Toynbee "Bolsena"

Lake of Bolsena (the lacus Volsiniensis of the Romans), a few miles N. of Viterbo, in the region of Lazio; it is one of the largest lakes in Central Italy. It was, and is still, famous for its eels. Forese Donati (in Circle VI of Purgatory) mentions the lake and its eels in connexion with Pope Martin IV, who was in the habit of gorging himself on baked eels that had been drowned in wine, [Purg. xxiv. 22-24] [Martino_2].

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©Oxford University Press 1968. From A Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of Dante by Paget Toynbee (1968) by permission of Oxford University Press