Fiume Stella mid-course
Address
Ariis
GPS
45.872376413883, 13.083740472794
Level of difficulty 3 | Gastronomy 1 | Length 18 km | Time 4 - 5 hours
The Stella River combines a raw nature experience with leisurely river SUPing and, due to its diverse characteristics, has passages suitable for every paddler. On its middle course you first experience demanding challenges, followed by endless relaxation.
General information
Navigation rules
As the river flows through the Risorgive dello Stella nature reserve, we ask you to behave respectfully by avoiding littering and noise. The course of the nature reserve can be viewed online.
You will hardly see any swimmers along the Stella, but the further you paddle down to the sea, the more boats might cross your way. Always bypass the occasional houseboat, fishing boat or yacht in time and at a safe distance!
Dangers and risks
When entering the water over the wooden walkway under the bridge, you could slip if it is wet. It is best to step into the shallow water to the left of it.
The river is generally very comfortable to paddle. However, with a water level of 100 cm at the Ariis Idro measuring station and a flow speed of around 6 km/h, inexperienced paddlers should only start the tour from the motorway bridge.
Especially during the first half of the tour, i.e. mainly in the wooded section, various types of insects (horseflies, mosquitoes) make life difficult and can be extremely distracting. As soon as the skin is wet (water, sweat) the stinging attacks start.
The river flows through a lot of sharp bends with branches sticking out into and over the water, in which you can get caught. Narrow sections can be very fast, which is why you need good SUP technique in order not to end up in the water or on the overgrown bank. The branches require quick directional decisions, especially when the flow is fast. Please only use a leash with a safety release!
The section up to the motorway bridge is always throwing rotten branches and tree trunks at paddlers, at least after heavy rainfall. Some of these are in the water and have to be bypassed, and some of them completely block the way forward. If you hold on to them, they can not only break, but if you don't have enough body tension you can also lose the SUP under your legs. If necessary, always hold on to branches while kneeling or sitting and build up a lot of body tension so your legs don't lose the SUP.
There are always blockages that can lead to awkward portages through the sometimes muddy thicket. Suitable sturdy shoes are essential, as are patience, a clear overview and emotional stability.
The last few kilometers of the tour are really comfortable, but there may be boats or small yachts on the water. Get out of their way early!
This last section of the tour is also home to miles of wild blackberry bushes, especially on the right bank. If you want to pick berries during the harvest season, you should be particularly careful on the SUP so you don't get scratched by thorns. They are not only relatively large and hard, but also merciless.
Directions
Ariis is easily accessible by car from all directions. Whether you are coming from Udine, Lignano or Monfalcone, it will always take around 30-40 minutes to get there from these cities.
Getting there by public transport is a bit more complicated, as there is no train station in Ariis, only a bus stop. Some connections are combinations of train and bus and involve changing vehicles.
National and international bus, train and flight connections can be found via the comparison portals Omio, Busbud as well as RailEurope. Those arriving by plane have several options, as the nearest airports are in Venice, Treviso and Trieste.
Parking
There are two good parking options for the tour start in Ariis: the first option is of course the free parking lot at the small bridge over the river. It is big enough to easily find a parking space. If that's not the case, you can also park your car on the parking lot next to the fountain in the village center. From there you walk 400 m to the river.
At the end of this tour, it is best to park in the area of the Ristaurante al Fiume Stella. The parking lot is really big, and if in doubt, plan a visit to the restaurant and ask in advance whether you can leave the car there for a few hours. Reservations are often required.
Swimming
According to Wikipedia, the river has an average water temperature of 11° C, which fluctuates between 7 and 13° C. In our opinion, the water temperature is probably even around 15-18° C in summer and offers a fantastic way to cool down, especially on hot days. However, we do not recommend swimming in the river, as the flowing water is strong enough, even at low currents, to pose problems for some swimmers.
If you really want to go into the water from the SUP, the best place to do so is in one of the countless basins along sweeping river bends. At the edges of these, the water is still or at least moves much slower.
The last third of the route is particularly interesting for boats, which is not really an advantage for swimmers.
Otherwise, the only spots left for swimming in officially approved places are the Marano Lagoon on selected beaches and the beaches around the seaside resorts of Lignano and Bibione.
Tour
From the bridge in Ariis to the Ristorante al Fiume Stella in Precenicco.
Length
18 km
Time
4 - 5 hours
Start and landing
Start at the bridge in Ariis.
Land along the small canal at the restaurant Al Fiume Stella.
SUP rental
None
From the jungle towards the lagoon
La Stella means star in Italian and is also the name of a picturesque river that winds its way along its 45 km from the Friulian village of Sterpo down to the Marano Lagoon. It is probably also called Stella because it is a real pearl of emerald green water and because it can teach us paddlers a lot, so that we have lightbulb moments, so to speak. Along this route you can experience true moments of glory by overcoming adversity and then relax without compromise.
The previous evening was marked by thunderstorms and so we set off on an unforgettable experience just a few hundred metres from our accommodation, the Hotel Principato di Ariis, in overcast weather. Right next to the bridge in the village of Ariis there is a free parking lot next to the river, which serves as an ideal starting point for this day trip towards the lagoon. We get on our boards in the park opposite the red-bricked Villa Ortellio Savorgnan and recall its history, which is certainly worth mentioning in literary terms.
A love story is said to have taken place in this beautiful place in the 16th century, which was turned into an autobiographical novella by one of the protagonists. This in turn is said to have served as the basis for William Shakespeare's drama Romeo and Juliet. So there is quite a lot of history with which we set off into the unexpectedly fast-flowing water and meander through the rising morning steam.
