The
Volturno (ancient
Latin name
Volturnus, from
volvere, to roll) is a
river in south-central
Italy.
Geography
It rises in the
Abruzzese central
Apennines of
Samnium near
Rocchetta a Volturno (
province of Isernia,
Molise) and flows southeast as far as its junction with the
Calore River near
Caiazzo and runs south as far as
Venafro, and then turns southwest, past
Capua, to enter the
Tyrrhenian Sea in
Castel Volturno, northwest of
Naples. The river is 175 km long.
After a course of some 120 km it receives, about 8 km east of
Caiazzo, the
Calore River. The united stream now flows west-southwest past
Capua, where the
Via Appia and Latina joined just to the north of the bridge over it, and so through the Campanian plain, with many windings, into the sea. The direct length of the lower course is about 50 km, so that the whole is slightly longer than that of the
Liri-Garigliano, and its basin far larger.
History
The river has always had considerable military importance, and the colony of
Volturnum (no doubt preceded by an older, possibly even
Etruscan, port of
Capua) was founded in 194 BC at its mouth on the south bank by the
Romans; it is now about one mile inland. A fort had already been placed there during the Roman siege of Capua to serve, with
Puteoli, for the provisioning of the army.
Augustus placed a colony of veterans here. The
Via Domitiana from
Sinuessa to
Puteoli crossed the river at this point, and some remains of the bridge are visible. The river was navigable as far as Capua.
In
554, the Byzantine general
Narses defeated a
Frankish-
Alamannic army near this river, during the
Gothic War.
Following the
invasion of southern Italy by revolutionary forces led by
Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1860,
Francis II of the Two Sicilies fled from
Naples and took up a defensive position on the south bank of the Volturno, near
S. Maria di Capua Vetere. The
Piedmontese troops and those of Garibaldi inflicted on the Neapolitan forces at the
battle of the Volturno, on October 1 and 2, a defeat which led to the fall of Capua.
The Volturno also gave its name to the
Volturno Line, a
German defensive position in Italy during
World War II.
See also
Sources
Category:Rivers of CampaniaCategory:Rivers of ItalyCategory:Rivers of Molisebg:Волтурноca:Volturnocs:Volturnode:Volturnoes:Volturnofr:Volturnoko:볼투르노 강it:Volturnohu:Volturnonap:Volturno (sciummo)no:Volturnonn:Volturnopl:Volturnopt:Rio Volturnoru:Вольтурноzh:沃尔图诺河
