Untold Italy · Friday, August 28, 2026
The volcanic crater lake of Lake Avernus near Naples is discussed as a possible site for the entrance to the Underworld in 'The Odyssey.' Its dark, toxic atmosphere and association with oracles of the dead in antiquity, as described by Virgil, make it a fitting location for such a mythical entrance.
“So we go to Lake VanNess, which is where in the Odyssey he sails to the end of the world. But more recent scholars, I mean about the year nought AD, they've likened it to this deep dark portal, which is a deep volcano crater lake near Naples in the Slagrian fields, and it is a really spooky area.”
“So in antiquity it was covered by dark, thick forests around it, and it had really toxic poisonous sulfur emanating from it hot springs volcanic activity, and this area had a strong association with the dead. So there was already a nechio man teon, an oracle of the dead who lived near there, a big, big reputation for prophecy, and so this volcanic character made it very this stm veryan compeller.”
“Then Virgil when he wrote the Enid, he describes aneas descending into Haiti here, so that's really what cemented it for Italians as the entrance to the underworld.”