coastal lagoon in Napoli provincia, Campania regione, southern Italy, west of Naples. The lagoon is separated from the sea on the west by sand dunes. As the ancient Palus Acherusia (“Acherusian Swamp”), it may have been the harbour of nearby Cumae in antiquity. In the first century ad, an outlet was dug at its southern end, with a tunnel under the hill of Torre Gaveta; another outlet was dug in 1858–59. On the hill are the remains of a large villa, probably that of the Roman statesman Servilius Vatia.
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