Help! Submerged town in Italy....

[Tony_W]

Hi all,

I remember about a year ago there was an article about diving a submerged town in a Sunday paper - where the church spire is the only thing visible above the waterline. I've done a few searches on the ol' interweb and think it might be Graun and Reschen: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/21892

The underwater pictures in the article were stunning (as I remember), gin clear fresh water, swimming along the streets. However, I can't find any info about diving this lake - apart from a mention of diving on an accommodation site for the region http://www.alpenfriede.it/en/reschen.html

Does anyone else remember seeing this article? If so does this location look right? Has anyone dived it? I'd like to set-up a trip this year, if only I can confirm the location & get some more info about the logistics of diving it :)

Any info/ideas would be much appreciated

Cheers

Tony

[toptribefan]

Dive did a report in Oct 07 on Capo D'acqua, here (http://www.divemagazine.co.uk/news/article.asp?uan=4050).

Is that the one you saw?

If so I'll fill two slots on the trip (no comment on waist sizes requiring two seats please)

[Tony_W]

That's not the site I was thinking of, but I had completely forgotten about that article. Capo D'acqua may well be a great alternative site and close enough to Rome to keep the non-diving wife very happy indeed...

I'll make some enquiries around cost

Some well earned 'green' there - cheers :)

[Maria CM]

http://www.webalice.it/dantec/eng/Lago%20Capo%20D%27Acqua/Lago%20di%20Capo%20D%27Acqua.html

Seems it is privately owned according to the link above - does look VERY interesting... I shall be doing some further reading I think....

best wishes,

Maria

edit/ quote from another site "In the sweltering heat of the summer a dive in crystal clear water at 10°C is an experience you’ll never forget… "

second edit/ more pics http://www.bestdive.it/pages/LagoCapodacquaPreview2005_10_16.htm

[ChristianG]

From memory there's at least one other Italian lake with the same characteristics. It was described in a now-defunct German magazine (UWF) which specialised in photography and was quite the best. I have every copy (the photography/graphics, sheer publication expertise and production values in it, it leaves Vogue which is an industry standard gasping in its wake, were quite simply amazing). I'll have a trawl around and report on anything I find.

[Steph]

i used google.de

A quick glance a few sites seem to say that all the buildings have been blown up.
The Church tower only stands as it resisted several attempts to be blow it up or it was protected as a listed building (yeah right) depending on who you believe.
One website says that in principle one can dive there but would need to get permission from the local authority.
It goes on to say that there is no point as there is absolutely nothing to see...

maybe those guys can tell you more.

http://www.tc-inzell.de/

It as I understand it they did rubbish collections in several lakes. Including the one in question...
http://www.tc-inzell.de/Bilder/Galerien/0801repass/index.html

actually don't bother in

www.taucher.net
Search Reschensee

Someone says he has not dived but skied there and the lake gets drained in the winter. Where the tower is it is very shallow, muddy, basically what you see on the flooded pics is what it looks like when dry.

Some other people apparently try diving it and found this info to be correct.

Looking at the historic and now pics i first thought that it is 2 different churches. As in the historic pic the church is almost as high as the tower... and the tower not very high... but if the church was blown up and tower stands in shallow water it makes sens...

On a school trip to the Carara area we hiked into a then drained lake where there was still a village with most buildings and chapel relatively intact.
Must have been pretty deep I would guess +60m from looking at the dam.
Pretty muddy, well clay, i would not think it worth the trip but will make some phonecalls to my old teachers if it is of interest to someone.

[Maria CM]

Oooh - bit of a mismatch - def needs further info then I think....

best wishes,

Maria

[Tony_W]

Thanks for all the info, I could kick myself for not keeping the article - was sure I'd squirelled it away somewhere :(

toptribefan's suggestion of Capo D'acqua, may well be a good alternative, if I don't luck out with random searches or help from the forum. Have sent the guy's that run the Capo D'acqua trips a mail asking for more detail around costs/logistics - once I get a reply I'll post it back to the forum.

Maria - that second link was great, thanks

[Chris aka divingchef]

Sorry cant help the Italien Job:D

Spain yepp, Northern Portugal Yepp

Sorry

Chris

[TooTall]

You'd have much more fun diving off Naples and the coast there. Possible to dive over roman mosaics and ruins down there. There is a well rated dive centre down on the Amalfi Coast too - with some reserves offshore to dive on.

