TEVERE RIVER

The Tiber river is the main waterway of central and peninsular Italy, and it is the third longest river in the country, measuring 405km.

Its springs are found on Fumaiolo Mountain, which is 1,268m above sea level on the Tuscany side close to Balze, a small nearby district of the town Verghereto.

The Tiber runs gently through Rome where it conjoins with the rive Aniene, thus increasing its flow to a medium of 240m3/s. The Tiber finally flows into the Tyrrhenian Sea after 30km down from the town of Fiumicino and not from the town of Ostia anymore as it used to in the past, with two branches at the delta, a natural one called Big Fiumara and an artificial one called Il Canale di Traiano that borders the island of Sacra.

The Tiber runs through the following major places: Piave Santo Stefano, Sansepolcro, Città di Castello, Umbertide, Orte and Rome. It also passes close to the towns of Perugia, Deruta and Todi.

The waterflow of the Tiber, a major river for navigation up to the middle of the nineteenth century, has been drastically reduced after the building of 23 dams along the basin and the expansion of rail and road transport.

Now river navigation is limited to sport activities, such as canoeing, and tourism, such as the renting out of small boats to explore the Roman part of the river, since the end of the nineties.

The part of the river which is of interest to us, namely that for bass fishing, is that between the two dams of Nazzano in the north and Castel Giubileo in the south, next to the GRA (ring road) at the doorstep of Rome.

There is an abundance of medium-sized bass fish, each weighing 500-600g, in the river. The river banks are full of stones and fallen trees, an essential shelter for this kind of fish.

Bass fishing in the Tiber takes place mainly from March to December. With water temperature during the cold months much lower, fishing activities are reduced to a minimum. In spring and autumn, it is possible to fish bass of up to 2kg.