The largest of Italian lakes, with an area of about 370 km², Garda Lake laps many municipalities close to the provinces of Brescia, Verona and Trento. These areas, inhabited since Prehistoric times, are environments of great naturalistic value, with vegetation typical of Mediterranean climate (olive, vine, agaves, etc.) that grows luxuriant thanks to the microclimate that characterizes Garda basin. The hills are an important migratory crossroads for many species of birds. In the lake there are five islands, all of a rather small size, the largest is Isola del Garda, on which in 1220 St. Francis of Assisi founded a monastery and on which today stands a nineteenth-century palace in Venetian neo-Gothic style. A short distance away is Island of San Biagio, second in size, also called "dei Conigli" because in the sixteenth century there were numerous hares and rabbits that offered abundant hunts. Among the underwater sources of Garda the best known is Boiola, whose peculiarity is given by the sodium-sulfur thermal attributes that make this water of good therapeutic qualities. The spring gushes about 300 meters away from the east bank of Sirmione peninsula, thermal center par excellence in the area. Urban centers are, in fact, born as a bourgeois city in miniature, with lots of churches, public buildings, squares, castle and walls, elements that are still largely preserved. Cities such as Desenzano, Peschiera, Lazise, Garda, Malcesine, Riva and Salò represent today important tourist centers: along the lake and in its immediate stretches in fact a real industry of entertainment, with water parks and thematic as "Gardaland", " Canevaworld ", Parco Natura Viva and Parco Giardino Sigurtà, green oasis along the river Mincio.