The Birgi is a river in the
Province of Trapani
Trapani ( it, Provincia di Trapani, scn, Pruvincia di Tràpani; officially ''Libero consorzio comunale di Trapani'') is a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily, southern Italy. Following the suppression of the Sicilian provinces, it ...
, which debouches in the
Tyrrhenian Sea
The Tyrrhenian Sea (; it, Mar Tirreno , french: Mer Tyrrhénienne , sc, Mare Tirrenu, co, Mari Tirrenu, scn, Mari Tirrenu, nap, Mare Tirreno) is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian pe ...
between
Marsala
Marsala (, local ; la, Lilybaeum) is an Italian town located in the Province of Trapani in the westernmost part of Sicily. Marsala is the most populated town in its province and the fifth in Sicily.
The town is famous for the docking of Gius ...
and
Trapani
Trapani ( , ; scn, Tràpani ; lat, Drepanum; grc, Δρέπανον) is a city and municipality (''comune'') on the west coast of Sicily, in Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Trapani. Founded by Elymians, the city is still an impor ...
.
Course
The river arises in the territory of the
comune
The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...
of
Buseto Palizzolo
Buseto Palizzolo ( Sicilian: ''Palazzolu'') is a town and ''comune'' in North-Western Sicily, Italy, administratively part of the province of Trapani.
Geography
Buseto Palizzolo is located in the hills east of Trapani, the highest of which is w ...
, where it is called the "Fittasi" river. It flows through the territory of the comune of Trapani and a small part of the comune of
Paceco
Paceco ( Sicilian: ''Paceca'') is a town and ''comune'' in Western Sicily, Italy, administratively part of the province of Trapani, located nearby the Trapani city area, a distance of .
Paceco is a small rural centre: among its agricultural pr ...
.
On its way to the sea, it is joined from the left by the Cuddia river, which provides the majority of its annual water supply and is dammed to provide a water reservoir, called Lake Rubino, which has a capacity of 11.5 million cubic metres of water and a surface area of 1.57 km
2.
Further on, the river receives another tributary, the Chitarra River. Subsequently, the name of the river changes to the Mercanzotto, then the Chinisia, and finally the Birgi. In total the river is 43 km long and its hydraulic basin covers an area of 336 km
2.
[Bacino idrografico del Fiume Birgi (051), Relazione bacino]
Regione Siciliana, p. 1
Altered course
The natural mouth of the river was in the
frazione
A ''frazione'' (plural: ) is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' (municipality) in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidate territ ...
of
Marausa. The construction of
Trapani Airport in 1961 required the course of the river to be moved two kilometres south and an artificial channel was built which now forms the final section of the river.
The new course of the Birgi with its new levees was built long before the airport itself - the airport was built at the end of the 1950s, while the channel was built before 1940. The new channel is made of concrete and can be seen already in military aerial photographs from 1955.
References
External links
* {{cite web, url=http://www.osservatorioacque.it/documenti/pta/b13.pdf, title=Osservatorio delle acque
Drainage basins of the Tyrrhenian Sea
Rivers of the Province of Trapani
Rivers of Italy