The main river of Tuscany is the river Arno, not only for its length but for its history.
The Etruscans, and not only, saw in this river the possibility of creating an excellent network of exchanges between the inner centers of the Tuscan region and the Mediterranean. The cities, in fact, were born right near the valley, to make such exchanges happen.
Then came the Romans who also saw important the mouth of the river, and for this helped the birth of Pisa that became a large shopping center and place with several anchorages.
The Arno River has always had a somewhat peculiar relationship with Florence. It allowed to help the city, where it was navigable, with the traffic of goods, but it was also an obstacle for the inhabitants, since it was not passable from south and north. The citizens built several bridges to finally be able to communicate and connect the different neighborhoods and could exploit the river to move the mills.
All this unfortunately led to the flooding of the river in 1333, destroying and causing death.
Another unpleasant event for the city of Florence was the flood of November 4, 1966, where the waters invaded the city, until reaching almost 5 meters in the district of Santa Croce. It was a devastation for Florence and its inhabitants who did not expect such a tragedy, not only the museums and churches were invaded by water, but also the famous Ponte Vecchio with its shops, visited today by many tourists, were destroyed and many things were lost.
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