54ª Traversata del Lago di Viverone

In 1391, the mercenary leader Facino Cane descended upon the Viverone territory with a ruthless efficiency typical of his role in the power struggle between the Visconti family and the House of Savoy-Acaia. His troops left a mark of destruction that rippled through the local history, yet the geography of the lake remained the silent witness to these cycles of conflict. Today, as you prepare for the 3,750-meter traverse, you are crossing an expanse shaped not by war, but by the slow, grinding force of the Quaternary period. The lake is a primary component of the Ivrea Morainic Amphitheatre, a glacial basin that plunges to a maximum depth of 50 meters and offers a 13-kilometer perimeter of shifting, sediment-rich water.

The path and the perspective

Your swim begins at the tourist pier of Anzasco, where the water is often tempered by the seasonal heat of August. As you navigate towards the beach of Ristorante dei Pescatori, keep your gaze fixed on the eastern hills. The Roppolo Castle, a 14th-century fortress, serves as an inescapable landmark that helps you calibrate your course across the open water. Looking down, you are essentially swimming over a forgotten network of human ambition. Between the 1950s and 1970s, the lake was connected to nearby Lake Bertignano via a high-pressure pipeline to create a hydroelectric pump-storage plant. While the infrastructure is hidden, the large cylindrical metal storage tank remains a stark, industrial silhouette on the hillside, a remnant of a mid-century energy experiment that permanently altered the local hydrology.

Race day and environment

This annual event, now in its 54th edition, is hosted by the ASD Lago di Viverone with a standard registration fee of 40 EUR. The 14:30 start time is carefully managed to ensure safety as you pass through habitats vital to local wildlife. You are likely to share the surface with coots, grebes, and gulls, species that are regularly documented by the 'Società del Tarabuso' of Ivrea. This interaction with the local fauna is a reminder of the lake's ecological continuity, stretching back to the 9th century when Benedictine monks established a monastic site dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours near the shore. For those seeking to maintain a high-frequency calendar, the M Swim Challenge in Piverone occurs just weeks earlier in June, offering a shorter, 800-meter sprint that contrasts sharply with the longer, endurance-focused demands of the Viverone crossing. As you reach the finish line at Frazione Masseria, you conclude a route that has been tested for over half a century.