ACTA CARSOLOGICA 36/2 – 2007 341
behaviour of water in the basin. In fact in addition to the 
hydrogeology, also others issues were considered as the 
pollution due to phosphates, nitrates, ammonia and the 
vulnerability of the aquifer including also the distribu-
tion of well in the area.
In addition to the map, a booklet of 74 pages in-
cludes a full description of waters in the f ucino Basin 
both at the surface and underground. The use of water 
for agriculture and the evolution of agriculture after the 
2nd World War are described.
 The Geomorphological Map of f ucino, 1:50,000,  
(Sheet 2) in addition to a geomorphological description 
strictu sensu , includes also a number of historical pieces 
of information which are very interesting on account of 
the evolution of the area since a prehistorical time. As be-
fore, a booklet of 66 pages supplies data on many aspects 
as pleistocenic and holocenic deposits, geological details 
and karst phenomena in the area concerned
This Thematic Atlas will include in the future other 
maps in addition to those here described and is a very 
useful tool for anyone interested in the evolution of a karst 
area where the human action played a relevant role.
Arrigo A. Cigna
The f ucino Basin is one of the larger in Italy. In prehis-
toric time, between the bronze age and the Roman re-
public the local population firstly attracted by the lake it-
self had to face some floods since the basin had no drain. 
During heavy rain the lake surface increased too much 
with problems for the local inhabitants. They tried to dis-
charge the water into a sink hole without a real success. 
During the 1st Century a.D.  the Romans excavated a 
tunnel to discharge the surplus water. Unfortunately after 
some centuries the material transported by the water and 
possibly also a seismic events chocked the tunnel. In the 
xIx Century a rich person, Prince Alessandro Torlonia, 
decided the excavation of a new tunnel, partly replacing 
the Roman one, and the lake was transformed into a very 
fruitful soil. Obviously also the fishermen had to trans-
form into peasants! 
The publications reported above give a full detail of 
the characteristics of the area with the contribution of 
many scientists belonging to different organisations deal-
ing with many aspects. Each sheet consists in a map and 
a booklet in Italian. The maps have also titles and legenda 
in English.
The Hydrogeological Map of f ucino, 1:50,000, (Sheet 
1) gives a very detailed view of the different aspects of the 
E. BURRI (ED.) – THEMATIC ATLAS Of fUCINO .  Hy DROGEOLOGICAL MAP Of 
fUCINO  (SHEET 1); GEOMORPHOLOGICAL MAP Of fUCINO (SHEET 2),  AGENZIA 
REGIONALE PER I SERVIZI DI SVILUPPO AGRICOLO – ABRUZZO, 2005
REVIEWS AND REPORTS / POROč ILA
E. BURRI (ED.) – BREVE STORIA DI UNA BONf ICA COMPLESSA. AGENZIA 
REGIONALE PER I SERVIZI DI SVILUPPO AGRICOLO – ABRUZZO, ÉDICOLA EDTRICE, 
CHIETI, 2006: 1-27.
The most successful intervention by Prince Alessan-
dro Torlonia (who said: “Either I succeed to dry the lake 
or the lake dries me!”) transformed totally the basin and 
the whole lake area was changed into a rich agricultural 
plane. The Prince recovered the large amount of money 
by renting the land to farmers at conditions that modern 
trade unions would not agree with.
The persons living in this new land had a rather little 
freedom because they were not allowed to move around 
outside their own field and had to pay the water of the 
wells, because the water was still owned by the Prince. 
Only after the 2nd Wold War more modern criteria were 
applied. Today the area is divided into about 9000 farms 
with an average surface of 1.5 ha.
Arrigo A. Cigna
If the publications described before have a scientific in-
terest, this one is fundamental to have full information 
on the f ucino Basin from antiquity to the present time. 
A short history of the development of the f ucino Basin 
is reported in a nice in folio booklet, which includes also 
a number of interesting drawings taken from old pub-
lications in addition to the text. Many of the figures are 
reproductions of posters which can be seen in the Park 
of Incile. This is a protected area including the artificial 
outlet of the basin.
This booklet is a precious guide useful both to local 
visitors and to person who have not the chance to visit 
the area. As it is evident the history of  the f ucino Basin, 
i.e. of a lake that is no longer a lake, is extremely interest-
ing because it spans from prehistory to present and it is 
a record of a number of actions aiming to  control the 
water level and avoid troubles to the farmers.