[Alison Boler]

Yes - can vouch for the diving around Baia and Puteoli just outside of Naples. There are the remains of most of a Roman town under the water protected by a marine archaeological reserve. Several dive operators offer dives through the submerged ruins - temples, streets, houses and you can see mosaic floors still in place.
Also very interesting in the land part of the park.

[Maria CM]

Wow - sounds good too!

Do you have a website to hand?

best wishes,

Maria

[Tony_W]

Sounds great! The hol's are set for Italy, but pretty flexible on location - apart from the obligatory visit to freinds in Milan, the rest of the time can be anywhere :)

[TooTall]

I wish I did - but I used to live out there and our club used to rent a boat every weekend for the summer and dive - so I was just following the bigger boys and girls then! Have a bit of a search for scuba Baia, Bacoli and Nisida - they are the areas we used to dive - I'll keep looking myself.

Also - there are reserves off the Amalfi Coast - didn't get there myself but friends had a great time. The Italian dive scene around Naples is funny - June until 1 Sep and then out the water! Everything is tucked out of the way as well - finding shops etc was real local knowledge.

The small island of Ponza was raved about by the guys who had been - it looks small and untouched and really clear.

[Alison Boler]

Hi
These were the people I used

http://www.centrosubcampiflegrei.it/english/home.html

They spoke pretty good English. There are other operators in the area and a fair bit of info on the web, just google Flegrein Fields or Campi Flegrei. The whole area was a major Roman centre - many villas, ports, theatres etc but it was subject to Bradyism a form of volcanic activity where the ground rises and falls and over time most of the coastal land and buildings have sunk and are now under the water. You will see from the pictures that they are quite visible from the air and it is a large site. Baia was the holiday place of the Roman upper classes - the emperors kept summer villas there. Puteoli (Pozzuoli) was a major port and the Roman fleet was based in the harbours around here.
The dive centres do have a a short season - we were there in October and they were pretty much closing up.
I've also heard that Ponsa is good but I think in a more "normal" diving way, not with the archaeological interest.

If you're in the area, that's definitely worth a visit or two. The scenery on the land is stunning too.
Allie

[bakerstreet]

Remeber the article in Dive magazine. One of the few that stuck in my mind. Will keep an eye on this thread as I'd be interested to see costs. I'd cosider going to Italy, just for that dive :)

[Maria CM]

Oooh - I'm getting all excitable again:D :D :D

I still haven't set the family holiday plans yet so this could factor! I distinctly recollect something about Eurocamp being in the area....

best wishes,

Maria

[Tony_W]

No response from the Capo D'Acqua guys yet, but I'll keep you posted

[gordon mackie]

Lago di Vagli or lake vagli in the garfagnana
If you need a hand ref capo d'acqua - my guys are good friends of the guys who run it - Gordon

[Tony_W]

Hi Gordon,
I sent a mail to them last w/e asking for info on prices, logistics, and what kit we'd need in Sep -or if they would hire/prices to save me lugging full kit around - but no response yet. If you have any of that info, or could get it from them, that would be much appreciated.

[gordon mackie]

No worries - they may be doing the usual "closed from October to Easter...whatever date Easter falls on" Italian game :-)

Luca is a friend of the guy who runs it..if you want, they could sort out your gear and take you there, they are based in Santa Marinella on the coast near Fiumicino airport...both are BSAC Advanced Divers and Instructors and Rowena speaks great English.

The deal is a dive and a lunch at the dive center thrown in at the lake...very civilised day out and great fun

I will mail him tonight and get him to chase them up for you

[Tony_W]

Fantastic - thanks Gordon

[gordon mackie]

Right - as I suspected, the owner doesn't have a dry suit so he opens from May to End September - in the winter it is 4-7 degrees in the water.
He is also infamous for never reading email or even remembering to switch on his PC..so mails stack up and he just deletes them anyway.

He also has a very flexible attitude to time..9:00am can mean 11:30 or so but his dives always manage to be smack on 30 mins :-)

My guys out there can happily do all the contact, provide gear, treansport there and back and handle any issues or problems to make it all go smoothly..PM me emails if you want me to set up a trip or to organise anything in Italy

Luca is phoning him tomorrow just to say "hi"

[gordon mackie]

Capo D'acqua is fully booked for Saturday and Sunday 12 & 13 September already - I could book dives for any other weekend (no weekday dives in September) there is also a nice agroturismo nearby I could book for B&B and a nice dinner.
Give me a ping if you need any help - I can arrange everything you need :-)