The Elvo (

Piedmontese Piedmontese (; autonym: or , in it, piemontese) is a language spoken by some 2,000,000 people mostly in Piedmont, northwestern region of Italy. Although considered by most linguists a separate language, in Italy it is often mistakenly regard ...

: ''Elv'') is a torrent (an intermittent stream) in the

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

region of north-west

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 ...

and is the principal tributary of the Cervo. It runs through the

communes An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, ...

of Sordevolo, Occhieppo Superiore, Occhieppo Inferiore,

Cerrione Cerrione is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Biella in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about south of Biella. Cerrione borders the following municipalities: Borriana, Magnano, Roppolo, Salussola, ...

and Salussola in the

Province of Biella The Province of Biella ( it, Provincia di Biella, Piedmontese: ''Provincia ëd Biela'') is a province of Italy located in Piedmont. It was created in 1992 and its capital is the city of Biella. It has an area of , and a total population of 178 5 ...

, and of Carisio and

Casanova Elvo Casanova Elvo is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Vercelli in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about northwest of Vercelli. Casanova Elvo borders the following municipalities: Collobiano, For ...

in the

Province of Vercelli A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outs ...

. The river’s valley is named after it as the

Valle dell'Elvo Valle may refer to: * Valle (surname) Geography *"Valle", the cultural and climatic zone of the dry subtropical Interandean Valles of the Andes of Peru, Bolivia, and northwest Argentina *University of Valle, a public university in Cali, Colombia ...

. Here the municipalities are organized into two comunità montane: the Comunità Montana Alta Valle Elvo in the upper part of the valley, and the Comunità Montana Bassa Valle Elvo in the lower. Many of the water courses of the

Canavese Canavese (French: ''Canavais''; Piedmontese: ''Canavèis'') is a subalpine geographical and historical area of North-West Italy which lies today within the Metropolitan City of Turin in Piedmont. Its main town is Ivrea and it is famous for its ca ...

and of the area of

Biella Biella (; pms, Biela; la, Bugella) is a city and ''comune'' in the northern Italian region of Piedmont, the capital of the province of the same name, with a population of 44,324 as of 31 December 2017. It is located about northeast of Turin an ...

—the torrent Orco, for example—are noted for the presence of gold-bearing sands. In the case of the Orco these are concentrated in the area of the Bessa nature reserve.

Course

The river’s source is at an elevation of about on the slopes of

Monte Mars Monte Mars or Mont Mars , at 2,600 m, is the highest peak of the Biellese Alps, north-western Italy. Geography It is located on the water divide between the Lys Valley (Aosta Valley) and the Elvo Valley (Province of Biella). In the SOIUSA ...

, in the heart of the Biellese Prealps. Having passed through various centres of population, it is joined from the right at Mongrando by its major tributary, the Viona. From here its broad pebbly shores follow the edge of the Bessa nature reserve, which lies to its right and is part of the Riserva naturale orientata delle Baragge. Near Salussola it enters into the plains of Vercelli and follows a slower and more sinuous course before emptying into the Cervo near Quinto Vercellese.

Regime

The Elvo has a regime typical of a prealpine Italian torrent with maximum discharges in the autumn and spring together with a tendency to dry up in the summer and winter months. In the event of high levels of precipitation it is liable to become ‘torrential’.

Notes

:''This article was originally translated from its counterpart on the Italian Wikipedia, specifically fro
this version
''

Other projects

{{commonscat-inline Rivers of the Province of Biella Rivers of the Province of Vercelli Rivers of Italy Rivers of the Alps