Orba (river)

Orba (river)
Orba
Origin Monte Reixa
Mouth Bormida
Basin countries Italy
Length 73 km
Source elevation 1,183 m
Avg. discharge 20.1 m³/s

The Orba is a torrent (Italian: torrente — a stream whose flow shows a very marked seasonal variation) of northern Italy. Its c. 70 km course runs northwards through Piedmont from its springs in the Apennines to its confluence with the Bormida, a right tributary of the Po. The Orba flows from a mountain region, where there are attractive villages such as Tiglieto, Molare and then it comes to Monferrato's hills.

Ovada is the biggest town in Orba's valley, and it has a central role among all other villages on top of hills: Rocca Grimalda, Tagliolo, Cremolino, Silvano d'Orba, Carpeneto, Castelletto d'Orba, Predosa are only some of villages which were built around their own castles on top of rocky hills close to the river, surrounded by vineyard and woods.

Tasty and appreciated wines are produced in this valley: Dolcetto di Ovada, Barbera del Monferrato, Cortese di Gavi are well-known wines which has developed an international market.

Orba is a toponym which is quite frequent in Europe, especially in Italy, France and Spain in a variety of different forms and spelling.

The name has a Celtic origin related with celtic mythology and as toponym is often associated with rivers whose sand were found to be rich in gold.

Gold was extracted from Orba's sand long before the Romans founded a town in this forested area. Rondinaria is supposed to have been an important centre for gold extraction until the end of the Western Roman Empire: during the following centuries almost all traces of this old centre disappeared and the valley was again completely covered by forests. From 1700, many and expensive efforts were done in order to find out the gold field where the precious metal came from but nobody managed to detect it.

Gold extraction from sand grew up during the Fascist period, as answer to the embargo imposed by other nations on Italian gold trade. Today this activity turned into a local popular hobby and a museum of gold extraction was founded in Predosa, with collections of relics from the past of this old and glorious activity.

Coordinates: 44°53′N 8°37′E / 44.883°N 8.617°E / 44.883; 8.617


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Orba — may refer to: Orba, Alicante, a town in eastern Spain Orba (river), a torrential stream in northern Italy Orba (Irish mythology), a High King of Ireland This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an …   Wikipedia

  • Orba, Alicante — Orba Coordinates …   Wikipedia

  • Orba (torrente) — Infobox River river name = Orba caption = origin = Monte Reixa mouth = Bormida basin countries = Italy length = 73 km elevation = 1,183 m mouth elevation = discharge = 20.1 m³/s watershed = The Orba is a torrent ( it. torrente a stream whose flow …   Wikipedia

  • Rana orba — Taxobox name = Rana orba status = DD | status system = IUCN3.1 regnum = Animalia phylum = Chordata classis = Amphibia ordo = Anura familia = Ranidae genus = Rana species = R. orba binomial = Rana orba binomial authority = Stuart Bain, 2005… …   Wikipedia

  • FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives by year, 1950 — In 1950, the United States FBI, under Director J. Edgar Hoover, began to maintain a public list of the people it regarded as the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.The concept of the list began in late 1949, when the FBI helped publish an article about… …   Wikipedia

  • Orsara Bormida —   Comune   Comune di Orsara Bormida …   Wikipedia

  • Pecetto di Valenza — Pellizzari redirects here. For other uses, see Pellizzari (disambiguation). Pecetto di Valenza   Comune   Comune di Pecetto di Valenza …   Wikipedia

  • Lemme — Infobox River river name = Lemme caption = origin = Monte Calvo mouth = The Orba at Predosa basin countries = Italy (Piedmont, Province of Alessandria) length = 35 km elevation = 750 m mouth elevation = discharge = watershed =The Lemme is a 35 km …   Wikipedia

  • Mirzapur — This article is about the municipality in Uttar Pradesh, India. For its namesake district, see Mirzapur district. Mirzapur   city   [[file:Mirzapur from the atul skyline caption = Mizrapur from the Ganges|250px|none|alt=|View… …   Wikipedia

  • Rocca Grimalda — Infobox CityIT official name = Comune di Rocca Grimalda name = Rocca Grimalda img coa = region = RegioneIT|sigla=PMN province =ProvinciaIT|sigla=AL (AL) elevation m = 280 area total km2 = 15.64 population as of = 31 12 2006 population total =… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”