Lago Olivo, reservoir in Piazza Armerina, Sicily, Italy

Lago Olivo is an artificial reservoir in the Province of Enna, formed by damming the Olivo torrent between Monte Manganello and Monte Polino. Its earth dam stands perpendicular to the stream, and the water still covers rural houses, mills and withered trees whose remains emerge just above the surface.

Lago Olivo was formed by damming the torrent Olivo between 1984 and 1988 for irrigation. The earth dam stands perpendicular to the stream between the slopes of Monte Manganello and Monte Polino. The English Wikipedia instead dates the damming to the early 1980s and names the river Braemi.

The lake's name comes from the river Olivo that was dammed; the English sources instead name the river Braemi. Sport fishing draws anglers because it is one of the few Sicilian lakes holding pike, alongside large black bass, though shrubs make casting difficult. Grey, purple and little egrets, mallards and coots stop here.

From the A19 Catania-Palermo motorway, leave at Enna coming from Palermo or at Catenanuova coming from Catania, head towards Piazza Armerina and turn off for Barrafranca until the sign for the dam. The reservoir lies between Monte Manganello and Monte Polino, at 447 m elevation. Shrubs make fishing difficult but pike and large black bass are present.

The reservoir keeps the outline of the valleys it flooded: rural houses, mills and dried-up trees still stand in the water, their tops just breaking the surface. The dam is an earth embankment set across the Olivo torrent between the slopes of Monte Manganello and Monte Polino.