The Elvo (

Piedmontese Piedmontese (; autonym: or , in it, piemontese) is a language spoken by some 2,000,000 people mostly in Piedmont, northwestern region of Italy. Although considered by most linguists a separate language, in Italy it is often mistakenly regard ...

: ''Elv'') is a

torrent Torrent or torrents may refer to: * A fast flowing stream Animals * Torrent duck, a species of the family Anatidae * Torrent fish * Torrent frog, various unrelated frogs * Torrent robin, a bird species * Torrent salamander, a family of sala ...

(an intermittent stream) in the

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

region of north-west

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and is the principal tributary of the Cervo. It runs through the

communes An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, ...

Sordevolo Sordevolo is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Biella in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about west of Biella. Sordevolo borders the following municipalities: Biella, Graglia, Muzzano, Occhieppo Su ...

Occhieppo Superiore Occhieppo Superiore is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Biella in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about southwest of Biella. Occhieppo Superiore borders the following municipalities: Biella, Camb ...

Occhieppo Inferiore Occhieppo Inferiore is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Biella in the Italy, Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin. Occhieppo Inferiore borders the following municipalities: Biella, Camburzano, Mongrando, Occhiep ...

Cerrione Cerrione is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Biella in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about south of Biella. Cerrione borders the following municipalities: Borriana, Magnano, Roppolo, Salussola, ...

and

Salussola Salussola is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Biella in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about southeast of Biella. Salussola borders the following municipalities: Carisio, Cavaglià, Cerrione, Dor ...

in the

Province of Biella The Province of Biella ( it, Provincia di Biella, Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ''Provincia ëd Biela'') is a Provinces of Italy, province of Italy located in Piedmont. It was created in 1992 and its capital is the city of Biella. It has an ...

, and of

Carisio Carisio is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Vercelli in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about northwest of Vercelli. Carisio borders the following municipalities: Balocco, Buronzo, Cavaglià, Formi ...

and

Casanova Elvo Casanova Elvo is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Vercelli in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about northwest of Vercelli. Casanova Elvo borders the following municipalities: Collobiano, Formiglia ...

in the

Province of Vercelli A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outs ...

. The river’s valley is named after it as the Valle dell'Elvo. Here the municipalities are organized into two comunità montane: the

Comunità Montana Alta Valle Elvo ''Comunità'' (Italian: ''Community'') was a cultural magazine published in Rome, Italy. The magazine was in circulation between 1946 and 1960. History and profile ''Comunità'' was established by Adriano Olivetti in 1946. It was the cultural pu ...

in the upper part of the valley, and the

Comunità Montana Bassa Valle Elvo ''Comunità'' (Italian: ''Community'') was a cultural magazine published in Rome, Italy. The magazine was in circulation between 1946 and 1960. History and profile ''Comunità'' was established by Adriano Olivetti in 1946. It was the cultural p ...

in the lower. Many of the water courses of the

Canavese Canavese ( French: ''Canavais''; Piedmontese: ''Canavèis'') is a subalpine geographical and historical area of North-West Italy which lies today within the Metropolitan City of Turin in Piedmont. Its main town is Ivrea and it is famous for its ca ...

and of the area of

Biella Biella (; pms, Biela; la, Bugella) is a city and ''comune'' in the northern Italian region of Piedmont, the capital of the province of the same name, with a population of 44,324 as of 31 December 2017. It is located about northeast of Turin an ...

—the torrent

Orco The Orco ( pms, Eva d'òr, that is lit. ''Water of gold''; la, Orgus) is an Italian river. It originates in the Piedmontese slopes of Gran Paradiso and after about reaches the Po river near Chivasso, in the Metropolitan City of Turin. Its drain ...

, for example—are noted for the presence of gold-bearing sands. In the case of the Orco these are concentrated in the area of the

Bessa ''Bessa'' is a genus of flies in the family Tachinidae The Tachinidae are a large and variable family of true flies within the insect order Diptera, with more than 8,200 known species and many more to be discovered. Over 1,300 species have b ...

nature reserve.

Course

The river’s source is at an elevation of about on the slopes of

Monte Mars Monte Mars or Mont Mars , at 2,600 m, is the highest peak of the Biellese Alps, north-western Italy. Geography It is located on the water divide between the Lys Valley (Aosta Valley) and the Elvo Valley (Province of Biella). In the SOIUSA ...

, in the heart of the

Biellese Prealps The Biellese Alps (''Alpi Biellesi'' or ''Prealpi Biellesi'' in Italian language, Italian) are a sub-range of the Pennine Alps located between Piemonte and Aosta Valley (Italy). Etymology ''Alpi Biellesi'' literally means ''Alps of Biellese''; ...

. Having passed through various centres of population, it is joined from the right at

Mongrando Mongrando is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Biella in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about southwest of Biella. Mongrando borders the following municipalities: Borriana, Camburzano, Donato, G ...

by its major tributary, the Viona. From here its broad pebbly shores follow the edge of the Bessa nature reserve, which lies to its right and is part of the

Riserva naturale orientata delle Baragge Reserve wine is wine of a higher quality than usual, a wine that has been aged before sale, or both. Traditionally, winemakers would reserve some of their best wine rather than sell it immediately, coining the term. In some countries the use of t ...

. Near Salussola it enters into the plains of Vercelli and follows a slower and more sinuous course before emptying into the Cervo near

Quinto Vercellese Quinto Vercellese is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Vercelli in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about northwest of Vercelli. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 438 and an area of .All ...

Regime

The Elvo has a regime typical of a

prealpine The Alpine foothills, or Prealps (german: Voralpen; french: Préalpes; it, Prealpi; ), may refer generally to any foothills at the base of the Alps in Europe. They are the transition zone between the High Alps and the Swiss Plateau and the Bavar ...

Italian torrent with maximum discharges in the autumn and spring together with a tendency to dry up in the summer and winter months. In the event of high levels of precipitation it is liable to become ‘torrential’.

Notes

:''This article was originally translated from its counterpart on the

Italian Wikipedia The Italian Wikipedia ( it, Wikipedia in italiano) is the Italian-language edition of Wikipedia. This edition was created on May 11, 2001 and first edited on June 11, 2001. As of , , it has articles and more than registered accounts. It is th ...

, specifically fro
this version
''

Other projects

{{commonscat-inline Rivers of the Province of Biella Rivers of the Province of Vercelli Rivers of Italy Rivers of the Alps