Ortolo

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The Ortolo, known in Corsican as l’Urtolu, is a coastal river in the southwest of Corsica, France. It is about 31.75 km long and flows through the communes of Levie, Foce and Sartène. The river starts at an altitude of 1,225 m near Punta di a Vacca Morta and generally moves southwest, passing Bilzese (Foce) before reaching the border of Sartène where a dam creates the Ortolo Reservoir for irrigation. After the dam, it continues southeast to enter the Mediterranean southwest of Tizzano.

From the road network, the D265 runs east toward the river from Bilzese, and the D365 crosses it on a metal bridge. A footpath from the bridge leads to small natural swimming pools in the river, including a larger, deeper pool just below the bridge.

The Ortolo Reservoir is formed by the Barrage de l’Ortolo. The dam sits in Sartène, with most of the reservoir in Levie, and is operated by the Office d’Equipement Hydraulique de Corse. It is a riprap dam that holds about 2.92 million cubic metres of water, covers 26.6 hectares, and drains a 55 square kilometre watershed. The dam began operating in 1996 to supply irrigation.

Hydrological data come from two stations. At Moulin de Curgia (1976–1996), the watershed above this point covers 70.3 km2, with average annual rainfall of 388 mm, an average flow of 0.86 m3/s, and a maximum daily flow of 54.6 m3/s (on 2 February 1996). At Vignalella in Levie (1996–2021), the watershed is 26.2 km2, with average annual rainfall of 460 mm, an average flow of 0.381 m3/s, and a maximum daily flow of 22.2 m3/s (on 23 December 2007). The Ortolo has several tributaries, listed in order of length.