VOLTURNO, a river of central Italy, which rises in the neigh bourhood of Alfedena in the central Apennines of Samnium, runs south as far as Venafro, and then south-east. After a course of some 75 m. it receives, about 5 m. E. of Caiazzo, the Calore. The united stream now flows west-south-west past Capua (anc. Casili num), where the Via Appia and Latina joined just to the north of the bridge over it, and so through the Campanian plain, with many windings, into the sea. The direct length of the lower course is about 31 m., so that the whole is slightly longer than that of the Liri, and its basin far larger (1,953 sq.m. with a length of ioo m. in a straight line and a discharge of 4o cubic metres per second at the mouth). The river has always had considerable military im
portance, and the colony of Volturnum (no doubt preceded by an older port of Capua) was founded in 194 B.C. at its mouth on the south bank by the Romans ; it is now about one mile inland. A fort had already been placed there during the Roman siege of Capua, in order, with Puteoli, to serve for the provisioning of the army. The river was navigable as far as Capua.
On Oct. 1, 186o, the Neapolitan forces were defeated on the S. bank of the Volturno, near S. Maria di Capua Vetere, by the Piedmontese and Garibaldi's troops, a defeat which led to the fall of Capua.