Have you ever wondered how many shades of green there are in nature?
Hundreds. In the Trasimeno district you find them all.
But there are all the other colours too, in all their varying shades.
This miracle is due to the climate.
A revel of natural colours ranging from the delicate yellow of the primrose to the bright hue of the waterlily from the vivid red of the cornel berry to the orangy tone of the lilium bulbiferum.
For botany enthusiasts, this is paradise indeed.
All of us however, even if unfamiliar with its Latin name, can admire the charming white waterlily glea-ming among the cane-brakes of the lake.
Owing to its laminar nature, Lake Trasimeno (128 square km - the fourth largest Italian lake) attracts a great multitude of birds.
Here almost all the species of wild ducks make a stop, from the mallard to the teal.
A very common sight is a brood of cormorants composedly paddling over the water, while the black kite lies in wait, and the penduline titmouse, in his livery of soft elegant colours, hops out of the cane-brake, or the reedling, sporting his beautiful cinnamon and blue-grey plumage.
It is also easy to spot many other birds, from the blue heron to the grebe, the king-fisher (which the locals call the "truly green little bird").
With a stroke of luck, we may even witness the spectacular dive of the osprey, an unforgettable experience indeed.
The lake is surrounded by a level belt of land encircled by gentle hills, where wood-lands alternate with fields of sunflowers and maize, vineyards and stretches of olives. The local economy is, in fact, mainly an agricultural one harmonising well with the inhabitants propensity for craftwork: hence, the celebrated lace of the Isola Maggiore, the pottery, the objects in copper and wrought iron.
In such a historic and economic context, life flows peacefully, and nature goes hand-in-hand with modernity.
The district is well equipped with all the public services of a well-developed country, while the population is fully aware of its historical and cultural heritage, thus contriving to stall any hazard of environmental deterioration.