Trebbia

Coordinates: 45°04′13″N 9°41′06″E / 45.0702°N 9.6849°E / 45.0702; 9.6849
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the river in north Italy. For other uses, see Trebia (disambiguation).
Trebbia
The Trebbia valley in July, a few kilometres upstream from Bobbio
Location of the Trebbia.
Location
CountryItaly
Physical characteristics
Source 
 • locationMonte Prelà, Ligurian Apennines
 • elevation800 m (2,600 ft)
MouthPo
 • location
just upstream from Piacenza
 • coordinates
45°04′13″N 9°41′06″E / 45.0702°N 9.6849°E / 45.0702; 9.6849
 • elevation
61 m (200 ft)
Length118 km (73 mi)[1]
Basin size1,150 km2 (440 sq mi)[2]
Discharge 
 • average40 m3/s (1,400 cu ft/s)[2]
Basin features
ProgressionPo→ Adriatic Sea

The Trebbia (stressed Trèbbia;

Tanaro, the Secchia and the Panaro
.

Along its eastern banks in 218 BC was fought one of the battles of the

Battle of Trebbia, where Hannibal defeated a Roman
consular army.

The 1,150-square-kilometre (440 sq mi) drainage basin is divided among Emilia Romagna, 770 square kilometres (300 sq mi), Liguria, 349 square kilometres (135 sq mi), and Lombardy, 31 square kilometres (12 sq mi). Its principal tributaries are the torrents Aveto and Perino (from the right) and the torrent Boreca (from the left).[2]

Geography

The source of the river, the Trebbia river spring, is in the

Ligurian Apennines on the south slopes of Monte Prelà, to the south of Monte Antola in the comune of Torriglia, Province of Genoa. Monte Prelà, 1,407 m (4,616 ft) high,[1][note 1]
is part of the Antola massif.

The spring is not on the peak but is at roughly 800 m (2,600 ft).[3] Across a small ridge to the west, on which sits Torriglia, and slightly further downslope is the source of the Scrivia river. Over a ridge to the northeast is the Brugneto reservoir, water supply for Genoa. The reservoir was created in 1959 by damming Brugneto stream, which formerly joined its waters to the Trebbia, but now only does so when the reservoir is full. A ridge running north from Prelà connects to Monte Druso, then to Monte Cremado, and finally to Monte Antola at 1,597 m (5,240 ft). From its peak on a clear day can be seen Genoa, Corsica, the Tuscan Archipelago and the Alps.

From its source the river flows towards north-east for 118 km (73 mi)

Piacenza province
.

Devil’s Bridge of 280 m (920 ft), which spans the river at Bobbio
.

Past Gorreto the Trebbia flows under a few mountain villages arriving at the next town, Ottone. Below Ottone Val Boreca enters from the left opposite the frazione of Losso. The Boreca is a mountain brook falling from the heights of the "four provinces" region generally too small to be shown on maps but visible in satellite photographs. Just below Zerba (from which it is accessed) its waters are impounded by a dam diverting them through the turbines of a hydroelectric power station.

The border with the Province of Pavia in southernmost Lombardy follows the Trebbia for about 2,000 m (6,600 ft) where it bends around Ponte Organasco, so that some of the river and bottom lands are in Lombardy. Further downstream the valley opens to accommodate Corte Brugnatella and then closes to form steep sides again. Receiving the Torrente Carlone from the left it enters Bobbio on the left bank. Here the high valley ends and the valley becomes the Val Trebbia.

The river goes on under a good many small communities located up on the flanks of the hills before reaching the next good-sized town on it,

Pianura Padana, "plain of the Po", beyond Rivergaro and a few miles later encounters the suburban communities on the west side of Piacenza
before entering the Po. Geologically the course of the lower Trebbia and that of the Po is unstable except where stabilized by man.

Nearly the whole course of the river is paralleled by the Strada statale della Val Trebbia, highway SS45, running between Piacenza and Genoa. It encounters the river at Rivergaro and winds with it through the mountains, breaking away just below the source to bend southwest over the ridges to Genoa.

Ecology

Flora

The following trees are predominant in the forests of Val Trebbia:

Pirus communis, Malus communis, Corylus avellana; below 800 m (2,600 ft): Castanea sativa
.

The shrubbery includes the following species:

Spartium junceum
.

