trip from your own address can take longer or shorter. Drive the route before you rely on it, and ask the local health authority which hospital serves the town. Shops, pharmacies and stations are the nearest to the main town, not to your address.
Nearby comuni
← See Desenzano del Garda on the interactive map
This page, as data
Every figure above sits behind the page as a value with its source, its date and its coverage attached. Your assistant reads the same record, gaps included.