16. Lake Avernus, Italy
It was the Romans who first considered this picturesque lake in the Campania region of southern Italy an entrance to hell. It is a circular volcanic crater lake near Naples, whose name, Avernus, was synonymous to Roman writers with the underworld. Lake Avernus appeared in the literary works Fabulae, Aeneid, The Odyssey, and Dante’s Inferno, all as the portal to the underworld. Also known as the Devil’s Lair, Avernus was so named because of its literal meaning, “without birds.” It is thought that the smell of brimstone rising from the lake was so poisonous that birds would not fly over it. There is a cave under the lake that was supposedly the actual entrance to the underworld. Now, this beautiful spot immortalized by Homer and Virgil is home to lake-dwellers and was raided in 2010 during a search for the Italian mafia. It sounds like a happening place, if you ask me!
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