Reno (river)

The Reno () is a river of Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany, northern Italy. At ,Reno
''Enciclopedia on line'', Istituto Treccani. it is the tenth longest river in Italy (the sixth longest of those that flow directly into the sea) and the most important of the region apart from the Po.

It has a drainage basin of . The annual average discharge at the mouth is about ; at the point where the river flows into the Pianura Padana (Po River Plain), it amounts to about . The highest values registered at its outflow into the Po Plain have approached , but the typical value when the river is in flood is around . The minimal discharge reported is .

Name

The name of the river has the same etymology as the name of the Rhine, as both derive from the same Celtic hydronym
''Rēnos'', the Reno basin being situated within Gallia Cisalpina, in what was the territory of the Boii before the Roman conquest of 220 BC. In Italian both rivers are called ''Reno'', and in Latin both were called ''Rhenus''.
In 43 BC the pact establishing the Second triumvirate was signed on an islet of the river near ''Bononia'' (Bologna).
The river is mentioned by Dante Alighieri in Canto XVIII of his '' Inferno'' where he defines the Bolognesi as those "living between the Savena and the Reno".

The Reno gave its name to a department of the Cispadane Republic (1796–1797), the Cisalpine Republic (1797–1802), the Italian Republic (1802–1805) and the Kingdom of Italy (1805–1814).

Geography

The river rises at the north side of the Apennine Mountains at about above sea level near the village Prunetta in the province of Pistoia (Tuscany). Its upper course marks the border between Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna and it flows through a forested area crossed by the Pistoia–Bologna railway. Its upper valley is part of the Natura 2000 protected area Tre Limentre - Reno.Natura 2000 - Standard data form Tre Limentre - Reno
European Environment Agency, December 2022. The upper basin is characterized by several reservoirs which are used for hydro-electric energy production. The power produced in the basin of the Reno basin is second, for Apennine rivers, only to that of the Nera- Velino in Umbria.

At Casalecchio di Reno, west of Bologna, it leaves the mountains and enters the Po Plain. The Reno was a tributary of the Po near Ferrara until the second half of the 18th century when its course was diverted to lessen the risk of devastating floods. It now joins the Adriatic Sea near Casal Borsetti, south-east of the Valli di Comacchio.

The most important tributaries include the Limentra orientale, Silla, Setta, Samoggia, Idice, Sillaro, Santerno and Senio.

Footnotes

External links

Historical and geographical info

{{Coord missing, Italy

Rivers of Italy
Rivers of the Province of Ferrara
Rivers of the Province of Pistoia
Rivers of the Metropolitan City of Bologna
Rivers of the Apennines