Sile (river)

River Sile in Treviso.

The Sile (Venetian: Sil) is a 95 km river in northern Italy. Its resurgent springs are near Vedelago (Province of Treviso) and it flows into the Venetian lagoon at the port of Piave Vecchia. It meets its tributary the Botteniga, or Cagnan, at Treviso.

Dante’s Cunizza da Romano prophesies the fate of Riccardo da Camino—he was apparently murdered at a game of chess—, locating it at this confluence:^[1]

e dove Sile e Cagnan s'accompagna,

tal signoreggia e va con la testa alta,

che già per lui carpir si fa la ragna.

— Dante Alighieri, Paradiso, IX.49-51

(And where the Cagnan and the Sile meet,

there’s one in power who goes with head held high:
the net to catch him is already made.)

Notes

1. See Henry Francis Cary’s footnotes to his translation, 3rd edn. c.1844.

Coordinates: 45°39′35″N 12°01′43″E / 45.65972°N 12.02861°E