Lake Garda

Where is Lake Garda?

Countries on its shores: Italy.

Largest lake of: Italy.

Middle of the lake: 45.63° N, 10.67° E

The story behind it

Lake Garda is about 52 km long and up to 346 m deep. It covers about 370 km², and in the whole Alps only Lake Geneva and Lake Constance are bigger. It is the largest lake in Italy. At the end of the last ice age, a huge glacier dug out its long valley. The Sarca River flows in at the northern end, and the Mincio flows out at the southern end. The climate is so mild that lemons, olives and cypress trees grow here, which is rare this far north. There are five islands; the largest is Isola del Garda. At Sirmione, the Scaliger Castle guards the old town, and nearby lie the ruins of a Roman villa, called the Grottoes of Catullus. In the north, two regular winds called the Pelèr and the Ora bring windsurfers and sailors. A special trout, the carpione, lives only in this lake.

Find it on the globe

Lake Garda is there as a small blue dot with its name, right on the water. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.

It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.