Lake Garda: Italian drought reveals submerged path

Italy’s Lake Garda is seeing historic low water levels uncovering a long submerged causeway to an island popular with tourists.

San Biagio island has seen a walkway to the mainland emerge as water levels fall having previously only been accessible by boat.

The current water level at Garda is around 65 cm below the average as it suffers without snowmelt which typically keeps the lake filled from nearby mountains.

The land bridge from the edge of Lake Garda and San Biagio island is expected to be short lived.

Italy is in the grip of a long-persisting drought with little to no rainfall or snow cover in mountainous areas this year.

Northern regions of the Mediterranean country are particularly affected by the conditions which builds on record drought witnessed last summer.

At that time parts of the Po River completely dried amid heatwaves while both Lake Como and Lake Maggiore also saw low levels.

Many countries saw long-submerged artefacts emerge from the depths last year including Iberian ghost towns such as Aceredo in Spain and the ruins of Vilar, Portugal.

Aceredo was deserted in 1992 to make way for a reservoir and reappeared after water in that reservoir dropped to just 15% of capacity last March.

Italy’s water resource association have warned of limited water supplies later this year as a result of the winter drought.