Lake Prile and the Diaccia Botrona
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Lake Prile and the Diaccia Botrona

The protected area of Diaccia Botronae is what remains of the ancient Lake Prile or Preglio (Lat: Lacus Prelius et Lacus Prilius vel Lacus Prilis ) a huge lake basin that occupied almost the entire plain in past centuries and onto which the rival Etruscan cities of Vetulonia and Roselle looked. This ancient lake, which has become a number of swamps, almost entirely dried up after large-scale reclamation work that was started by the Lorena in the eighteenth century by channelling the water, in order to eliminate malaria. 

The area has been declared a Wetland of International Importance in accordance with the 1971 Ramsar Convention, and is one of the biotopes of vegetation interest worthy of preservation in Italy, registered by the work group for the conservation of nature at the Italian Botanical Society and the Territorial Research on Natural Areas to be Protected Programme conducted by CNR and the Ministry for Public Works. The Reserve is also a part of the SIC no. 111 and the ZPS 111B, identified as an “area of huge importance for the stopover, wintering and nesting of aquatic avifauna”. Of the ICBP sites, it has been the most important wetland in Tuscany for the wintering of ducks, geese and swans; the nesting of herons and Circus Aeroginosus is also highly significant.  

This charming wetland, filled with traces of the past, is therefore not to be missed.