Arno

For other uses, see Arno (disambiguation).
Arno

View of the Arno from the Ponte Vecchio
Basin
Main source Mount Falterona
1,385 m (4,544 ft)
River mouth Ligurian Sea
Watershed area 8,228 km2 (3,177 sq mi)
Countries Italy
Physiognomy
Length 241 km (150 mi)
Discharge
  • Average rate:
    110 m3/s (3,900 cu ft/s) (at the mouth)

The Arno is a river in the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the most important river of central Italy after the Tiber.

Source and route

"Ponte vecchio" (The old bridge)

The river originates on Mount Falterona in the Casentino area of the Apennines, and initially takes a southward curve. The river turns to the west near Arezzo passing through Florence, Empoli and Pisa, flowing into the Tyrrhenian Sea at Marina di Pisa.

With a length of 241 kilometres (150 mi), it is the largest river in the region. It has many tributaries: Sieve at 60 kilometres (37 mi) long, Bisenzio at 49 kilometres (30 mi), and the Era, Elsa, Pesa, and Pescia. The drainage basin amounts to more than 8,200 square kilometres (3,200 sq mi) and drains the waters of the following subbasins:

It crosses Florence, where it passes below the Ponte Vecchio and the Santa Trìnita bridge (built by Bartolomeo Ammanati but inspired by Michelangelo). The river flooded this city regularly in historical times, most recently in 1966, with 4,500 cubic metres per second (160,000 cu ft/s) after rainfall of 437.2 millimetres (17.21 in) in Badia Agnano and 190 millimetres (7.5 in) in Florence, in only 24 hours.

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 0.56 and 3,540 cubic metres per second (20 and 125,014 cu ft/s). New dams 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 40 years later hundreds of works still await restoration.[1]

Etymology

From Latin Arnus (Pliny, Natural History 3.50). The philologist Hans Krahe related this toponym on a paleo-European basis *Ar-n-, derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *er-, "flow, move".[2]

Gallery

References

  1. Alison McLean (November 2006). "This Month in History". Smithsonian 37 (8): 34.
  2. Edelmiro Bascuas, Hidronimia y léxico de origen paleoeuropeo en Galicia (page 41)

External links

Media related to Arno River at Wikimedia Commons

Coordinates: 43°41′N 10°17′E / 43.683°N 10.283°E / 43.683; 10.283

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