Volturno
From Free net encyclopedia
The Volturno is a river in south-central Italy. It rises in the Abruzzese Apennines near Alfedena and flows southeast as far as its junction with the Calore River near Caiazzo. It then turns southwest, past Capua, to enter the Tyrrhenian Sea in Castel Volturno, northwest of Naples. The river is 175 km long.
In 554, the Byzantine general Narses defeated a Frankish-Alamannic army near this river, during the Gothic War.
Following the invasion of southern Italy by revolutionary forces led by Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1860, Francis II of the Two Sicilies fled from Naples and took up a defensive position behind the Volturno. Garibaldi's troops defeated the Neapolitan forces at the Battle of the Volturno on October 1st and 2nd.
The Volturno also gave its name to the Volturno Line, a German defensive position in Italy during World War II.