Lake Tarsia is an artificial reservoir located between the municipalities of Tarsia and Santa Sofia d'Epiro (Cosenza), built in 1959 to create a reserve of water for times of extreme drought on the Sibari plain. The 114m long dam was built in the narrowest part of the valley, the Strette di Tarsia, by damming the river Crati. This created a water reservoir with a 10km perimeter and a holding capacity of 20 million cubic metres of water.
The morphological appearance of the lake is similar to swampy areas with high humidity and is populated by reptiles and water birds. The flora includes Mediterranean undergrowth, mostly pristine, and trees including the holm oak, elm, salt cedar and strawberry tree. The area provides refuge for migrating birds, including the white stork, grey egret, Black-winged Stilt, mallard, grebe, moorhen, in addition to birds of prey like the black kite and marsh harrier.
In order to preserve this habitat, the Region created the Lake Tarsia Nature Reserve in 2000.
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