The Arno is a
river
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...
in the
Tuscany
Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze'').
Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...
region of
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 ...
. It is the most important river of
central Italy
Central Italy ( it, Italia centrale or just ) is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), a first-level NUTS region, and a European Parliament constituency.
Regions
Central It ...
after the
Tiber
The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where it is joined by the Riv ...
.
Source and route
![FirenzeArno1547](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/FirenzeArno1547.jpg)
The river originates on
Monte Falterona
Monte Falterona is a mountain in the Tuscan-Romagnolo Apeninnes, in the Casentino traditional region, standing at 1,654 m. It is part of the Casentino forests, Monte Falterona and Campigna National Park. The peak is crossed by the borders of th ...
in the
Casentino
The Casentino is the valley in which the first tract of the river Arno flows to Subbiano, Italy.
It is one of the four valleys (alongside Valdarno, Valdichiana, and Valtiberina) in which the Province of Arezzo is divided. Mount Falterona, from ...
area of the
Apennines
The Apennines or Apennine Mountains (; grc-gre, links=no, Ἀπέννινα ὄρη or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; la, Appenninus or – a singular with plural meaning;''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which wou ...
, and initially takes a southward curve. The river turns to the west near
Arezzo
Arezzo ( , , ) , also ; ett, 𐌀𐌓𐌉𐌕𐌉𐌌, Aritim. is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of above sea level. ...
passing through
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
,
Empoli
Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Roman times. The comm ...
and
Pisa
Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...
, flowing into 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 ...
at
Marina di Pisa
Marina di Pisa is a seaside resort of Tuscany, in central Italy.
It is a ''frazione'' of the provincial capital of Pisa, which lies about 10 km to the east.
Geography
Marina di Pisa lies on the left bank of the Arno River, where it flows i ...
.
With a length of , it is the largest river in the region. It has many tributaries:
Sieve
A sieve, fine mesh strainer, or sift, is a device for separating wanted elements from unwanted material or for controlling the particle size distribution of a sample, using a screen such as a woven mesh or net or perforated sheet material. T ...
at long,
Bisenzio at ,
Ombrone Pistoiese
The Ombrone Pistoiese is an Italian river and tributary of the Arno.E. Repetti , Geographic, physical, historical dictionary of Tuscany, Florence 1833-45 (entries: "Ombrone" and others)
References
Rivers of Italy
Rivers of Tuscany
{{I ...
at , and the
Era
An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth.
Compa ...
,
Elsa,
Pesa
The Pesa is a river in Tuscany, central Italy. It has a length of 53 km, and, after crossing the provinces of Siena and Florence, flows into the Arno River near Montelupo Fiorentino
Montelupo Fiorentino is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the ...
, and
Pescia
Pescia () is an Italian city in the province of Pistoia, Tuscany, central Italy.
It is located in a central zone between the cities Lucca and Florence, on the banks of the river of the same name.
History
Archaeological excavations have suggest ...
. The drainage basin amounts to more than and drains the waters of the following subbasins:
*The
Casentino
The Casentino is the valley in which the first tract of the river Arno flows to Subbiano, Italy.
It is one of the four valleys (alongside Valdarno, Valdichiana, and Valtiberina) in which the Province of Arezzo is divided. Mount Falterona, from ...
, in the
province of Arezzo
The province of Arezzo ( it, provincia di Arezzo) is the easternmost province in the Tuscany region of central Italy. Its capital is the city of Arezzo. The province is bordered by the regions of Marche, Emilia-Romagna, Umbria, and the provinces ...
, formed by the upper course of the river until its confluence with the Maestro della Chiana channel.
*The
Val di Chiana
The Val di Chiana, Valdichiana, or Chiana Valley is an alluvial valley of central Italy, lying on the territories of the provinces of Arezzo and Siena in Tuscany and the provinces of Perugia and Terni in Umbria.
Geography
The Val di Chiana is ...
, a plain drained in the 18th century, which until then had been a marshy area tributary of the Tiber.
*The upper
Valdarno
The Valdarno is the valley of the river Arno, although this name does not apply to the entire river basin. Usage of the term generally excludes Casentino and the valleys formed by major tributaries.
Some towns in the area:
*Rignano sull'Arno
*Fi ...
