Lago di Pilato (''

Pilate Pontius Pilate (; grc-gre, Πόντιος Πιλᾶτος, ) was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official who presided over the trial of J ...

lake'') is a glacial lake located in Sibylline Mountains, among Apennine.

Description

It is located in a narrow

glacial valley U-shaped valleys, also called trough valleys or glacial troughs, are formed by the process of glaciation. They are characteristic of mountain glaciation in particular. They have a characteristic U shape in cross-section, with steep, straight s ...

beneath Mount Vector (2476 m) and Redeemer Peak (2448 m) summits. It is supposed to date back to the superior

pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

. The lake takes its name from a legend in which

Pontius Pilate Pontius Pilate (; grc-gre, Πόντιος Πιλᾶτος, ) was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official who presided over the trial of J ...

was killed there and buried under lake bed as punishment for his role at

passion of the Christ ''The Passion of the Christ'' is a 2004 American epic biblical drama film produced, directed and co-written by Mel Gibson and starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus of Nazareth, Maia Morgenstern as Mary, mother of Jesus, and Monica Bellucci as Mary M ...

time. Geo-politically the lake is situated in

Marche Marche ( , ) is one of the twenty regions of Italy. In English, the region is sometimes referred to as The Marches ( ). The region is located in the central area of the country, bordered by Emilia-Romagna and the republic of San Marino to the ...

, and it is the sole natural lake of the region (excluding small shoreline lakes), the province is

Ascoli Piceno Ascoli Piceno (; la, Asculum; dialetto ascolano: Ascule) is a town and ''comune'' in the Marche region of Italy, capital of the province of the same name. Its population is around 46,000 but the urban area of the city has more than 93,000. Geo ...

, and is part of the

Monti Sibillini National Park The Monti Sibillini National Park ( it, Parco Nazionale dei Monti Sibillini) is an Italian national park located across the regions of Marche and Umbria, encompassing the provinces of Macerata, Fermo, Ascoli Piceno and Perugia Perugia (, ...

. During water abundance periods the lake assumes the shape of a pair of eyeglasses while when there is a lack of water it retreats into two smaller pools. For this reason it is nicknamed ''the lake with glasses''".

Endemisms

'' Chirocephalus marchesonii'', a freshwater shrimp is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to this lake.

References

Lakes of the Marche Pontius Pilate {{Marche-geo-stub