British man, 24, dies after diving into lake next to illegal rave with 8,000 people

Gianluca Santiago dived into the Lake Mezzano in Italy on Sunday night but failed to resurface – his death happened as a ‘villainous’ rave with some 8,000 revellers took place nearby

A British man has been found dead in an Italian lake near where an illegal and “villainous” rave has been held.

Gianluca Santiago, 24 and born in London, had dived into the Lake Mezzano in the central Italian province of Viterbo on Sunday evening.

According to local news outlets, a massive illegal rave attracting up to 8,000 people has been taking place on private farmland nearby since Friday.

It is believed that Santiago had been at the illegal event on Sunday when he decided to dive into the lake to get some respite from the scorching temperatures battering Italy.

Santiago, who lived in the UK before moving to Reggio Emilia last year, went swimming at about 7:30pm, but when he failed to resurface his alarmed friends called the emergency services.

A search of the whole area was conducted before his body was recovered 60 metres from the shore the next day.

A post-mortem examination will be carried out to determine his cause of death and whether he had had alcohol or drugs ahead of diving into the lake.

Stefano Bigiotti, mayor of the neighbouring town of Valentano, has now called on the interior minister to “restore a situation of legality” as he hopes those responsible for the “villainous and embarrassing” event are identified and held to account.

It is understood that while the police visited the rave and cut further access to it, they still haven’t closed it down.

Fuming Piero Camilli, who owns the land and was on holiday in Sardegna over the weekend, told the Il Messaggero newspaper: “This is a beautiful nature reserve of 30 hectares.

“We can’t understand how the police and the interior minister can have allowed all this to happen.”

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He went on to tell Corriere di Viterbo: “It’s embarrassing that something of the sort could happen in Italy, on one side the government introduces rules for Covid, the Green pass and so on, and on the other it allows a mass of barbarians, of criminals, to occupy such a beautiful and unique part of nature.”

Speaking of how those revellers have wreaked havoc to his land as they invaded cowsheds and destroyed his irrigation system, he added: “Who is going to protect me now?”

Giorgia Meloni, leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, also slammed the booze and drug-fuelled event as she called for authorities to stop it.

She said: “Drugs, alcohol, the occupation of private property, and the devastation of the natural environment: how can events like this be tolerated, where illegality reigns and security measures for the pandemic are not respected?”