Lakes and rivers in Ciociaria

LAKE CANTERNO

Lake Canterno lies at the foot of the Ernici Mounts across the counties of Ferentino, Fiuggi, Fumone, Torre Cajetani and Trivigliano. The surrounding area is covered by exstensive oak woods, forests of mixed broadleaves and conifers, whereas at the bottom of the valley are willows and poplars. The park including the lake has a total extension of some 1,824 ha. The lake, a karst formation, is well strocked with fish, but also with wading birds, herons and water hens. The surrounding woodland provides also an ideal habitat for birds and small mammals.

CARDITO LAKE

Lake Selva, at Cardito in Vallerotonda, is an artificial basin which, with its water capacity of 2 million cubic metres, supplies ENEL's (the National Electricity Board) power plants of Grotta Campanaro and Cassino. The lake and its surrounding landscape are especially suitable for such sports activities as fishing, canoeing, gliding and mountain-biking.

In recent years, an environment enhancing project is under way, aiming at the creation of hospitality structures to boost the arrival of visitors in this area.

LAKE S. GIOVANNI INCARICO

The Nature Reserve enclosing the Lake S. Giovanni Inarico extends across the counties of S. Giovanni Incarico, Arce, Ceprano and Falvaterra, within the Liri Valley. Established in 1999, it has an extension of 725 ha. Its territory includes also the archaeological sites of Fregellae and Febrateria, whose presence adds and element of cultural attraction to this place, in addition to the naturalist one.

The vegetation is typical of humid zones with canebrakes closed to the river's banks and poplars, willows, alders and oaks covering the peripheral areas.

The waters of Lake S. Giovanni Incarico are stocked with a number of fish species, such as the carp, the tench and the common sunfish, which make this place extremely appealing to fresh-water anglers.

In the marshland it is common to see rare bird species, such as the white stork, the great white heron and the osprey, whereas the maquis is inhabited by pheasants, plovers, turtle-doves and some small mammals such as the hedgehog, the weasel, the badger and the fox.

RIVER LIRI AND WATERFALL

The river Liri is born in the Abruzzi, near Capistrello; running across the Roveto Valley and the Sora plain land it reaches Isola del Liri where it splits in two branches which encircle the town. The smaller waterfall is formed by the branch that runs through the western rocky walls, whereas the major waterfall forms along the main waterway which drops right in the heart of the town. Then the river runs through the plain land of Pontecorov and after skirting the territory of Cassino joins the river Gari, giving birth to the river Garigliano which marks the border with Campania as far as the Tyrrhenian sea.

The economic development of this area has been deeply influenced by the presence of this important waterway by fertilizing its land and favouring many industrial activities, such as the textile and paper industries, which exploited it as an inexhaustible source of mechanical and generating powers.

Texts and photos courtesy of A.P.T. di Frosinone