Lago della Sella

The Lago della Sella is an artificial lake in the canton of Ticino in the municipality of Airolo.

Location

The lake can be reached via the Gotthard Pass. From Ospizio a small mountain road leads to a few hundred meters distant reservoir.

History

The dam was designed by the Swiss engineer Fritz GigaX and built from 1945 to 1947. It is a gravity dam with a height of 36 meters and a crest length of 334 meters. the capacity is 9.2 million cubic meters. The water from the dam is used together with that from the Lago di Lucendro reservoir in the power plant headquarters Airolo. The plant is now operated by energy company Alpiq.