Lake Trasimeno

Lake Trasimene lies in the hills west of Perugia, near the border between Umbria and Tuscany. Its shallow waters rise and fall with the rains, and no river naturally flows out of the lake. Etruscan cities including Perugia, Chiusi and Cortona stood near its shores. In 217 BC Hannibal defeated a Roman army on the northern side of the lake, in one of the great battles of the Second Punic War.