What You need to know about Lago di Carezza

Lago di Carezza, also known as Lake Karersee, is an Italian mountain lake with an intense blue, sometimes emerald green colour. With the mountain peaks of the Dolomites in the background, it’s a sight to be seen. You’ll find it in the South Tyrol region of northern Italy, and it’s very easy to get to.

What is Lago di Carezza

Italy has some pretty famous lakes, namely in the form of Lake Garda and Lake Como. But there are many more lakes besides these, one of them being Lago di Carezza. The name of the lake derives from “Caricaceae”, a family of plants with broad lobed leaves. The roughly 300 m long and 140 m wide stretch of water is fed by underground springs from the Latemar mountain range.

Legend of Lago do Carezza

Because of its impressive colours it is called as well “Lec de Ergobando” or “Rainbow Lake”. And there is a fairy tale around the lake:

In Lake Carezza, once a beautiful water fairy lived – she often sat on the shore, braided her blond hair and sang quietly. One day, the warlock of Masaré passed the lake, heard the mermaid singing and fell in love with her. With all his magic power he tried to kidnap the lovely fairy but she could not be caught. So the warlock asked the witch Langwerda for help. Langwerda advised him to dress up as a jewellery dealer and conjure up a rainbow made of gems from Mt. Catinaccio to Mt. Latemar.

Then the warlock went back to Lake Carezza to attract and kidnap the water fairy. But one thing the evil warlock forgot: to disguise himself. The water fairy admired the beautiful colours of the rainbow and the many gems. But she also noticed the magician who was hiding on the shore and suddenly dived back into Lake Carezza.

Since that day, she has never been seen again. The warlock was so angry about the failure of the planned kidnapping that he tore the rainbow from heaven, smashed it and threw the gems into the lake. This is the reason why Lake Carezza still nowadays shimmers in the most magnificent rainbow colours and is called “Lec de ergobando”, Rainbow Lake, in Ladin.

While I am definitely not on board with the whole using deceit and sorcery to capture women thing, we can definitely see how a rainbow could live beneath the surface of this beautiful lake!

Parking at Lago di Carezza

At Lago di Carezza you will find a large parking lot suitable for both cars and campers. You pay 1 euro per hour and two hours gives you more than enough time to walk around the lake.

Hike to and around Lago di Carezza

There’s a small walking path around the lake that takes about 20 minutes and winds through the beautiful Spruce forest surrounding the lake. It’s wide and pretty flat, with a number of lookout point to view the lake from different angles. There are a few spots to sit down and enjoy the views from, or simply sit and soak up all the lush nature around you. Keen to get your legs pumping on a slightly longer walk than just around the lake? There are also some great hiking trails that take you into Lago di Carezza too.

Be responsible

If you’re travelling to Lago di Carezza, chances are you’ve already seen plenty of images on Instagram of people sitting on a rock by the lake. While I would love to take make that perfect shot close to the lake or even dip in the lake. This shot is impossible and swimming is a no go — unless you’re willing to break the law and damage the delicate ecosystem around the lake.

Lake Carezza’s colour and clarity is due to layers of fine Dolomite rock that sit on the bottom of the lake, and extremely low levels of algae in the pool. When these are disturbed by the footfall of overeager tourists, it threatens the health and future of the entire lake.