In ancient times, the river was the most important watercourse in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region because it connected the Alps with the Adriatic Sea. Archaeological finds such as the remains of bridges and shipwrecks testify to its importance since Roman times. We quickly realise that the river, which the ancient Romans called Anaxum, does not need a diversity manager because the biodiversity is already evident from the start.
For example, we will be delighted by the different species of blue-black dragonflies along the entire route. There are also plenty of nutria and beavers in the waters, which are excellently described in the german book Auf smaragd-grünen Flüssen (On Emerald-Green Rivers).
However, the romanticism of nature is over after just a few hundred meters, when we reach a fork in the river that surprises some of us and leads to water landings in the thicket. The cool water is quite pleasant, but the current makes such situations extremely difficult today. You have to decide quickly which way to take and then you can only hope you don't fall victim to a blockage in the thicket. For this reason, this cute waterway is not for SUP beginners at higher flow rates, even if you can read about its calm nature in many travel reports.
Right at the start of our journey, we struggle to make any progress because branches and entire trees block the way every few meters. Sometimes we have to carry our SUPs through the densely overgrown forest. Sometimes we manage to sneak through or over the obstacles on the water. The first few kilometers are definitely not suitable for getting your Sunday clothes out of the closet. We get welts and are soon covered in earth and mud. The horseflies, meanwhile, find our skin tasty, so unfortunately the mosquito protection is no longer of any use.
After the second kilometer we paddle towards a water labyrinth again, and it doesn't seem to matter which direction we turn in. Somehow we're going the wrong way everywhere - just like the trees that block all the paths. That costs time, nerves and, above all, energy. It dents our enthusiasm and motivation a little, because we went into this tour with completely different and more romantic ideas.
But team work makes the dream work, and so we manage to get out of these difficult situations together and slowly get used to the conditions. We advise everyone to study the satellite image as well as possible in advance to avoid any surprises. However, nature constantly ensures that the conditions are constantly changing
Some of the critical passages will probably last longer and will still be clearly visible from a bird's eye view. Fortunately, the countless meanders repeatedly form great basins with almost stagnant water. That's where we catch our breath and gather ourselves for the next unknown kilometers. Nevertheless, the countless curves give us an entertaining ride, accompanied only by the rippling of the water and the singing of unknown bird species.
After the jungle experiences, the river begins to clear. The clouds disappear and the mood improves considerably again. We get into a pleasant flow and after five kilometers on the water we finally pass the first bridge. But then nothing works anymore: in the area of the small town of Pocenia, several trees from both banks are wedged directly above and below the water surface.
The water continues to move at the same pace and we find a good place to land on the right bank about 40 m before the blocking. The left bank is too overgrown, and on our side it is not particularly well prepared either, but the water is calm on shore. Here we can relax a bit, get off and put down our SUPs to assess the situation.
Behind the loose thicket there is a clearing that, with a bit of luck, leads to the other side of this massive blockage. However, the path to the water on the other side is heavily overgrown, the only access to the water is narrow and currently flanked by sweepers. Regardless, this is our only option to continue paddling.
So we march back, get the SUPs and the dry bags, then carry everything to the other side behind the obstacle, tame the nettles and mosquitoes, and then one after the other we slide into the water with the fin first. It sounds quick, but it takes quite a long time. We are careful not to get caught in the sweeper in front of us again. So we stay on our knees and paddle in quick, short strokes.
As soon as we pass the motorway bridge, we realize that the most adventurous part of this supposedly calm waterway is probably behind us. The landscape opens up and shows us its first vineyards. Then there are more fields that reflect the character of the Friulian plains in the now blazing sun. Corn, wheat, sunflowers and soy are grown around the southern part of the Stella - and we are paddling right in the middle of them.
The zigzag course remains, but the current gradually subsides. After 10 km, in the small town of Palazzolo, which has a population of 3,000, we finally come across tangible civilization again. The churches Chiesa di San Bartolomeo and Santo Stefano are towering above the rooftops and probably keep an eye on us far beyond the car bridge.
A little further on, we sit down in a wide basin to take a break and watch the dragonflies dancing around our SUPs. The river has now become what we had read about in all the blog articles and travel reports: the epitome of idleness and natural romance. And as is always the case, it doesn't take long before we wish the flow would speed up again, because we are now forced to paddle harder and harder to create distance.
The village of Precenicco is particularly popular with houseboat holidaymakers. Its moorings attract us, but we have to paddle straight past them if we want to avoid a one-kilometer detour. Instead, we enjoy the view of the inviting private houses and their river accesses, as well as the meter-high blackberry bushes that spread out for kilometers on end from here, especially along the right bank. It's the end of July and we can already harvest a lot of fruit and eat it greedily while kneeling on our SUPs. Paradise is on our fingertips!
The first motor yacht anchors in front of us in the quiet river, so we can't be very far from the lagoon and even less far from our destination. The water is now almost standing still and is demanding our last reserves of strength. The afternoon sun provides the final energy boost we need to squeeze around the boat docks to the right into a narrow channel at the Ristaurante al Fiume Stella.
We don't know whether the restaurant guests at the water notice us because we're on SUPs or because we look so worn out, but we don't care at the moment. We do know that, despite the initial adversities, we'll go to bed with a wonderful gift today. Although one action cam went swimming and made an eternal dive in the river, today's memories, experiences and learning effects will certainly stay with us forever.
Alternatives: You can also SUP the Fiume Stella 2.2 km north of Ariis. A reasonably good starting point can be found right next to the bridge in Flambruzzo. However, the satellite image shows some heavily blocked passages up to Ariis (as of 2024).
You can also paddle the last ten kilometers of the river (from the end of the above tour) to the Marano Lagoon, passing the Foci dello Stella nature reserve.
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