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30-587: Casalecchio's name is derived from Casaliculum ("collection of little houses"), and from the presence of the Reno River . The site has archaeological treasures dating from the Paleolithic and Villanovan eras; Celtic and Etruscan remains have also been found. This is the site of the Celtic city of Casalecchio, one of the few exclusively Celtic settlements of Northern Italy or Cisalpine Gaul . It likely belonged to

60-517: A 4 km long tunnel and a maximum gradient of 12 per thousand. This route was similar to the Bologna–Florence Direttissima route finally opened in 1934. The prospect of a choice of routes that would lead to the increased importance for Pistoia or Prato triggered a competition between the two cities. Tilting the balance, however, was Austria ’s military interest in a fast connection with the port of Livorno and its belief that Pistoia

90-454: A branch to Mantua and anticipating strategic links with the existing lines of Lombardy and Veneto and extensions to Rome . This was a strategic plan specifically intended to promote military interests. In 1856 after a series of works had been carried out in a manner that was not consistent with the purpose of building the railway, the project was entrusted to a company with capital subscribed by French, English and Italian shareholders. It

120-508: A square was dedicated to Protche and Victor Emmanuel II, who opened the line. It was electrified on the three-phase system (3,700 V at 16.7 Hz) in 1927 and re-electrified with 3,000 V DC in 1934. In the second half of nineteenth century the Grand Duchy of Tuscany had an extensive rail network that had grown to 225 km: the Leopolda railway between Florence , Pisa and Livorno ,

150-507: A total length of 99 km. The most difficult section was the 14 km stretch between Pracchia and Pistoia, which had a drop of 500 metres. The project was put in the charge of the French engineer Jean Louis Protche who solved the problem by designing a spiral tunnel between Piteccio and Corbezzi. This solution was then used for the construction of the Gotthard Tunnel. In Porretta Terme

180-655: Is also known in Italian as the Ferrovia Porrettana (Porrettana Railway, named after the spa town of Porretta Terme ) or the Transappenninica ("trans-Apennines"). It was officially called the Strada ferrata dell'Italia Centrale (Central Italy Railway) and was officially inaugurated by King Victor Emmanuel II in 1864. At the time it was an enormous engineering project with its 47 tunnels and 35 bridges and viaducts, with

210-846: The Bolognesi as those "living between the Savena and the Reno". The Reno gave its name to a department of the Cispadane Republic (1796–1797), the Cisalpine Republic (1797–1802), the Italian Republic (1802–1805) and the Kingdom of Italy (1805–1814). The river rises at the north side of the Apennine Mountains at about 1,010 m (3,310 ft) above sea level near the village Prunetta in

240-733: The Maria Antonia railway connecting Florence, Prato and Pistoia, the Pisa–Lucca railway and the Central Tuscany railway between Empoli and Siena . In this period construction began on the line from Pistoia to Lucca and studies for lines linking and Chiusi and Florence and Bologna through a pass over the Apennines to connect Florence with the north-south railways of Italy. In 1845 Cini, an engineer of San Marcello Pistoiese and Ciardi an engineer of Prato, each presented project proposals for

270-610: The Reno river . The proposed route would have been tortuous but Cini was mainly interested in promoting the interests of Pistoia by connecting Pracchia with Pistoia. Ciardi challenged Cini’s proposal and contended that a railway through the Apennines should be designed to be part of the Italian national rail network that was forming at the time and this meant making the carriage of freight cheaper and transport travelers heading north faster. To do this,

300-497: The Valli di Comacchio . The most important tributaries include the Limentra orientale , Silla , Setta , Samoggia , Idice , Sillaro , Santerno and Senio . Pistoia%E2%80%93Bologna railway The Pistoia–Bologna railway is an Italian railway connecting Bologna to Pistoia and was the first line through the Apennines between Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna . It

330-509: The province of Pistoia ( Tuscany ). Its upper course marks the border between Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna and it flows through a forested area crossed by the Pistoia–Bologna railway . Its upper valley is part of the Natura 2000 protected area Tre Limentre - Reno. The upper basin is characterized by several reservoirs which are used for hydro-electric energy production. The power produced in

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360-628: The spa town of Porretta Terme . The line was absorbed by the Upper Italian Railways on its establishment on 1 July 1865. This was taken over by the Mediterranean Network on 1 July 1885. The Porrettana railway is a single track line from Bologna to Pistoia, where it connected to the Pistoia–Prato–Florence line , a total of 131 km. The locomotive depot at Florence Santa Maria Novella station provided locomotives for

390-707: The Celtic tribe of the Boii , who settled this area around 400 BC. The Battle of Casalecchio took place here on 26 June 1402. Casalecchio was heavily damaged by Allied bombers during World War II . On 6 December 1990, an MB-326 military jet of the Italian Air Force crashed into the Gaetano Salvemini Technical Institute , a high school, killing twelve students and injuring 88 other students and staff. The aircraft had been abandoned minutes earlier by its pilot following an onboard fire. The commune has

420-517: The Po Plain have approached 2,300 cubic metres per second (81,000 cu ft/s), but the typical value when the river is in flood is around 1,000 cubic metres per second (35,000 cu ft/s). The minimal discharge reported is 0.6 cubic metres per second (21 cu ft/s). The name of the river has the same etymology as the name of the Rhine , as both derive from the same Celtic hydronym Rēnos ,

450-506: The Porrettana line represented a major step forward, but it was soon clear it was already inadequate for its task. The completion of the work confirmed Ciardi’s predictions that it would be long and expensive; it had 49 tunnels and grades of up to 26 per thousand. The total final cost was higher than that of the Fréjus line . Four years earlier, Austria had lost its hegemony over Italy, and therefore