, a long valley bordered on the east by the
Pratomagno
The Pratomagno is a mountain range, which has the Arno River on both sides: to the west is the upper Valdarno and to the east is the Casentino. It lies north-west of the city of Arezzo, in Tuscany, Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the ...
massif and on the west by the hills around
Siena
Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.
The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...
.
*The Sieve's basin, which flows into the Arno immediately before Florence.
*The middle Valdarno, with the plain including Florence,
Sesto Fiorentino
Sesto Fiorentino (), known locally as just Sesto, is a municipality (''comune'') in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, central Italy.
History
The oldest known human settlement in the area dates from the Mesolithic (c. 9,000 years ago) ...
,
Prato
Prato ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Italy, the capital of the Province of Prato. The city lies in the north east of Tuscany, at the foot of Monte Retaia, elevation , the last peak in the Calvana chain. With more than 200,000 i ...
, and
Pistoia
Pistoia (, is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of a province of the same name, located about west and north of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno. It is a typi ...
.
*The lower Valdarno, with the valley of important tributaries such as the Pesa, Elsa, and Era and in which, after
Pontedera
Pontedera (; la, Pons Herae) is an italian comune with a population of 29.270 inhabitants, located in the province of Pisa, Tuscany, Central Italy, central Italy.
The town is located 20 km (12 miles) from Pisa and 50 km (31 miles) from Florenc ...
, the Arno flows into the
Ligurian Sea
The Ligurian Sea ( it, Mar Ligure; french: Mer Ligurienne; lij, Mâ Ligure) is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea. It lies between the Italian Riviera (Liguria) and the island of Corsica. The sea is thought to have been named after the ancient L ...
. The river has a very variable discharge, ranging from about to more than . The mouth of the river was once near
Pisa
Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...
but is now several kilometres westwards.
It crosses
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
, where it passes below the
Ponte Vecchio
The Ponte Vecchio ("Old Bridge", ) is a medieval stone closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge over the Arno River, in Florence, Italy. The only bridge in Florence spared from destruction during the Second World War, it is noted for the shops bui ...
and the
Santa Trinita bridge (built by
Bartolomeo Ammannati
Bartolomeo Ammannati (18 June 151113 April 1592) was an Italian architect and sculptor, born at Settignano, near Florence. He studied under Baccio Bandinelli and Jacopo Sansovino (assisting on the design of the Library of St. Mark's, the ''Bibli ...
but inspired by
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...
). The river
flood
A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...
ed this city regularly in historical times, most recently in
1966
Events January
* January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko.
* January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...
, with after rainfall of in Badia Agnano and in Florence, in only 24 hours.
Before Pisa, the Arno is crossed by the Imperial Canal at La Botte. This water channel passes under the Arno through a tunnel, and serves to drain the former area of the
Lago di Bientina
Lago di Bientina'','' also known as Lago di Sesto, was a lake in Tuscany, Italy. Located to the north of the town of Bientina, between Lucca and Pisa, the lake was historically subject to numerous efforts at drainage due to its tendency to flood ...
, which was once the largest lake in
Tuscany
Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze'').
Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...
before its reclamation.
The flow rate of the Arno is irregular. It is sometimes described as having a torrentlike behaviour, because it can easily go from almost dry to near flood in a few days. At the point where the Arno leaves the Apennines, flow measurements can vary between . New
dam
A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, a ...
s built upstream of Florence have greatly alleviated the problem in recent years.
The
flood on November 4, 1966 collapsed the embankment in Florence, killing at least 40 people and damaging or destroying millions of works of art and rare books. New conservation techniques were inspired by the disaster, but even decades later hundreds of works still await restoration.
Etymology
From Latin ''Arnus'' (Pliny, ''Natural History'' 3.50). The philologist
Hans Krahe
Hans Krahe (7 February 1898 – 25 June 1965) was a German philologist and linguist, specializing over many decades in the Illyrian languages. He was born in Gelsenkirchen.
Work
Between 1936 and 1946 he was a professor at the University of W ...
related this toponym on a
paleo-European basis ''*Ar-n-'', derived from the
Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...
root *''er-'', "flow, move".
Ecology
The Arno river has been strongly affected by non-native species: over 90% of fish species and 70% of macroinvertebrate species in the area around Florence are alien species.
These include the
European catfish,
channel catfish
The channel catfish (''Ictalurus punctatus'') is North America's most numerous catfish species. It is the official fish of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Tennessee, and is informally referred to as a "channel cat". In the United States, the ...
