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The trench were the waterfall begins is on the slopes Mount Peschiena on the Tuscan-Romagna mountain ridge in the province of Florence. The beginning water route, which is very winding due to the gorges and bends, goes to the Piana dei Romiti. After following a brief and calm route, the Acquacheta plunges into the "fall." The inital fall begins from a huge white sandstone and dives down about 230 ft.(with a width of about 115 ft.) into the Rio Lavane. | ||||||
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In 1302, when Dante Alighieri was exiled from Florence and while he was on his way to Forlė, he stopped at the Romiti and stayed with the Benedictine monks. The poet liked the waterfall so much that he decided to use it in the Inferno (XVI, 94-105). |
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And even as the river that is first to take its own course eastward from Mount Viso, dalong the left flank of the Apennines (which up above is called the Acquacheta, before it spills into its valley bed and flows without the name beyond Forlė), reverberates above San Benedetto dell'Alpe as it cascades in one leap, where there is space enough to house a thousand; so did we hear that blackened water roar as it plunged down a steep and craggy bank, enough to deafen us in a few hours. |
Come quel fiume c'ha proprio cammino prima da monte Veso inver levante, dalla sinistra costa d'apennino, che si chiama Acquacheta suso, avante che si divalli giù nel basso letto, e a Forlė di quel nome č vacante, rimbomba lā sovra San Benedetto dell'Alpe, per cadere ad una scesa dove dovria per mille esser recetto; cosė gių d'una ripa discoscesa trovammo risonar quell'acqua tinta, sė che in poc'ora avria l'orecchia offesa. | ||||||
English translation of the The Divine Comedy by A. Mandelbaum, Bantam, 1982 | |||||||
