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The Story of Lake Castel Gandolfo

A Lake With an Epic Story to Tell

The first human settlement on the shores of Lake Albano is a pile-dwelling village discovered in 1984 when the water levels lowered on the north shore of the lake. Known as ‘Villaggio delle Macine,’ for the stone millstones found there, its dating fluctuates from the XX-XIX centuries BC up to the middle Bronze Age (XVII-XVI century BC). Around 395 BC, at the time of the fights of Rome against Veii, an exhaust tunnel was built through the walls of the crater, which served as an outlet if the level of the lake had passed the entrance. It was a work of hydraulic engineering particularly interesting for the times.

During and after the era of the ancient Romans, naumachie (naval battles) took place on the lake, so the bottom of the lake is full of interesting finds.