,
Crucian carp
The crucian carp (''Carassius carassius'') is a medium-sized member of the common carp family Cyprinidae. It occurs widely in northern European regions. Its name derives from the Low German ''karusse'' or ''karutze'', possibly from Medieval Lat ...
,
common bleak,
topmouth gudgeon
The stone moroko (''Pseudorasbora parva''), also known as the topmouth gudgeon, is a fish belonging to the Cyprinidae, Cyprinid family, native to Asia, but introduced and now considered an invasive species in Europe and North America. The fish's ...
,
New Zealand mud snail
The New Zealand mud snail (''Potamopyrgus antipodarum'') is a species of very small freshwater snail with a gill and an operculum. This aquatic gastropod mollusk is in the family Tateidae.
It is native to New Zealand, where it is found through ...
,
and
killer shrimp
''Dikerogammarus villosus'', also known as the killer shrimp, is a species of amphipod crustacean native to the Ponto-Caspian region of eastern Europe, but which has become invasive across the western part of the continent. In the areas it has ...
.
The
mud crab
Mud crab may refer to any crab that lives in or near mud, such as:
*''Scylla serrata''
*''Scylla tranquebarica''
*''Scylla paramamosain''
*''Scylla olivacea''
*Members of the family Panopeidae, such as ''Panopeus herbstii''
*Members of the family ...
has been found in the river near Pisa.
Uses and human impacts
Water from the Arno drainage basin is used for drinking water, irrigation, and firefighting.
Citizens in the central part of the drainage basin also identified flood control, support for biodiversity, fisheries, and cultural value as other services that the river provides.
There is the risk that flooding will jeopardize these
ecosystem service
Ecosystem services are the many and varied benefits to humans provided by the natural environment and healthy ecosystems. Such ecosystems include, for example, agroecosystems, forest ecosystem, grassland ecosystems, and aquatic ecosystems. Th ...
s, as 9% of wastewater treatment plants, 10% of landfills or other waste sites, and 4.5% of contaminated sites are at high risk of flooding, which would produce hotspots of pollution.
Gallery
File:Arno_river.jpg, The Arno in Florence
File:Arno River in Pisa.honeydew.jpg, The Arno in Pisa
Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...
, near the Ponte della Fortezza (Fortress Bridge)
File:Firenze.Arno.jpg, Banks of the Arno, seen from the Ponte Vecchio
The Ponte Vecchio ("Old Bridge", ) is a medieval stone closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge over the Arno River, in Florence, Italy. The only bridge in Florence spared from destruction during the Second World War, it is noted for the shops bui ...
(Old Bridge), Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
File:Arno_Mouth_Italy_aerial_view.jpg, Mouth of the Arno in Marina di Pisa
Marina di Pisa is a seaside resort of Tuscany, in central Italy.
It is a ''frazione'' of the provincial capital of Pisa, which lies about 10 km to the east.
Geography
Marina di Pisa lies on the left bank of the Arno River, where it flows i ...
File:Florence Arno 180.jpg, The Arno in Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
, 180 degree view: the Uffizi
The Uffizi Gallery (; it, Galleria degli Uffizi, italic=no, ) is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums ...
Gallery is straight across and the Ponte Vecchio
The Ponte Vecchio ("Old Bridge", ) is a medieval stone closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge over the Arno River, in Florence, Italy. The only bridge in Florence spared from destruction during the Second World War, it is noted for the shops bui ...
is to the left
File:Florence at night.jpg, The Arno in Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
at night
File:Ponte amerigo vespucci.JPG, The Ponte Amerigo Vespucci
Ponte Amerigo Vespucci is a bridge over the Arno River in Florence, Italy and named after Florence-born explorer Amerigo Vespucci. It joins the Lungarno Amerigo Vespucci to the Lungarno Soderini. To the east is the Ponte alla Carraia.
This bridg ...
(Amerigo Vespucci Bridge)
References
External links
Basin Authority of the Arno
{{Authority control
Rivers of Italy
Rivers of Tuscany
Geography of Florence
Geography of Pisa
Rivers of the Province of Arezzo
Rivers of the Province of Florence
Rivers of the Province of Pisa
Rivers of the Province of Prato
Rivers of the Apennines
Drainage basins of the Tyrrhenian Sea