Fiumelatte (river)


Fiumelatte is a river in northern Italy. It flows from a cavity in the Grigna into Lake Como, just south of Varenna, it has an approximate length of 250 m. The name Fiumelatte, composed from fiume and latte, is due to the milky white color of its water.

Overview

One of the river's peculiarities is its annual intermittency: it usually dries in the middle of October to reappear in the second half of March; therefore it has been given the nickname Fiume delle due Madonne, alluding to the festivities of Annunciation and Madonna del Rosario. This phenomenon could imply that the river is the vent of an unexplored underground cavity in the Grigna, which gets periodically filled.
The river is mentioned by the name Fiumelaccio in Leonardo da Vinci's Atlantic Codex:
Other authors who wrote about the river include Pliny the Elder and Lazzaro Spallanzani.

History

The village of Fiumelatte has a nearby memorial dedicated to members of a partisan brigade shot on January 8, 1945, following the capture of Esino Lario. The six partisans were killed after returning to the valley to alert the command of the encroachment in Switzerland.