Adda River

Infobox River | river_name = Adda


caption = The Adda river
origin = Val Alpisella (Stelvio Pass), Italy
mouth = Po River
basin_countries = Italy
length = 313 km
elevation = 2237 m
discharge = 187 m³/s
watershed = 7,979 km²The Adda (Latin "Abdua", or "Addua") is a river in North Italy, a tributary of the Po. It rises in the Alps near the border with Switzerland and flows through Lake Como. The Adda joins the Po a few kilometres upstream of Cremona. It is 313 kilometres (196 miles) long.

Towns along the river Adda include Bormio, Sondrio, Bellagio and Lecco (both on Lake Como), and Lodi.

The Adda's true source is in some small lakes near the head of the Fragile glen, but its volume is increased by the union with several smaller streams, near the town of Bormio, at the Raetian Alps. Thence it flows first southwest, then due west, through the fertile Valtellina, passing Tirano, where the Poschiavino falls in on the right bank, and Sondrio, where is the junction with the Mallero, also on the right. It falls into the Lake of Como, at its northern end, and mainly forms that lake. On issuing from its southeastern or Lecco arm, it crosses the plain of Lombardy where it is joined from the left by the Serio, and finally, after a course of about 240 km (150 mi), joins the Po, 13 km (8 mi) above Cremona.

The 1377 erected Trezzo sull'Adda Bridge remained with a world record span of 72 m the longest bridge arch to have been built before the introduction of metal into bridge construction. The lower course of the Adda was formerly the border between the Republic of Venice and the Duchy of Milan, after the Treaty of Lodi, 1454; and on its banks several important battles have been fought, notably that of Lodi, where Napoleon defeated the Austrians in 1796; several battles have also taken place at the bridgehead of Cassano d'Adda.

ee also

*Valtellina disaster
*Val Pola landslide

ources

Gallery

Taccani hydroelectric plant, Trezzo sull'Adda


The Adda and the Castello visconteo, Trezzo sull'Adda


The river divides Vaprio d’Adda (on our left) from Canonica d’Adda (on our right)