The lake is roughly circular, measuring two kilometres (1+1⁄4 mi) in circumference and 60 metres (200 ft) deep.

In Hyginus' Fabulae, Odysseus also goes to the lower world from this spot, where he meets Elpenor, his comrade who went missing at Circe's palace.

[1] Despite the alleged dangers of the lake, the Romans were happy to settle its shores, on which villas and vineyards were established.

In 37 BC, the Roman general Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa converted the lake into a naval base named the Portus Julius after Octavian.

In 2010, a 55-hectare (140-acre) tract of land—including the lake, a lakefront restaurant, B&B and disco—was seized by the police after the owner was accused of being a mafia frontman (for the Casalesi).