Staffora

Infobox River | river_name = Staffora


caption =
origin = Ligurian Apennines, Passo del Giovà
mouth = Po, west of Cervesina
basin_countries = Italy
length = 58 km
elevation = 1343 m
discharge = (Highly variable, see Regime)
watershed = 337.5 km²The Staffora is a river of the Oltrepò Pavese in the Province of Pavia, north-west Italy and a right-side tributary of the Po. It is probably the river known to the Romans as the Iria.

Course

The river rises in the Ligurian Apennines at the Fontana di S. Giacomo (1343m) near the Passo del Giovà, which lies just to the east of the peak of Monte Chiappo in the commune of Santa Margherita di Staffora. It flows at first through a deep and narrow valley, receiving from the right the waters of the torrents Montagnola and Aronchio before reaching Varzi where the valley begins to widen. The torrent Crenna enters from the right and the Lella from the left before the Staffora receives its major affluents, both from the right: the torrent Nizza at Ponte Nizza and the torrent Ardivestra at Godiasco. The river flows through Salice Terme (administratively a frazione of Godiasco) before entering the Pianura Padana at Rivanazzano. The Staffora then passes through the eastern outskirts of Voghera, the principal town on its course, before entering the Po near Cervesina.

Regime

Although the river flows throughout the year, fed by perennial springs as well as by seasonal rains and melting ice, the regime is torrential: its discharge can vary between 0.7 m²/s and 675 m²/s.

History

The river is usually identified with the Roman Iria, following the derivation of ‘Voghera’, which lies of the left bank of the Staffora, from "Vicus Iria". Some, however, have identified the Iria with the Scrivia.

The word ‘Stàffora’, once ‘Stàfula’, comes from the Lombard "Staffel", which first referred to a place on the river’s course near Voghera: cascina Stàffela.

References

*The initial basis for the article was the corresponding article in the Italian-language Wikipedia.

Further reading

*http://www.comunitamontanaoltrepo.it/AreaPubblica/Aspettigeografici.asp it
*http://www.vallestaffora.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=28 it
*http://www.cpt-italia.it/territorio2.htm it
*http://www.provincia.pv.it/ambiente/acqua/pdf/rinaturaliz_staffora.pdf it