Lago di Lentini

Lago di Lentini, also known locally as the Biviere, is a reservoir in the plain near Lentini. It replaced an older wetland basin that was drained during reclamation works in the early twentieth century and later became an important landscape for water management and birdlife.

Why it matters

The old Biviere was a shallow basin formed by damming the Trigona near its confluence with the San Leonardo. Medieval accounts variously associate its construction with Frederick II or the Templars; local legend attributes it to Hercules. In 1829, Charles Didière described it as one of Sicily's great natural attractions, while also noting the malaria associated with its shores.

What to notice

The present reservoir was built in the late 1970s for agricultural and industrial water supply. Its reedbeds and shoreline support birdlife, including herons, egrets, ducks and birds of prey. The lake is part of a wider wetland landscape in which water levels and shorelines change over time.

Context and history

Reclamation proposals began after Italian unification, and drainage works continued over several decades into the early twentieth century. The historic basin disappeared beneath cultivated land. The reservoir created in the late 1970s returned open water to the area, and wetland vegetation and migratory birds subsequently returned.