Lago di Lavarone, Lavarone

Lake Lavarone is a small lake located on the plateau of the same name, in the province of Trento, at 1,079 meters above sea level. It has a surface area of 64,000 m² with a maximum depth of 17 meters.

The lake has a karst origin. It was created after the slow overflow of a sinkhole. In 1972 some tree trunks still anchored by their roots on the bottom of the lake were found and dated by carbon method to 210 BC. Water accumulated in the sinkhole only as a result of soil sealing.

The lake's supply is provided by small surface springs, the water drains by underground seepage taking about an hour and a half to rise 3 km to the Centa Valley, where it forms the Vallempach Falls.

Because of its mild climate and the particular purity of its waters, Lake Lavarone is a relevant tourist attraction for the area of the Cimbrian highlands: in fact, it is equipped for bathing and fishing during the summer period and for ice skating during part of the winter period. In addition, during the winter it is the site of a stage for learning the technique of under-ice rescue that has been held since 1985 organized by the National Association of Underwater Instructors.

Around this lake Sigmund Freud often strolled during the time he spent his vacations in Lavarone in 1904, 1906, 1907 and 1923.

According to one legend, where the lake now stands, there would have been a lush forest owned by two brothers. These allegedly quarreled arrogantly over the ownership of the forest itself. God, to punish them, made the forest sink and filled the slope with water so as to eliminate the object of the brotherly quarrel.