Lake Nemi

Lake Nemi Lago di Nemi
Panoramic view
Location	Lazio
Coordinates	41°42′44″N 12°42′09″E / 41.71222°N 12.7025°E / 41.71222; 12.7025
Basin countries	Italy
Surface area	1.67 km2 (0.64 sq mi)
Max. depth	33 m (108 ft)
Surface elevation	325 m (1,066 ft)

Lake Nemi (Italian: Lago di Nemi, Latin: Nemorensis Lacus) is a small circular volcanic lake in the Lazio region of Italy 30 km (19 mi) south of Rome, taking its name from Nemi, the largest town in the area, that overlooks it from a height.

Archaeology and history

The lake is most famous for its sunken Roman ships. These ships were very large and technologically advanced for their time.

The lake is sacred to the goddess Diana and the site of the festival Nemoralia. Emperors Caligula and Tiberius sailed Lake Nemi not merely to cool off in summer, but to assert themselves as Nemorensis, rulers aligning with the Stars, wedded to Earth's perpetual life-force.

At the Hotel Diana on the Western edge of the crater at Via Nemorense, there is a fine exhibit of the archeological excavation of the late 1920s which exposed the enormous structure which Caligula had ordered built.

The lake in art and literature

Painting by John Robert Cozens (c. 1777)

• Lake Nemi is also a painting by American artist George Inness.
• Muriel Spark's 1976 novel The Takeover is set in three fictitious villas overlooking Lake Nemi.
• Lake Nemi inspired the first name of Norwegian comic character Nemi Montoya.

References

See also

• Alban Hills
• Lake of Albano
• Nemi
• Genzano di Roma
• Ariccia
• Rex Nemorensis
• Diana Nemorensis
• Nemi ships

External links

• Nemi Ships

Coordinates: 41°42′44″N 12°42′09″E / 41.71222°N 12.7025°E / 41.71222; 12.7025