Italy is home to almost 1,200 rivers but the three best known are the Po, the Arno, and the Tiber. The Tiber, also called the Tevere, is not the longest river in Italy but it is the longest in central Italy and has played a crucial role in the development of several regions and the Eternal City of Rome.

The river flows from two springs separated by 33 feet on Mount Fumaiolo. In the 1930s Benito Mussolini had an antique marble column built at the source, inscribed with the words, Qui Nasce Il Fiume Sacro Ai Destini di Roma. This translates to “Here is born the river, sacred to the destinies of Rome.” Mussolini also changed the regional borders over a century ago to place the source of the river within his birthplace of Dovia di Predappio, a small town in the province of Forlì in Emilia-Romagna.