Lago di Carezza

Lago di Carezza is a small alpine lake in the Dolomites in South Tyrol, Italy. It is also known by its German name Karersee. Hastings heard both names in The Dying Chinaman. The name is also given to the town near the lake where several resort hotels are located. Near the lake is the Latemar rockfall labyrinth.

Agatha Christie vacationed there and stayed at the Grand Hotel which opened 1896. She was apparently so impressed by the landscape there that she set her short story The Crag in the Dolomites (the finale of the novel The Big Four in the area. The "Big Four" crime syndicate had their headquarters in a mountain accessed via the "Felsenlabyrinth" by which Christie probably meant the Latemar rockfall labyrinth. Although the novel does not state which hotel Poirot and Hastings stayed in, the text suggests there is only one, and so it was most likely the Grand. Poirot and Hastings sat on the terrace in the hotel and were knocked unconscious by Number 4 and then kidnapped and brought through the Felsenlabyrinth to the hideout of the Big Four.