ADIGE, river, North Italy. The Adige rises in small lakes on The Resia (Reschen Scheideck) Pass (4,9o2ft.), and near Glorenza is joined by tributaries where roads over the Ofen and Stelvio Passes fall in. It flows E. to Merano, and S.E. to Bolzano, where it receives the Isarco (6ft.), and becomes navi gable. Turning S.W., and receiving the Noce (right) and the Avisio (left), it enters Lombardy, 13m. S. of Rovereto. It falls into the Adriatic at Porto Fossone, a few miles N. of the Po. The most considerable towns on its banks (south of Bolzano) are Trento, Rovereto, Verona and Legnago. It is very rapid, with sudden floods which do great damage. In Lombardy it is 2ooyds. wide, and io to 16f t., deep, but the strong current impedes navi gation. The Adige is 220M. long and, after the Po, the most important river in Italy. In Roman times its lower course lay much farther north than now, along the base of the Euganean hills, and it entered the sea at Brondolo. In A.D. 587 the river broke its banks and took its present course, but new streams opened repeatedly to the south, until now the Adige and Po form one delta.