River
Fluvius Pallia
Paglia
Listen to the story
Fluvius Pallia is the Paglia in central Italy, a river that rises on Monte Amiata, meets the Chiana at the foot of Orvieto and flows into the Tiber. The map tells a different story. In all likelihood a copyist stretched this short tributary all the way to the Tyrrhenian Sea, fusing it with the coastal river Armenta, the modern Fiora, so that it now looks like a branch flowing out of the Tiber. Its source is missing from the drawing. Where the Via Cassia crossed the river stood a road station of the same name, placed nine Roman miles from Clusium, a figure that is too small.