Lago del Turano
The first thing you notice driving the SP 34 is that the lake doesn't look engineered — the water curves around wooded spurs and rocky promontories as if it always belonged here. Then you spot a bell tower rising from the shore and remember: this valley was a valley once, with farms and a village called Colle Piccolo, before the dam went in and the water came up.
Lago del Turano stretches roughly ten kilometres through the Lazio hills, about eighty kilometres from Rome. Castel di Tora sits on a rocky summit above the western shore; Ascrea and Paganico cling to heights on the right bank. The perimeter road follows the water most of the way, and the view shifts at every bend.
💛 What travellers fall for
People who come back tend to arrive early at the cave beach below Castel di Tora — free, shaded in the morning, and quiet before midday. The nautical club rents kayaks by the hour; paddling toward Antuni, the ghost hamlet above the opposite shore, you see the Hermitage of San Salvatore tucked into the hillside in a way no road quite shows you.
The story behind Lago del Turano
The dam at Posticciola was designed in 1916 but construction didn't finish until 1938, when more than three thousand workers had spent years raising an eighty-metre wall across the Turano valley. A memorial plaque along the SP 34 near the dam records those who died on the project. That October, autumn rains accelerated the filling faster than expected — farmers were still harvesting corn from the valley floor as the water rose around them.
The village of Colle Piccolo disappeared beneath the reservoir. Its residents rebuilt on higher ground and renamed the place Colle di Tora. A small chapel dedicated to San Rocco was later constructed as a miniature reconstruction of the church that now lies submerged. The lake's water, via a nine-kilometre tunnel, connects to Lago del Salto and feeds the Cotilia hydroelectric plant at Cittaducale — the whole system still doing the work it was built for.
Good to know
A car is effectively essential — public transport from Rieti involves changes and unreliable timing. Spring and early autumn give you clear water, cooler air, and open roads. Summer is swimmable but the lake draws crowds on weekends. Budget a full day minimum; a night in Castel di Tora or Colle di Tora makes the pace easier.
Summer brings reliable warmth for swimming, but the water stays noticeably cold and clear even in July. Spring and October are the most comfortable seasons for walking the perimeter road or trekking to the Vallocchie waterfall — cooler, greener, and far less traffic on the narrow lakeside lanes.
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What travellers say about Lago del Turano
We came for swimming, but no way you can swim in that lake. But the view was incredible.
The lake is gorgeous, but there is almost no possibility to swim and very few cafe’s and restaurants. We were there mid June and almost everything was closed.
Yes you can swim here and at many places. I did
Peaceful, serene, cool, picturesque, spacious....all adjectives that I would apply to this beautiful piece of God's earth!!!! Try it, you may love it!!!
Lovely place
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