I remember swimming in the natural pools carved by the falling water in my youth. Before the opening time of the waterfall, there were alarm sirens to tell the people enjoying the bath to get the hell out of there. Good times. Nowadays it is strictly prohibited to even get close...

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Please don't do this here.

"This" referring to the effort to call attention to our industry's collective responsibility for the various so-called "tragedy of the commons" enclosures we so handsomely profit by creating, or to the evocative vulgarity to which I resorted in so striving? But excuse me, of course you're well within your rights so to admonish me in either case, and I will prefer other venues for that topic accordingly.

Nowadays it is still accessible? The article states: ‘ The falls usually flow from 12:00 to 13:00 and again from 16:00 to 17:00 daily, with extended hours on holidays. There is an entrance fee to access the falls and its nearby areas. Visitors can follow a path leading to the falls' summit. En route, a tunnel provides access to an observatory adjacent to the falls. Another observatory near the peak offers a panoramic view of both the falls and the Nera Valley below’

Yes, the article is correct, but it misses some nuances. After paying the hefty fee (it has always been free, and it still is if you are resident, at least up to 5 years ago it was) you can walk along a path that gets near the fall, but not inside it. If you pay even more to get a "guide" you can reach an observation point (the tunnel) where you can almost touch the water, and get a free shower in the process. All in the name of "safety" (aka: money) even if as far as I know only one suicide has been registered, in the 80's.

The pools are of course dangerous, but the place that can be visited is the wall (panoramic spots and, IIRC, the back of the waterfall).

Wikipedia has a map [0] which shows the extent of the ancient lake (Lago Valino) the Romans drained (the waterfall is in the upper left corner). This lake had a surface area of around 90 km², which is roughly half the size of present-day Lago Maggiore.

[0] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Anticola...

I live nearby, how unusual is to see this on HN frontpage!

Please don’t share these things… I have the feeling that there will soon be a taller man-made waterfall in Vegas, or in Dubai…

WTF.. so what if the shallow desert people built a taller one? Would this waterfall be less impressive or attractive?

If you had said "We don't want it overrun by TikTokers", I'd have more understanding...

wow my favorite hacker news article, NOT