Strabo Geography 5.1.11

[11] Both in Cispadana and around the Po there are some fine cities. Placentia ¹ and Cremona, situated about the middle of the country, are close to each other. Between these and Ariminum, ² are Parma, Mutina, ³ and Bononia, ⁴ which is near to Ravenna; amongst these are smaller cities on the route to Rome, as Acara, ⁵ Rhegium-Lepidum, ⁶ Macri-Campi, ⁷ where a public festival is held every year, Claterna, ⁸ Forum-Cornelium; ⁹ while Faventia ¹⁰ and Caesena, situated near to the river Savio ¹¹ and the Rubicon, ¹² are adjacent to Ariminum. Ariminum, like Ravenna, is an ancient colony of the Ombri. but both of them have received also Roman colonies. Anminum has a port and a river ¹³ of the same name as itself. From Placentia to Ariminum there are 1300 stadia. About 36 miles above Placentia, towards the boundaries of the kingdom of Cottius, is the city of Ticinum, ¹⁴ by which flows a river ¹⁵ bearing the same name, which falls into the Po, while a little out of the route are Clastidium, ¹⁶ Derthon, ¹⁷ and Aquae-Statiellae. ¹⁸ But the direct route as far as Ocelum, ¹⁹ along the Po and the Doria Riparia, ²⁰ is full of precipices, intersected by numerous other rivers, one of which is the Durance, ²¹ and is about 160 miles long. Here commence the Alpine mountains and Keltica. ²² Near to the mountains above Luna is the city of Lucca. Some [of the people of this part of Italy] dwell in villages, nevertheless it is well populated, and furnishes the greater part of the military force, and of equites, of whom the senate is partly composed. Derthon is a considerable city, situated about half way on the road from Genoa to Placentia, which are distant 400 stadia from each other. Aquae-Statiellae is on the same route. That from Placentia to Ariminum we have already described, but the sail to Ravenna down the Po requires two days and nights. A ²³ great part of Cispadana likewise was covered by marshes, through which Hannibal passed with difficulty on his march into Tyrrhenia. ²⁴ But Scaurus drained the plains by navigable canals from the Po ²⁵ to the country of the Parmesans. For the Trebia meeting the Po near Placentia, and having previously received many other rivers, is over-swollen near this place. I allude to the Scaurus ²⁶ who also made the Aemilian road through Pisa and Luna as far as Sabbatorum, and thence through Derthon. There is another Aemilian road, which continues the Flaminian. For Marcus Lepidus and Caius Flaminius being colleagues in the consulship, and having vanquished the Ligurians, the one made the Via Flaminia from Rome across Tyrrhenia and Ombrica as far as the territory of Ariminum, ²⁷ the other, the road as far as Bononia, ²⁸ and thence to Aquileia ²⁹ by the roots of the Alps, and encircling the marshes. The boundaries which separate from the rest of Italy this country, which we designate Citerior Keltica, ³⁰ were marked by the Apennine mountains above Tyrrhenia and the river Esino, ³¹ and afterwards by the Rubicon. ³² Both these rivers fall into the Adriatic.