Accesa Lake

Lake Accesa is located in the area of the Colline Metallifere Grosseto, south of the municipality of Massa Marittima. It is one of the main naturalistic and archaeological areas of the Tuscan Maremma, now home to an Archaeological Park.

The history of the lake

The area around the lake has seen human presence since the Etruscan period, in fact settlements existed as early as the 6th century BC. Thanks above all to the proximity to the deposits of iron, gold, silver and lead. The first Etruscan villages developed in the hilly area, as evidence of the Etruscan presence, today there are numerous tombs and ruins of houses.
Even in Roman times industrial activity continued in the area, this activity continued until the 18th century. At the Forni dell’Accesa locality, the remains of the ancient blast furnaces that were used for the transformation of the extracted metals are still visible today.
The extraction activities on Lake Accesa were interrupted in conjunction with the start of the reclamation work carried out by the Lorena family.

There is a legend about this lake, it is said that on June 26th, Saint Anna, the owner of the land forced his farmers to work without respecting the celebrations for the saint, the work continued until late in the evening and during the night it was heard a very loud roar and at that precise moment a chasm opened in the ground which swallowed up the ox carts and the farmers at work, and in the same place the lake was born. Legend has it that even today, on the night of Sant’Anna, the laments of the oxen and the screeching of the wagon wheels can be heard.

The lake

Lake Accesa is located about 7km from the town of Massa Marittima, it is surrounded by rolling hills covered with thick woods, it is the only natural basin in the northern territories of the province of Grosseto and is home to some important native plant species of the area. The waters of the lake are extraordinarily clear and crystalline, deep – in some places they even reach 50 meters -. The lake is not very large, it has a total surface area of only 14 hectares.

Flora :

The particular conformation of the lake shores and the reclamation of the marsh area has limited the proliferation of native species of the wetlands, nevertheless the lake hosts an interesting variety of plants, common water lily, flounder buttercup, potamogeton coloratus and ludwigia palustris. The body of water is completely surrounded by a reed bed of marsh reeds and sedge, where white vilucchio, hollyhock and hops also grow spontaneously. The very high weed and the thistle of Montpellier are also very common. In the south-western area, there are some species particularly resistant to drought Juncus conglomeratus, Scirpo Romano, swamp clover, willows, poplars and ash trees. Ciperaceae are also abundant, specifically Carex distans, Carex Otrubae, Clidemia hirta, Cyperus flavescens and Rush. Also very interesting are the orchids, albeit rarer, Elleborina Palustre and Orchidea di Palude.

Fauna:

The fish fauna that populates the lake is not native but composed of species introduced by man, largemouth bass, common creek, grass carp, bluegill and royal perch.

Accesa Lake Archaeological Park

Within the archaeological area there are five neighborhoods and as many necropolises. The various archaeological sites cover a time span ranging from the 7th to the 6th century BC, although some pit and well tombs may be older and date back to the 9th-8th century BC.
Most likely the community of Lago dell’Accesa was placed under the control of the powerful Vetulonia.