Italian Lakes in the context of "Glacial lake"

The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain (Italian: Pianura Padana, pronounced [pjaˈnuːra paˈdaːna], or Val Padana) is a major geographical feature of northern Italy. It extends approximately 650 km (400 mi) in an east-west direction, with an area of 46,000 km (18,000 square miles) including its Venetic extension not actually related to the Po basin; it runs from the Western Alps to the Adriatic Sea. The flatlands of Veneto and Friuli are often considered apart since they do not drain into the Po, but they effectively combine into an unbroken plain, making it the largest in Southern Europe. It has a population of 17 million, or a third of Italy's total population.

The plain is the surface of an in-filled system of ancient canyons (the "Apennine Foredeep") extending from the Apennines in the south to the Alps in the north, including the northern Adriatic. In addition to the Po and its affluents, the contemporary surface may be considered to include the Savio, Lamone and Reno to the south, and the Adige, Brenta, Piave and Tagliamento of the Venetian Plain to the north, among the many streams that empty into the north Adriatic from the west and north.

The following is a list of lakes of Italy. The lakes of Italy can be distinguished, depending on their location within the national territory, between pre-alpine, north-western, Apennine, Sicilian and Sardinian, in addition to lagoons and coastal lakes. They are generally named after the surrounding towns and often their capacity has been increased with the construction of dams, in order to create large water reserves to be used for the production of electricity. There are more than 1000 lakes in Italy, the largest of which is Garda (370 km or 143 sq mi).

The pre-alpine lakes are the largest and most important because they constitute capacious basins, in which the alpine rivers restrain their impetus and purify their waters, depositing the transported materials. They also affect the local climate, mitigating it. Their waters fill the bottom of long valleys that flow into the Po Valley. They are deep valleys, carved by glaciers, which once descended to the foot of the Alpine chain. Generally, their emissary rivers then flow into the Po River.