Also known as the maricello ("little sea"), the size of present-day Lago Lucrino was significantly reduced by the rise of the volcanic cone of Monte Nuovo in 1538.

[2] The recorded history of Lucrinus Lacus dates back to Sergius Orata, who is credited with creating the first oyster beds there.

The ancient Via Herculanea road ran on a strip of land parallel and further to seaward from the present one and now submerged, which Strabo credited to Heracles with constructing.

This strip was reinforced with a sea wall and then opened by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa to make a harbour of Lucrinus Lacus.

He then joined Lucrinis Lacus to Lago d'Averno by a canal, as recorded in Virgil's Georgics, providing a sheltered harbour known as Portus Julius for the Roman western fleet, invisible from the sea.