The Volturno (ancient

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

name Volturnus, from ''volvere'', to roll) is a

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

in south-central

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Geography

It rises in the Abruzzese central

Apennines The Apennines or Apennine Mountains ( ; or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; or – a singular with plural meaning; )Latin ''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which would be segmented ''Apenn-inus'', often used with nouns s ...

Samnium Samnium () is a Latin exonym for a region of Southern Italy anciently inhabited by the Samnites. Their own endonyms were ''Safinim'' for the country (attested in one inscription and one coin legend) and ''Safineis'' for the The language of t ...

near Castel San Vincenzo (

province of Isernia The province of Isernia () is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Molise region of Italy. The provincial capital is the city Isernia and the president of the province is Alfredo Ricci. The province of Isernia has an area of and a population o ...

Molise Molise ( , ; ; , ) is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. Until 1963, it formed part of the region of Abruzzi e Molise together with Abruzzo. The split, which did not become effective until 1970, makes Molise the newest region in Ital ...

) and flows southeast as far as its junction with the

Calore Irpino The Calore Irpino or Calore Beneventano or Calore river is a river in southwestern Italy. It rises from ''Colle Finestra'' ( above sea level), a mountain saddle between Monte Acellica and the Terminio sub-group in the Monti Picentini, sub-range o ...

near

Caiazzo Caiazzo is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Caserta (Campania) in Italy. It is located on the right bank of the Volturnus, some northeast of Capua. History The ancient Caiatia was already in the hands of the Romans in 306 BC, and sinc ...

and runs south as far as

Venafro Venafro (Latin: ''Venafrum''; Greek: ) is a ''comune'' in the province of Isernia, region of Molise, Italy. It has a population of 11,079, having expanded quickly in the post-war period. Geography Situated at the foot of Mount Santa Croce, elevat ...

, and then turns southwest, past

Capua Capua ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Caserta, in the region of Campania, southern Italy, located on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. History Ancient era The name of Capua comes from the Etruscan ''Capeva''. The ...

, to enter the

Tyrrhenian Sea The Tyrrhenian Sea (, ; or ) , , , , is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenians, Tyrrhenian people identified with the Etruscans of Italy. Geography The sea is bounded by the islands of C ...

Castel Volturno Castel Volturno () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Caserta in the Italian region Campania, located about northwest of Naples and about west of Caserta on the Volturno river. The town has a population of almost 30,000 residents, ...

, northwest 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 ...

. The river is long. After a course of some it receives, about east of Caiazzo, the Calore River. The united stream now flows west-southwest past Capua, where the

Via Appia The Appian Way (Latin and Italian: Via Appia) is one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy. Its importance is indicated by its common name, recor ...

and Latina joined just to the north of the bridge over it, and so through the Campanian plain, with many windings, into the sea. The direct length of the lower course is about , so that the whole is slightly longer than that of the Liri-Garigliano, and its basin far larger. Its main tributaries are San Bartolomeo, Lete, Torano,

Rivo Tella Rivo may refer to: People * Peter de Rivo (1420–1490), Flemish scholastic philosopher * Radulph of Rivo, Dutch Roman Catholic historian and liturgist * Rivo Rakotovao (born 1960), Malagasy politician * Rivo Vesik (born 1980), Estonian beach ...

Titerno Titerno is a '' '' (Local Action Group) in the Province of Benevento, Campania Region, Italy. Member communities include: * Castelvenere Castelvenere ( Castelvenerese: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Benevento, Campania Region, Ita ...

and Isclero.

History

The river has always had a considerable military importance, and the colony of

Volturnum Castel Volturno () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Caserta in the Italy, Italian region Campania, located about northwest of Naples and about west of Caserta on the Volturno river. The town has a population of almost 30,000 resi ...

(no doubt preceded by an older, possibly even

Etruscan __NOTOC__ Etruscan may refer to: Ancient civilization *Etruscan civilization (1st millennium BC) and related things: **Etruscan language ** Etruscan architecture **Etruscan art **Etruscan cities **Etruscan coins **Etruscan history **Etruscan myt ...

, port of Capua) was founded in 194 BC at its mouth on the south bank by the Romans; it is now about one mile inland. A fort had already been placed there during the Roman siege of Capua to serve, with Puteoli, for the provisioning of the army.

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

placed a colony of veterans here. The Via Domitiana from

Sinuessa Sinuessa () was a city of Latium, in the more extended sense of the name, situated on the Tyrrhenian Sea, about 10 km north of the mouth of the Volturno River (the ancient ''Vulturnus''). It was on the line of the Via Appia, and was the last ...

Puteoli Pozzuoli (; ; ) is a city and (municipality) of the Metropolitan City of Naples, in the Italian region of Campania. It is the main city of the Phlegrean Peninsula. History Antiquity Pozzuoli began as the Greek colony of ''Dicaearchia ...

crossed the river at this point, and some remains of the bridge are visible. The river was navigable as far as Capua. In 554, the Byzantine general

Narses Narses (also spelled Nerses; ; ; ; c. 478–573) was a distinguished Byzantine general and statesman of Armenian heritage, renowned for his critical role in Emperor Justinian I’s military campaigns. Alongside the famed Belisarius, Narses was ...

defeated a

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages, a group of Low Germanic languages also commonly referred to as "Frankish" varieties * Francia, a post-Roman ...

Alamanni The Alemanni or Alamanni were a confederation of Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River during the first millennium. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Roman emperor Caracalla of 213 CE, the Alemanni c ...

c army near this river, during the Gothic War. Following the invasion of southern Italy by revolutionary forces led by

Giuseppe Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as (). In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as () or (). 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, revolutionary and republican. H ...

in 1860,

Francis II of the Two Sicilies Francis II ( Neapolitan and , ; christened ''Francesco d'Assisi Maria Leopoldo''; 16 January 1836 – 27 December 1894) was King of the Two Sicilies. He was the last King of the Two Sicilies as successive invasions by Giuseppe Garibaldi and Vict ...

fled from Naples and took up a defensive position on the south bank of the Volturno, near S. Maria di Capua Vetere. The

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

ese troops and those of Garibaldi inflicted on the Neapolitan forces at the

battle of the Volturno The Battle of the Volturno refers to a series of military clashes between Giuseppe Garibaldi's volunteers and the troops of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies occurring around the River Volturno, between the cities of Capua and Caserta in northern C ...

, on 1 and 2 October, a defeat which led to the fall of Capua. The Volturno also gave its name to the

Volturno Line The Volturno Line (also known as the Viktor Line; , ) was a German defensive position in Italy during the Italian Campaign of World War II. The line ran from Termoli in the east, along the Biferno River through the Apennine Mountains to the ...

, a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

defensive position in Italy during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

References

;Attribution *

External links

* {{Authority control Rivers of Italy Rivers of the Province of Caserta Rivers of the Province of Benevento Rivers of the Province of Isernia Rivers of the Apennines Drainage basins of the Tyrrhenian Sea