Lazise stands 64 metres above sea level on the south-eastern shore of Lake Garda. Together with Colà and Pacengo it has around 6,000 inhabitants. Traces of prehistoric pile dwellings have been found in the lake.
The name Lazise probably derives from the Latin lacus. In 983 Emperor Otto II granted trade and fishing privileges that allowed the inhabitants to organise one of Italy’s earliest independent municipalities.
In 1277 Lazise came under the Della Scala family and later the Visconti of Milan. The strong walls that still give the town its medieval atmosphere were built during this period. From 1405 to 1797 the area belonged to the Republic of Venice.
After the Congress of Vienna in 1815 it became part of the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia; in 1866 it joined the Kingdom of Italy. Modern tourism began in the 1950s with the opening of the first lakeside campsites.