The Alcantara (; or ) is a river in

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

Southern Italy Southern Italy (, , or , ; ; ), also known as () or (; ; ; ), is a macroregion of Italy consisting of its southern Regions of Italy, regions. The term "" today mostly refers to the regions that are associated with the people, lands or cultu ...

. It has its source on the south side of

Monti Nebrodi The Nebrodi (; , ; ) is a mountain range that runs along the north east of Sicily. Together with the Madonie and the Peloritani, they form the Sicilian Apennines. The mountains run from the Peloritani on the eastern part of the island to the ...

and its mouth in the

Ionian Sea The Ionian Sea (, ; or , ; , ) is an elongated bay of the Mediterranean Sea. It is connected to the Adriatic Sea to the north, and is bounded by Southern Italy, including Basilicata, Calabria, Sicily, and the Salento peninsula to the west, ...

at Capo Schiso in Giardini-Naxos. The river is long. The name ''Alcantara'' is of

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

origin () and refers to a bridge from

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 Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

times found by the

Arabs Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of yea ...

Thucydides Thucydides ( ; ; BC) was an Classical Athens, Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts Peloponnesian War, the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been d ...

called it ''Acesines'' () while its Latin names were ''Assinus'', ''Assinos'', ''Asines'', ''Asinius'', ''Onobala'', ''Onobalas'', and ''Acesines''. ''Cantera'' was another

hydronym A hydronym (from , , "water" and , , "name") is a type of toponym that designates a proper name of a body of water. Hydronyms include the proper names of rivers and streams, lakes and ponds, swamps and marshes, seas and oceans. As a subset of top ...

for it, adopted by

Normans The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; ; ) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and locals of West Francia. The Norse settlements in West Franc ...

. The river is mentioned by

on occasion of the attack made on

Naxos Naxos (; , ) is a Greek island belonging to the Cyclades island group. It is the largest island in the group. It was an important centre during the Bronze Age Cycladic Culture and in the Ancient Greek Archaic Period. The island is famous as ...

by the

Messenians Messenia () was an ancient district of the southwestern Peloponnese, more or less overlapping the modern Messenia region of Greece. To the north it had a border with Elis along the Neda river. From there the border with Arcadia ran along the to ...

in 425 BCE.

Course

The Alcantara has its source at an elevation of in the municipality of Floresta. On its way to the sea, past the north of

Mount Etna Mount Etna, or simply Etna ( or ; , or ; ; or ), is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Catania, between the cities of Messina, Italy, Messina and Catania. It is located above the Conve ...

, it flows through the municipalities of

Randazzo Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta. Randazzo () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Catania, Sicily, southern Italy. It is situated at the northern foot of Mount Etna, c. northwest of Catania. It is the nearest town to the summi ...

, Mojo Alcantara,

Francavilla di Sicilia Francavilla di Sicilia ( Sicilian: ''Francavigghia'') is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Messina on the island of Sicily, southern Italy. It has a population of about 3,900 people and is situated in the southern part of the prov ...

Motta Camastra Motta Camastra is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Messina in the Italian region Sicily, located about east of Palermo and about southwest of Messina. Motta Camastra borders the following municipalities: Antillo, Cast ...

Castiglione di Sicilia Castiglione di Sicilia ( Sicilian: ''Castigghiuni di Sicilia'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Catania in Sicily, southern Italy. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of Italy"). C ...

, Graniti, Gaggi,

Calatabiano Calatabiano () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Catania in Sicily, southern Italy. Geography Calatabiano is located about 60 metres above the sea level. It is located about 42 kilometres northeast of Catania. about 58 ...

Taormina Taormina ( , , also , ; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Messina, on the east coast of the island of Sicily, Italy. Taormina has been a tourist destination since the 19th century. Its beaches on the Ionian Sea, incl ...

and Giardini-Naxos. Several thousand years ago, the river bed was blocked by a lava flow from Mount Etna. As the

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a Natural satellite, moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a Fissure vent, fractu ...

was cooled much more quickly by the water than it would have done otherwise, it crystallised in the form of columns. Over the next millennia, the river naturally eroded a channel through these columns, resulting in impressive gorges and ravines, such as the Alcantara Gorges ('' Gole dell'Alcantara'') next to

, where the

Peloritani The Peloritani ( Sicilian: , ) are a mountain range of north-eastern Sicily, in southern Italy, extending for some from Capo Peloro to the Nebrodi Mountains. On the north and east they are bordered by the Tyrrhenian and Ionian Seas res ...

mountains end.

Park

The Alcantara River Park ('' Parco fluviale dell'Alcantara'') was established in 2001 for the protection of the river, and to encourage its use as a relaxation area and tourist destination. The columns and surroundings can be seen in the segment " The Enchanted Doe" of the 2015 film '' Tale of Tales''.

Tributaries

*Flascio *San Paolo *Favoscuro *Fondachello *Roccella *Petrolo

References

External links

*
Alcantara River Park
{{Authority control Rivers of Italy Rivers of Sicily Columnar basalts Rivers of the Metropolitan City of Catania Rivers of the Metropolitan City of Messina Drainage basins of the Ionian Sea