Lake
Lacus et mons Ciminus
Lago di Vico und Monti Cimini
Listen to the story
Lacus et mons Ciminus, the Ciminian lake and mountain, appear on the map only as words: the lake is not drawn, and the label has strayed onto the wrong road, between Tarquinia and Aquas Tauri. They are the Lago di Vico, a crater lake, and Monte Cimino above it. Legend said Hercules drove his club into the ground here; no one else could pull it out, and when he did, water gushed up and filled the lake. The dense Ciminian forest long marked Rome's border with Etruria, and in 310 BC a Roman army first dared to cross it.