Lake Como didn't dry up. The drought threat is real

A sensational video circulating on TikTok this week claimed that Lake Como in northern Italy had disappeared after a 'geological rupture', showing what appeared to be a dry, cracked lakebed where the famous waters once sat. The footage and photos were entirely generated by artificial intelligence, according to a fact-check by France 24 published on Wednesday.

The debunking is straightforward: the lake has not vanished, and there has been no geological event. But the report notes that water levels in the lake have dropped because of drought — the same dry spell that has left much of northern Italy parched through an unusually hot August.

For Lombardy, the distinction between a hoax and the underlying reality matters. Lake Como is the centrepiece of a tourism economy that draws visitors from around the world to the region's lakeside towns, and the viral clip — even if false — feeds a perception of a landscape in crisis.