The Sarno, known as ''Sarnus'' to the Romans, is a stream that passes through

Pompeii Pompeii ( ; ) was a city in what is now the municipality of Pompei, near Naples, in the Campania region of Italy. Along with Herculaneum, Stabiae, and Villa Boscoreale, many surrounding villas, the city was buried under of volcanic ash and p ...

to the south of the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

city of

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

. It is considered the most polluted river in Europe. It flows about from the base of Mt. Sarno to the

Bay of Naples A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

collecting water from the Solofrana and Cavaiola tributaries during the course of its flow. It is still partially used for

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...

, as well as the transportation of goods and fishing. It is part of the Sarno

river basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, th ...

, which covers about . The Sarno is one the most polluted rivers in Europe, due to agricultural waste and insufficiently treated industrial waste water.Peter Greenberg, ''Don't Go There! The Travel Detective's Essential Guide to the Must-Miss Places of the World''. St Martins Press, 2008, S. 27–28 There are about 500 small industrial units in the area which still emit pollution. Water treatment plants have been installed, however, they do not work to full capacity. The mouth of the river continues to make bathing in the sea impossible, despite numerous protests. The plain at the mouth of the river was the site of the Battle of the Sarno, fought in 1460.

References

External links

Sarno River: Italy
SOURCE: National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Bethesda, MD, USA Rivers of the Metropolitan City of Naples Rivers of the Province of Salerno Rivers of Italy Drainage basins of the Tyrrhenian Sea {{Italy-river-stub