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This park includes the municipalities of Castiglione del Lago, Magione, Passignano, Tuoro, and Panicate, with a total area of some 32.600 acres. The park environment is that of a lake and hilly territory, featuring several areas highly appreciated by migratory birds.

The Park is also home to an important lake, the largest in peninsular Italy – Lake Trasimeno; the latter covers an area of 50 square miles and is a great natural resource, constantly protected and enhanced. The lake waters are suitable for bathing, while the valleys and the islands appear as a pristine habitat which still bears the traces centuries-old interaction between man and Mother Nature.

The park includes three sections:

– Polvese Island:
Located in the municipality of Castiglione del Lago, it covers 173 acres and is the largest.
Used as a centre for environmental education and home to a sailing school, it includes a tall holm oak forest, a centuries-old olive grove and an extensive reed bed, populated by many water birds in the winter. Among the historical memories that have survived on this island, there are the Church of Saint Secondo, the Olivetano Monastery, the Church of Saint Giuliano, and a recently restored XIV century castle. On the island, there’s also a garden of aquatic plants, created by Pietro Porcinai – the great Italian landscape architect of the XX century. The garden features a consisting of a 16.4-ft deep swimming pool, dug into the rock and fed by Lake Trasimeno.
Around it, there are other small pools connected to each other, plunged into the vegetation rich in cattail (Typha Latifolia), myrtle (Myrtus communis), strawberry trees (Arbutus unedo), thyme (Thimus vulgaris), and lavender.

– Isola Maggiore:
Part of the municipality of Tuoro, it covers 59 acres and features a charming fishing village dating back to the XV century; its landscape is made of olive trees (Olea europae ), cypresses (Cupressus sempervirens), holm oaks (Quercus ilex), and poplars.

– Isola Minore:
Privately owned, it’s the smallest and covers an area of only 60.000 square yards in the municipality of Passignano sul Trasimeno. It features thick woodland vegetation, including pines and holm oaks (), as well as a colony of cormorants.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)