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The Pilate lake has always been associated to many witch and necromancer legends. Theses legends probably were born because, the first persons that came here and saw the reddish colour waters of the lake, believed to be at the point of entrance and conjunction of various hells. The name of the lake really comes from a very old story that has never been proof, the story tells that Tito Vespasiano, the emperor, after having destroyed Jerusalem, brought with him Pontius Pilate and after killing him before all the people, slipped the dead body into a sack and put it on an oxcart, which then was left to run freely. The crazy race of the oxen finished in the lake right after they fell from the top of the “Cresta del Redentore” – Redeemer’s Peak.

The Pilate lake is located in the heart of the SibilliniNational Park, at 1,940 meter over sea level. It is protected from the peak of MountVettore (h=2,478 m) and from the Redeemer’s Peak (h=2,448 m), the lake and its valley have a great naturalistic value. First of all, it is the only natural lake of the Marche and moreover it is the only Alpine-Ice Age lake present in the Apennines mountains. The lake is composed of two big shell-type form giving the basin, depending on the amount of water available from rain or the thaw, the form of a pair of glasses or the form of two small separate lakes (one 300 m diameter and the other of 100 m diameter) allowing, the detritus of fault that divides them, emerge. The water is 8 to 9-meter deep.
The most important lake’s characteristic, which makes it unique in the world, is given by the presence in its waters of a red colour crustacean named Chirocefalo del Marchesoni (in honour of the person who discovered it in the mid twenty century). Here the crustacean lives and reproduces in abundant manner. This crustacean is about 9-12 mm long and it has a very peculiar characteristic, it swims with its womb looking upwards. It also gives the typical reddish colour to the lake’s water. The Chirocefalo lays its significant amount of eggs over the shore of the lake and they do not open until good climate conditions arrive, generally in spring and summer time. This characteristic of the Chirocefalo’s eggs seems to explain how the Chirocefalo has survived up to our days, overcoming numerous drought periods that have dried out completely the lake’s basin. The lake receives also a type of black insect, of the glow-worm family, called “ditiscide” whose origins are Boero-Alpine.
There are so many variety of vegetation at high altitudes going from plants like the “Stella Alpina dell’Appennino” Alpine Apennine Star to the “Camedrio Alpino” Alpine Camedrio passing to the “Genziana delle Nevi” Gentian of the Snow.

As for the fauna it is easy to observe the Kestrel or the Alpine Chaffinch.
This oasis has a lot to offer to tourists and excursionists. At last but not least, it is important to mention the great experience of watching the water’s colour change in a few minutes, following the meteorological changes. The colour of the water changes from gray, to turquoise, to red .Even the colours of the screes along the roads that lead to the lake changes, the stones can be seen white under the sun or gray if cloudy skies.