The Timavo River, known in Slovene as the ' or ', is a two-kilometre stream in the

Province of Trieste The Province of Trieste ( it, Provincia di Trieste, sl, Tržaška pokrajina; fur, provinzia di Triest) was a province in the autonomous Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy. Its capital was the city of Trieste. It had an area of and it had a ...

. It has four sources near San Giovanni ( sl, Štivan) near

Duino Duino ( sl, Devin, german: Tybein) is today a seaside resort on the northern Adriatic coast. It is a ''hamlet'' of Duino-Aurisina, a municipality (''comune'') of the Friuli–Venezia Giulia region of northeastern Italy. The settlement, picturesq ...

( sl, Devin) and outflows in the Gulf of Panzano (part of the

Gulf of Trieste The Gulf of Trieste ( it, Golfo di Trieste, sl, Tržaški zaliv, hr, Tršćanski zaljev, german: Golf von Triest) is a very shallow bay of the Adriatic Sea, in the extreme northern part of the Adriatic Sea. It is part of the Gulf of Venice an ...

) southeast of

Monfalcone Monfalcone (; Bisiacco: ; fur, Monfalcon; sl, Tržič; archaic german: Falkenberg) is a town and ''comune'' of the province of Gorizia in Friuli Venezia Giulia, northern Italy, located on the Gulf of Trieste. Monfalcone means 'falcon mountain ...

( sl, Tržič),

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Geography

The river has a karst character. It receives much of its water through subterranean flow from the Reka River (

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

), but tracer studies have shown that other sinking rivers, Vipava,

Soča The Soča ( in Slovene) or Isonzo ( in Italian; other names fur, Lusinç, german: Sontig, la, Aesontius or ') is a long river that flows through western Slovenia () and northeastern Italy (). An Alpine river in character, its source lies i ...

, and Raša also contribute. From modelling results, the Timavo is believed to receive one third of its flow from the Reka and two-thirds of its flow from infiltration of precipitation into the

Karst Plateau The Karst Plateau or the Karst region ( sl, Kras, it, Carso), also locally called Karst, is a karst plateau region extending across the border of southwestern Slovenia and northeastern Italy. It lies between the Vipava Valley, the low hills su ...

, and to a lesser extent from the other sinking river sources.

History

The

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

authors

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...

, Strabo, and

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...

mention the river. Virgil wrote that nine streams emerge from a mountain to form the river. A Roman settlement near the sources was called Fons Timavi. An Italian passenger liner called the ''Timavo'' ran aground during the Second World War on the east coast of South Africa near Cape Vidal. The engine of the wreck is still visible from the beach, now situated within the

Isimangaliso Wetland Park iSimangaliso Wetland Park (previously known as the Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park) is situated on the east coast of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, about 235 kilometres north of Durban by road. It is South Africa's third-largest protected area, ...

Literature

In his 2019 work ''Underland'', British author Robert Macfarlane tracks the source of the Timavo and discusses the history of its exploration.

References

*''Timava: skrivnostna reka'', Massimo Gasparini; občina Devin Nabrežina, 2005 *''Timavo: esplorazioni e studi'', Trieste, Societa alpina delle Giulie, 1999 *''Reka - Timav. Podobe, zgodovina in ekologija kraške reke'', Ljubljana, Mladinska knjiga, 1990

External links

Izviri Timave, spletna stran občine Devin-Nabrežina
{{coord, 45.794, N, 13.58, E, source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Rivers of Friuli-Venezia Giulia Karst springs Province of Trieste Rivers of Italy Rivers of the Province of Gorizia Adriatic Italian coast basins