GARDA, gilr'da (Lat. Lacus Benacus). The largest lake in Italy. It is 34 miles long, from 3 to 11 miles broad, 189 square miles in area, and its greatest depth is 1135 feet (Map: Italy, E 2). Its northern extremity is in Tyrol, and Pescbiera, at its southern extremity, is 16 miles west of Verona and 77 miles east of Milan. There is communication by steamboat once or twice daily between different points on the lake. The principal fish are salmon trout, trout, pike, and eels. The water is often rough, especially when there is a storm from the north. (Consult Vergil, Georgics, II., 160.) The southern shores are low and flat; hut as the lake narrows toward the north the spurs of the Alps rise boldly from the water's edge. The chief tribu tary is the Sarca, and the only outlet is the Mincio, which descends from Peschiera to Man tua, and discharges into the Po.
The most fashionable resort is Gardone-Ri viera; but dearest to the poet and to the anti quarian is Sirmione, a narrow promontory that extends 2% miles out into the lake. The view from it is magnificent, and there are the ruins of Roman baths and of a building said to be the villa of the poet Catullus. Sale, a small town with terraces of lemon groves, has a church con taining several interesting paintings; Maderno has a basilica of the eighth century. '11alcesine is the place where Goethe was arrested by the Vene tian officials. To the beautiful little village of Garda the lake owes its name. Rive, at the north end of the lake, in Austrian territory, is popular with tourists, on account of its hotels, ruins, and climate in summer. It is the starting point for numerous excursions over the moun tains.