The ferns are Polypodium volgare, Asplenium ruta-muraria, Dryopteris filix-mas, Pteridium aquilinum, Notholaena marantae.[4]

Fauna

The Val Trebbia is within the endemic range of

Sylvia cantillans better known in the western Mediterranean islands.[5]
The birds forage for insects in mixed shrubland of varying heights and both broad-leaved and coniferous composition.

The other birds include

Picus viridis.[6]

Geologic history

The northern

Po river an average of 50 km (31 mi) from the source. The eroded landscape of the north Apennines covers about 2,800 km2 (1,100 sq mi).[7]

For much of their lengths, these heavily

terraces
in the Po valley, which is heavily populated and in ancient times flooded regularly. Diking has prevented much of the flooding but now due to confinement of deposition within the stream beds significant lengths of stream run entirely above ground, in places as high as the rooftops. This is a development of the previous thousand years.

The native rock differs between the two banks. On the left is mainly sedimentary rock, the Monte Antola limestone, which is actually a marlstone. On the right is both sedimentary and metamorphic rock: ophiolite, serpentinite, basalt, jasper.[8]

Val Trebbia is covered with a blanket of rich soil reddish or brown in color from

Middle Pleistocene. The loess initially accumulated on gravelled terraces deriving from native rock.[9]

Cultural history

Alexander Kotzebue
, 1857)

Judging from the archaeological evidence, the Trebbia valley has been continuously occupied since the end of the

Acheulian in the Paleolithic, about 150000 years ago. In the Mesolithic various summer camps for high-altitude hunting were located in the valley. Neolithic cultures were at first diverse (4500 BC). Later in the Neolithic, at about 4000 BC, the Square-mouthed pottery culture began to prevail; at about 3000 BC, the Chassey-Lagozza culture of the Chalcolithic. The Bronze Age population resided in settlements located at positions with natural defenses. Etruscan elements began in the Iron Age, about the 5th century BC. Celtic artifacts immediately preceded the Roman presence.[10]

Along its eastern banks in 218 BC was fought one of the battles of the

Battle of Trebbia, where Hannibal defeated a Roman
consular army.

The name of the river is first known from Polybius, who wrote in the middle Roman Republic, but used materials dating to earlier. Which people first assigned it and during which period remains unclear. Without knowing the probable language the few etymologies are highly speculative.

In 1799

Suvorov
with the French took place here.

Gallery

Notes

  1. ^ The other reference has 1,406 m (4,613 ft).
  2. ^ The other reference has 105 km (65 mi).

References

  1. ^ a b "Geography of the Trebbia Valley" (in Italian and English). Associazione Pro Loco Gorreto. 2006. Retrieved 2 April 2009.
  2. ^ a b c Cani, Antonella (2003). "Progetto integrato per il risanamento del fiume Trebbia" (in Italian). Giovanni Giavelli, Departmento di Scienze Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Parma. Archived from the original on 26 March 2008. Retrieved 29 March 2009.
  3. ^ "The Trebbia Valley watercourses". Alta Val Trebbia. 2009. Archived from the original on 4 May 2009. Retrieved 2 April 2009.
  4. ^ "The Trebbia Valley flora". Alta Val Trebbia. 2009. Archived from the original on 4 May 2009. Retrieved 3 April 2009.
  5. ^ Brambilla, Mattia; Fabrizio Reginato; Franca Guidali (2007). "Brief report: Habitat use by Moltoni'sWarbler Sylvia cantillans moltonii in Italy" (PDF). Ornis Fennica. 84: 91–96.[permanent dead link]
  6. ^ "The Trebbia Valley Fauna". Alta Val Trebbia. 2009. Archived from the original on 4 May 2009. Retrieved 18 April 2009.
  7. doi:10.1016/S0037-0738(02)00264-6
    .
  8. ^ "The Trebbia Valley rocks". Alta Val Trebbia. 2009. Archived from the original on 4 May 2009. Retrieved 10 April 2009.
  9. doi:10.1016/S1040-6182(97)00036-0
    .
  10. ^ "Excerpts from the Book: Trebbia Valley from the Paleolithic to the Iron Age; Maria Bernabt Brea; Tipografia Columba (1991)". Giorgio Zanetti. 2006. Retrieved 29 March 2009.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Trebbia.
  • "Trebbia". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (Fourth ed.). 2000. Archived from the original on 2005-11-22.
  • "trebia". Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary. Archived from the original on 2011-07-14.
  • Charlton T. Lewis; Charles Short (1879). "Trĕbĭa". A Latin Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
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