Vasca pubblica di Caronte

Vasca pubblica di Caronte — 'Caronte's Public Pool' — is a natural sulphurous thermal pool near the Terme di Caronte area in Calabria, Italy, where geothermal water from the Calabrian Arc volcanic zone creates a free public bathing facility named after Charon, the mythological ferryman of the Underworld. The mythology of Charon, who transported souls across the river Styx to the realm of the dead, has long been associated in Italian folk tradition with volcanic hot springs — the underworld's heat made manifest at the earth's surface. The surrounding Calabrian landscape, with its dramatic Aspromonte mountains, the Strait of Messina, and the extraordinarily complex seismic and volcanic geology of the most active tectonic zone in Italy, provides a fittingly dramatic setting for this infernally named thermal site.