The Lake and the Cimini Hills

Lake Vico lies in the middle of the Cimini Hills area, formed by a range of volcanic hills. The eruptive complex of the Cimini Hills is formed by two distinct volcanic structures: Mount Cimino, the oldest one, and Vico, the more recent one, whose crater contains the homonymous lake. It is one of the most beautiful and best preserved lakes of Central Italy, with its peculiar horseshoe shape due to the presence, on its northern bank, of Mount Venere, a small volcanic cone internal to the greater crater. The Natural Reserve stretches within the municipality of Caprarola for 3.240 hectares, 1.000 of which consist of woods, largely highwoods; other 1.000 hectares are occupied by the lake and the surrounding paludal strips while the rest of the Reserve contains agricultural crops, largely hazel groves, which represent one of the main economic resources of the area.

The Natural Reserve comprises a great variety of natural environments or ecosystems: the wooded areas, with vast highwoods of beeches and turkey oaks that include specimens of centuries-old plants; the marsh, concentrated in the area called "Le pantanacce", which is formed by morasses, reed- and rush-beds that shelter very interesting species of waterfowl; and the lake itself, with a rich fish fauna.

The Natural Reserve of Lake Vico aims at protecting this outstanding naturalistic patrimony from any possible alteration, fostering, at the same time, a rational development of the traditional industrial activities of the Vico's valley, which will surely benefit from the safeguard of the natural equilibriums of the surrounding environment.