Massa Marittima: Lago dell'Accesa bathed in History and Legend

It only takes a quick diversion of less than 15 minutes from the medieval town of Massa Marittima to reach Lago dell’Accesa. Vegetation and history merge together in this green oasis. The lake is surrounded by shrubbery and reeds and it appears to visitors as an unexpected blue expanse. The history here is ancient in origin. The area used to be inhabited by the Etruscans. They were the first to settle in this zone, attracted by the abundance of metals. It’s no coincidence that the area around Massa Marittima is called the Colline Metallifere (the metal-bearing hills).

There are now numerous exhibits and tokens of everyday life which were found in the area and, though a large number of them were moved into the reliquaries of the
Archaeological Museum of Massa Marittima, the lake is worth a stop for a visit to the necropoleis and the remains of the buildings and to imagine the array of life in this territory some thousands of years ago.
The remains of the Etruscan village in fact date back to between the 7th and 6th century BC, whereas the necropoleis date back even further.

Historians believe that it already existed in the 9th century BC.
However, the area’s mineral reserve did not pass unobserved even in the more recent past. A short distance from the lake and from the Etruscan findings, we can see some traces of the first blast furnaces, which the people who had returned to the place used to work metals from the 18th century onwards. Regardless of history, various legends also circulate about the lake.
There are no Loch Ness style monsters, but there is a myth that an entire village is buried beneath the waters of Accesa.


(Portions of this article first appeared in "Toscana & Chianti News")
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