Lago di Albano

Lake Albano (Italian: Lago Albano or Lago di Castel Gandolfo) is a small volcanic crater lake in the Alban Hills of Lazio, at the foot of Monte Cavo, 20 kilometres (12 mi) southeast of Rome. Overlooking it is Castel Gandolfo, where the Pope has a villa.

It was known to the Roman Empire as Albanus Lacus. In its vicinity stood Alba Longa.

The lake is the deepest, about 170 m (560 ft), in Lazio. It is about 3.5 km (2.2 mi) long by 2.3 km (1.4 mi) wide, formed by the overlapping union of two volcanic craters, an origin indicated by the ridge in its center, which rises to a depth of 70 m (230 ft). Plutarch reports that in 406 BC the lake surged over the surrounding hills, despite there being no rain nor tributaries into the lake to explain it (Life of Camillus). The ensuing flood destroyed fields and vineyards, eventually pouring into the sea.

It hosted the canoeing and rowing events of the 1960 Summer Olympic Games that were held at Rome. The lane marking system developed for these events is commonly referred to as the Albano buoy system.

A crater lake is a lake that forms in a volcanic crater or caldera, such as a maar; less commonly and with lower association to the term a lake may form in an impact crater caused by a meteorite. Sometimes lakes which form inside calderas are called caldera lakes, but often this distinction is not made. Crater lakes covering active (fumarolic) volcanic vents are sometimes known as volcanic lakes, and the water within them is often acidic, saturated with volcanic gases, and cloudy with a strong greenish color. Lakes located in dormant or extinct volcanoes tend to have fresh water, and the water clarity in such lakes can be exceptional due to the lack of inflowing streams and sediment.