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Lake · Pozzuoli (NA)

Lake Avernus

  • Visit: about 50 min
Pictured: Pozzuoli · autore sconosciuto · CC BY-SA 3.0 · resized and cropped

A volcanic lake in the Campi Flegrei, a nature oasis and a place of myth: for the ancients it was the gateway to the Underworld.

Lake Avernus is one of the five Phlegraean lakes and fills the crater of an ancient extinct volcano. Today it is a nature oasis where many species of birds nest, some of them rare. We are fascinated by its link with myth: legend placed the gateway to the Underworld here, an idea taken up by Virgil and later by Dante, with the tale of Pluto and Proserpina.The lake was also an important military hub: the Romans linked it to the sea with a canal, making it part of the Portus Julius system, and an underground passage commissioned by Agrippa joined it to Lake Lucrino. The eruption of Monte Nuovo in 1538 cut it off from the sea. We recommend a walk along its shores at sunset.

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