Lago di Vico

There are several nice natural areas near Viterbo. On Sunday the school hosted a welcome picnic at Lago di Vico for the students and their host families. Even though it has been two weeks since the students arrived, the welcoming and orientation events will continue for another two weeks as they become immersed in the language and culture of Italy. Lago di Vico appears to be some sort of volcanic formation. You drop down to the oval lake which is ringed by hills. The portion of the caldera which isn’t filled with water is planted almost entirely in hazel nuts. The weather was perfect and the setting spectacular. There is a beach, but few people swim in the water for several reasons. First, Italians appear to prefer going to the sea for swimming and second, the intensive agriculture has resulted in high chemical concentrations in the water. The Italian authorities have recognized the problem and are monitoring the situation but finding a solution will be difficult as the agriculture in the region is lucrative and would be difficult to scale back.