Trentino Lakes ![](laghi/s-maria.jpg)
The lakes are one of the most important realities in the landscape of
Trentino. There are 297 of them covering a total area of 35 square kilometres
out of the 6212 of the provincial territory. Their altimetric distribution is
interesting. In the valley areas there ara the largest lakes, from the 65
metres of lago di Garda up to 1200 metres: 40 lakes in a lacustrian area of 32
million square metres. There are no lakes between 1200 and 1500 metres. Above
this height, instead and up to a maximum altitude of 3200 metres, there are
257 Trentino lakes, with a modest total area of 3 million square metres.
This is due to the origin of Trentino lakes. Nearly all of them were created
by glacial excavation, Pleistocene at low altitudes, historical or current at
higher altitudes. The morfology of the high altitude lakes is typically
"cirque" alpine: a fairly regular shape tending to be circular. They last for
a predictable lenght of time as they are supplied with light, calm surface
water free of any solid content. This is why they are so transparent.