480-614: The Porrettana line was relegated to handle local traffic only, with five pairs of trains each day. During the retreat from the Gothic Line in World War II , the German army systematically destroyed structures, buildings and everything that could be useful to the enemy. Between Bologna and Pracchia 29 bridges, eight tunnels, 10 stations, 45 signal boxes and 52 km of track were blown up. It also crashed two locomotives loaded with explosives in

510-690: The Reno basin being situated within Gallia Cisalpina , in what was the territory of the Boii before the Roman conquest of 220 BC. In Italian both rivers are called Reno , and in Latin both were called Rhenus . In 43 BC the pact establishing the Second triumvirate was signed on an islet of the river near Bononia (Bologna). The river is mentioned by Dante Alighieri in Canto XVIII of his Inferno where he defines

540-684: The basin of the Reno basin is second, for Apennine rivers, only to that of the Nera - Velino in Umbria . At Casalecchio di Reno , west of Bologna , it leaves the mountains and enters the Po Plain . The Reno was a tributary of the Po near Ferrara until the second half of the 18th century when its course was diverted to lessen the risk of devastating floods. It now joins the Adriatic Sea near Casal Borsetti , south-east of

570-451: The crossing of the Apennines. The line proposed by Cini started from Pistoia, up the Ombrone at a gradient of up to 20 per thousand to the district of San Felice. From there it would climb the foothills of the Apennines for 16 km with grades of 12 to 25 per thousand and a 2,700 metre long tunnel through the mountains to Pracchia . From Pracchia to Bologna the line would follow the course of

600-749: The following years the Bologna–Pistoia railway was delayed by the argument between the supporters of the two routes. On 14 March 1856, an agreement was signed in Vienna between the Austrian Empire, the Duchy of Parma and Modena , The Grand Duchy of Tuscany and the Papal States for the construction of the Central Italian Railway (Italian: Strada Ferrata dell'Italia Centrale ) from Piacenza to Pistoia, with

630-416: The grades and the weather also created difficulties. Despite the problems, traffic soon reached high levels. During World War I traffic reached its highest level, with 70 trains in 24 hours. Teams of drivers were stationed on horseback at the exit of the main tunnels, ready to jump on the trains as it crept up from Pistoia in order to take over from semi-asphyxiated drivers if necessary. In 1927 finally came

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660-541: The headquarters of the cooperative Coop . Casalecchio di Reno is twinned with: This article on a location in Emilia–Romagna is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Reno River The Reno ( [ˈrɛːno] ) is a river of Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany , northern Italy . At 211 km (131 mi), it is the tenth longest river in Italy (the sixth longest of those that flow directly into

690-443: The line between Florence and Bologna in 3½ hours, but the line had a capacity of only 3,000 tons of freight each day. Initially the line was limited to two pairs of trains each day. The promotion of tourism in the mountains that Pistoia sought from the Porrettana line could not be achieved because of the increasing use of transit traffic for goods heading north and south did not allow the development of local passenger services, except at

720-533: The line should have low grades and be as short as possible between Florence and Bologna. Ciardi, abandoned his first proposal for a route across the Apennines along the valleys of the Bisenzio , Setta and Reno rivers, in places with grades over 12 per thousand. He proposed a second route with lower grades and 14 km shorter than the proposed Porrettana. The new route would pass through the Apennines at Gravigno, near Cantagallo at 480 meters above mean sea level with

750-420: The military purposes for which the line had been intended had gone. Its use for the carriage of goods and passengers between north and south immediately showed that the line lacked capacity and had many other problems. Between Pistoia and Pracchia, among other things, the line was only able to handle 27 trains per day. A few years after its opening the best mountain climbing locomotives some could haul 160 tons over

780-432: The moderate climb to Pistoia, where an additional locomotive was attached to push trains up the section of maximum grade from Pistoia to Pracchia. The Apennines tunnel was very inconvenient for passengers and drivers because of the suffocating smoke of uphill trains that penetrated everywhere. Ventilation shafts and fans were installed subsequently, but did not solve the problem. In addition there were problems with braking on

810-514: The move to three-phase electric traction (3,700V at 16.7 Hz). Due to its heavy traffic, the first experiment in Italy on centralized train dispatching began on the Porrettana line in 1927. Traffic on the line had reached its limit. Work had started on the Bologna–Florence line , known as the Direttissima, in 1913. On 22 April 1934 after much effort, it was finally opened to traffic, so

840-510: The sea) and the most important of the region apart from the Po . It has a drainage basin of 4,628 square kilometres (1,787 sq mi). The annual average discharge at the mouth is about 95 cubic metres per second (3,400 cu ft/s); at the point where the river flows into the Pianura Padana (Po River Plain), it amounts to about 25 cubic metres per second (880 cu ft/s). The highest values registered at its outflow into

870-565: Was a militarily strategic point. Austria therefore preferred Porrettana and lobbied Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany who was obliged to support the Austrian interests. In 1849 Leopold II was restored to power by Austrian troops and they occupied Tuscany until 1855. The first agreement on the railway was signed in Rome in 1851. The contract for the Porrettana line was concluded on 26 January 1852 in Modena. In

900-465: Was directed by the French surveyor Jean Louis Protche, who oversaw the entire project and solved the problem of crossing the Apennines with a 2,727 metre long curved tunnel, often cited as an example of technique and daring and a prelude to the most famous application of spiral tunnels on the Gotthardbahn . The last stretch between Pracchia and Pistoia was inaugurated on 2 November 1864. The building of

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