Lake Nemi - Archaeology and History

Archaeology and History

The lake is most famous for its sunken Roman ships. These ships were very large and technologically advanced for their time.

The lake is sacred to the goddess Diana and the site of the festival Nemoralia. Emperors Caligula and Tiberius sailed Lake Nemi not merely to cool off in summer, but to assert themselves as Nemorensis, rulers aligning with the Stars, wedded to Earth's perpetual life-force.

At the Hotel Diana on the Western edge of the crater at Via Nemorense, there is a fine exhibit of the archeological excavation of the late 1920s which exposed the enormous structure which Caligula built.