Var (river)

The Var (French: [vaʁ] , Occitan: [ˈbaɾ]; Italian: Varo; Latin: Varus) is a river located in the southeast of France. It is 114 km (71 mi) long. Its drainage basin is 2,812 km2 (1,086 sq mi). The Var flows through the Alpes-Maritimes département for most of its length, with a short (~15 km or ~9 mi) stretch in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence département. It is a unique case in France of a river not flowing in the département named after it (see Var). This is the result of the Nice Préfecture being too small to be considered a département by itself in the administrative reshuffling of 1860. Hence, some land had to be taken out of neighbouring Var region causing the eponymous département to lose its namesake. Until the beginning of the 19th century, the river had no bridges; it was the border between France and the County of Nice, then part of Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia.