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 t ...

. 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, pictures ...

( sl, Devin) and outflows in the

Gulf of Panzano A gulf is a large inlet from the ocean into the landmass, typically with a narrower opening than a bay (geography), bay, but that is not observable in all geographic areas so named. The term gulf was traditionally used for large highly-indented ...

(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 and ...

) southeast of Monfalcone ( 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, and ...

), 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 ...

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

History

The Roman 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: t ...

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.

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