Lake Bolsena

The” Lago di Bolsena” (Lake Bolsena) is a  lake of central Italy. It is of volcanic origin, it was formed more than 370 000 years ago and it’s the largest volcanic lake in Europe. It has got an oval shape (typical of the volcanic lakes) and it has a maximum depth of 151 metres.
The lake is in the province of „Viterbo” and exactly in the norther part.The lake’s shores are generally low and sandy-its black sand is very characteristic. The shores are interrupted by small and low peninsulas and headlands: „Monte Bisenzio”,„Volsini”, „Capo San Bernardino” and the peninsula of „Capodimonte”. Where the human presence is less visible, there are many isolated woods of oak, chestnut and willow trees.
Tourism and the human settlemens are concentrated in the long eastern and southern shores where you find Bolsena, Marta and Capodimonte, the three main tourist resorts of the lake. The northern coast is the lowest while the western coast is the wildest and the most solitary.
A characteristic of the lake are the „ sesse” (changes of the lake’s level) particularly unpredictable and inexplicable. In 2000 a „sessa” reached a diffrence in altitude about 50 cm high.
The Lake Bolsena is one of few Italian big lakes to be fit for swimming. The cleanliness of the water guarantees an extraordinary development of animal and plant species, including many species of algae and underwater plants.
There are many species of fish, largely introduced here by man: the lake whitefish,the pike, the black bass, the carp, the tench (in the bottom waters) the grey mullet and many more. The great abundance of fish and the uncontaminate nature attract a lot of species of water birds, that stop here in the lake during the migrations. In this territory the predators are the cormorant and the diver. Other inhabitants of the lake shores are : the toad, the frog, the grass snake, the newt and the tortoise.