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Updated: June 25, 2025
Land Artificially won from the Waters Great Works of Material Improvement Draining of Lincolnshire Fens Incursions of the Sea in the Netherlands Origin of Sea-dikes Gain and Loss of Land in the Netherlands Marine Deposits on the Coast of Netherlands Draining of Lake of Haarlem Draining of the Zuiderzee Geographical Effects of Improvements in the Netherlands Ancient Hydraulic Works Draining of Lake Celano by Prince Torlonia Incidental Consequences of draining Lakes Draining of Marshes Agricultural Draining Meteorological Effects of Draining Geographical Effects of Draining Geographical Effects of Aqueducts and Canals Antiquity of Irrigation Irrigation in Palestine, India, and Egypt Irrigation in Europe Meteorological Effects of Irrigation Water withdrawn from Rivers for Irrigation Injurious Effects of Rice-culture Salts Deposited by Water of Irrigation Subterranean Waters Artesian Wells Artificial Springs Economizing Precipitation Inundations in France Basins of Reception Diversion of Rivers Glacier Lakes River Embankments Other Remedies against Inundations Dikes of the Nile Deposits of Tuscan Rivers Improvements in Tuscan Maremma Improvements in Val di Chiana Coast of the Netherlands.
From the bend at Arezzo, a depression called the Val di Chiana runs south-eastwards until it strikes into the valley of the Paglia, a tributary of the Tiber, and thus connects the basin of the latter river with that of the Arno.
For we knew nobody in Rome except Sandro, the youthful enthusiastic Roman cyclist we had picked up in Montepulciano, cycled with through the Val di Chiana on a sunny October Sunday, and run across again in Rome where he amiably showed us the hospitality of the capital by occasionally drinking coffee with us at our expense, and by once introducing a friend, a tall, slim, good-looking young man of such elegance of manner and such a princely air of condescension, that Sandro himself was impressed and joined us again, later on the same evening, to explain our privilege in having entertained the Queen's hair-dresser unawares.
Where the Paglia and Chiana flow together, at the issue of the charming Val di Chiana, stands Orvieto on its steep and sudden rock, crowned with one of the triumphs of Italian Gothic, the glorious cathedral.
And there at our feet rolls Tiber's largest affluent, the Chiana. And there is the canal which joins their fountains in the marsh that Lionardo would have drained. Monte Cetona is yonder height which rears its bristling ridge defiantly from neighbouring Chiusi. And there springs Radicofani, the eagle's eyrie of a brigand brood.
In spite of these encouraging successes, however, the fear of danger to the valley of the Arno and the Tiber, and the difficulty of an agreement between Tuscany and Rome the boundary between which states crossed the Val di Chiana not far from the half-way point between the two rivers and of reconciling other conflicting interests, prevented the resumption of the projects for the general drainage of the valley until after the middle of the eighteenth century.
A few days later Vitelli was in possession of all the strongholds of the Val di Chiana, and panic-stricken Florence was speeding ambassadors hot-foot to Rome to lay her complaints of these matters before the Pope. Alexander was able to reply that, far from supporting the belligerents, he had launched a Bull against them, provoked by the poisoning of the Bishop de'Pazzi.
They consequently deposited most of their sediment in the Val di Chiana and carried down comparatively little earth to the Tiber.
The lateral streams contributing the largest quantities of sedimentary matter to the Val di Chiana originally flowed into that valley near its northern end; and the change of their channels and outlets in a southern direction, so as to raise that part of the valley by their deposits and thereby reverse its drainage, was one of the principal steps in the process of improvement.
Then, as the King and his party pass out of sight, the storm comes on in its fury, and the gusts of wind blow out the lamps, as if after doing honour to the King their work was ended. Another scene which I remember well was on a long day's journey through the Val di Chiana, a day's journey by fertile fields and smiling villages, and on pleasant country roads.
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