In the south, the Adige river (German: Etsch) runs to the Adriatic Sea. In 1841, the Austrian Empire ruled all of its length, and much of the population of its area was German. Historically, the river was the southern border of the medieval Duchy of Carinthia, and centuries later it marked the border between Austrian Venetia and Napoleonic Italian Republic; in the middle, it was divided among the Republic of Venice, the Bishopric of Trent and Austria. After the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, the river's southern part became part of Italy, while the northern one remained part of Austrian Tirol; but it then became part of Italy too, after 1918. Now, as then, the town of Salorno (German: Salurn), marks the linguistic border between the German and the Italian speaking population in the valley. ...