You can mark you interesting snippets of text that will be available through a unique link in your browser.


Po River

Translation
Po River

River, northern Italy.

The country's longest river, it is about 405 mi (652 km) long. It rises in the Cottian Alps on the western frontier and flows northeast to Turin, then east across Piedmont and Lombardy into the Adriatic Sea. Its delta is one of the most complex of any European river, with at least 14 mouths. It is navigable from its mouth to Pavia. Industrial cities in its valley include Milan, Padua, and Verona. It has suffered devastating autumn floods, including those in 589, 1438, 1951, and 1966.

* * *

Latin  Padus,  
 longest river in Italy, rising in the Monte Viso group of the Cottian Alps on Italy's western frontier and emptying into the Adriatic Sea in the east after a course of 405 miles (652 km). Its drainage basin covers 27,062 square miles (70,091 square km), forming Italy's widest and most fertile plain.

      Flowing eastward in its upper course, the Po is rapid and precipitous, descending about 5,500 feet (1,700 m) in its first 22 miles (35 km). Just west of Saluzzo the Po turns sharply northward, flows through Turin and skirts the Monferrato upland, then turns east at Chivasso and continues in a generally easterly course to its delta on the Adriatic.

      The Po forms the boundary between the regions of Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna (south) and Veneto (north). It receives the waters of the Dora Riparia and the Dora Baltea below Turin; other principal tributaries are the Sesia, Ticino, Adda, Oglio, and Mincio from the north. Among the many streams that drain into the Po from the south, the Tanaro (from the Maritime Alps) and the Scrivia and Trebbia (from the Apennines) are important; but many of the others are rain-fed and torrential and carry little water through much of the year. Throughout its middle and lower courses the Po describes many meanders, which have left oxbows (circular lakes).

      Its delta is among the most complex of any European river, with at least 14 mouths, usually arranged in five groups (from north to south): the Po di Levante, Po di Maestra, Po della Pila, Po delle Tolle, and Po di Goro e di Gnocca. Of these mouths, the Po della Pila carries the greatest volume of water and is the only navigable one.

      The Po is navigable from its mouth to Pavia. At Pontelagoscuro, 60 miles (96 km) from the sea, the Po's average discharge is 48,400 cubic feet (1,370 cubic m) per second, with variations from 910 to 340,000 cubic feet (26 to 9,630 cubic m), although in the great flood of 1951 the discharge was estimated at 424,000 cubic feet (12,000 cubic m) per second. The most devastating floods have been those of 589, 1150, 1438, 1882, 1917, 1926, 1951, 1957, and 1966, all in the autumn.

      The sediment load carried by the Po is considerable, and the extension of the delta is estimated at 200 acres (80 hectares) per year. Certain ancient ports south of the delta, such as Ravenna, are now as much as 6 miles (10 km) from the sea as a result of silt from the Po carried down by currents in the Adriatic. The floods of the river and the silt load carried by it have long challenged hydraulic engineers. The Venetian Republic built dikes to control floods and canals to divert silt, and in the area between Ferrara and the Adriatic numerous undertakings have reclaimed thousands of acres during the past three centuries. The project undertaken in 1953 by the Italian Land Reform was devoted to soil improvements, reclamation of marshy areas such as the Valli di Comacchio, and the creation of small peasant farms in the delta area, or polesine, which, nevertheless, suffered enormously in the great floods of 1951 and 1966.

      During the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods the lower valley of the Po was occupied by people who built houses on piles along the swampy banks. The river regulation works originated in pre-Roman times. The reclamation and protection of the riparian lands went on rapidly under the Romans, and in several places their rectangular divisions of the ground are still visible. During the barbarian invasions much of the protective system decayed, but the later Middle Ages saw the works resumed so that the present arrangement existed in the main by the end of the 15th century.

      The Ligurian name of the Po was Bodincus, or Bodencus, meaning “bottomless.” The name Padus was taken from the Celts or the Veneti of Brittany. Thus, Bodincomagus is found as a town name on the upper course, and Padua as a name of one of the mouths of the river.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

  
Share  

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Po (river) — Padus redirects here. For other uses, see Padus (disambiguation). This article is about the Italian river. For the river in the U.S. state of Virginia, see Mattaponi River. Po Old iron bridge over the Po River, Cremona, Lombardy Origin …   Wikipedia

  • Po River — Infobox River | river name = Po caption = The Po river origin = Cottian Alps, Italy mouth = Adriatic Sea coord|44|58|12|N|12|32|49|E|name=Adriatic Sea Po|display=inline,title basin countries = Italy, Switzerland length = 652(682) km elevation =… …   Wikipedia

  • Tai Po River — (zh t|t=大埔河) is a river in Tai Po, New Territories, Hong Kong. It has many tributaries, with most coming from Yin Yim Teng, Grassy Hill, and Lead Mine Pass. The tributaries gradually merge as Tai Po River and goes parallel with the Tolo Highway… …   Wikipedia

  • River trekking — or river tracing is a form of hiking or outdoor adventure activity, particularly popular in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and, in some ways, similar to canyoning or canyoneering. River trekking is a combination of trekking and climbing and sometimes… …   Wikipedia

  • POÉTIQUE — Le discours sur la littérature naît en même temps que la littérature même; on en trouvera les premiers échantillons dans tel fragment des Veda ou chez Homère. Ce fait ne saurait provenir d’un hasard: bien qu’il soit difficile de se mettre… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Po — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Río Po El río Po en Turín País que atraviesa …   Wikipedia Español

  • River Out of Eden — River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life est un livre de vulgarisation scientifique publié en 1995 par Richard Dawkins. Le livre traite de l évolution selon Charles Darwin et inclut des chapitres sur des sujets traités dans ses précédents… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Požega, Croatia — Požega ( hu. Pozsega) is a town in west Slavonia, eastern part of Croatia, with a population of 28,948 (census 2001). It is the center of the Požega Slavonia county.The city lies on the main road (M1.6) Nova Gradiška Požega Našice and the… …   Wikipedia

  • Po Shun Leong — was born in Northampton, England, on March 15, 1941 and is an artist, former architect, sculptor and furniture maker. He was educated in the United Kingdom, first at the Quaker Leighton Park School in Berkshire, and then at the Architectural… …   Wikipedia

  • Po — or PO may refer to: Contents 1 Places 2 People 3 Fictional characters …   Wikipedia

Фильмы

  • Freed China., 1950 — Shooting of Civil War. Celebrating anniversary of the founding of the PRC. Beijing and other cities, attractions, businesses, schools and universities, shops, transport, cultural facilities (theaters, libraries). Great Wall of China. Rivers, landscapes, pastures, grain fields. The Chinese are working in factories and fields, transportation on roads, construction of cities and housing. The signing of the loan. Distributing of seeds and tools, put on the ground. Rallies in support of peace. Elimination of illiteracy. Restoring destroyed during the civil war economy. Treaty of friendship and economic cooperation with the USSR. Meetings of the Party committees in the field and the Politburo of the CC CP of China with Mao Tse-tung and others. Life of Chinese in urban and rural areas. Maneuvers of the Red Army of China. Health care. Pioneer organization of the PRC. Sports competitions, amateur. The work of agitators. Wedding ceremony.
  • Hello, the Nile River!, 1969 — The film is taken under participation of Salakh Tohami, a director. The film is about construction of the Aswan Dam and hydroelectric power station, about aid of the USSR to the Arab People.
  • The Khalkhin-Gol River. The Year 1939., 1979 — About the 40th Victory anniversary of the Soviet and Mongolian soldiers over Japanese invaders.