World's Romantic Places: Rome - Tiber River (Italy)

A tour boat floats along the Tiber River, with the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica in the background.

The Tiber River is one of longest rivers in Italy. It is 252 miles long and varies between 7 and 20 feet deep. The Tiber flows from Mount Fumaiolo through Rome and into the Tyrrhenian Sea at Ostia. The Encyclopedia Britannica says that the Tiber was originally called Albulula because it was so white, but it was renamed Tiberis after Tiberinus, who was a king of Alba Longa who drowned in the Tiber. Theodor Mommsen says the Tiber was the natural highway for traffic in Latium, and provided an early defense against neighbors on the other side of the river, which in the area of Rome runs approximately southwards. The Veientine Wars were fought over control of the Tiber. The Tiber was connected with the Cloaca Maxima, the sewer system of Rome.