The river source is near the
Reschen Pass () close to the borders with Austria and Switzerland above the
Inn Valley. It flows through the artificial alpine
Lake Reschen. The lake is known for the church tower that marks the site of the former village of
Alt Graun ("Old Graun"); it was evacuated and flooded in 1953 after the dam was finished. Near
Glurns, the
Rom River joins from the Swiss
Val Müstair. The Adige runs eastward through the
Vinschgau to
Merano, where it is met by the
Passer river from the north. The section between Merano and
Bolzano is called
Etschtal, meaning Adige Valley. South of Bolzano, the river is joined by the
Eisack and turns south through a valley which has always been one of the major routes through the Alps, connecting the
Reschen and the
Brenner passes, at considered the easiest of the main Alpine passes. The
Chiusa di Salorno narrows at
Salorno and marks the southernmost part of the predominantly German-speaking province of South Tyrol. The Adige was mentioned in the "
Lied der Deutschen" of 1841 as the southern border of the German
language area. As of 2011 62% of Salorno speaks Italian and 37% speaks German. In 1922 Germany adopted the song as its national anthem, although by that time Italy had taken control of all of the Adige. Near
Trento, the
Avisio, Noce, and Fersina rivers join. The Adige crosses
Trentino and later
Veneto, flowing past the town of
Rovereto, the
Lagarina Valley, the cities of
Verona and
Rovigo and the north-eastern part of the Po Plain into the
Adriatic Sea. The Adige and the Po run parallel in the
river delta without properly joining. The Adige is connected to
Lake Garda by the
Mori–Torbole tunnel, an artificial underground canal built for flood prevention. ==Tributaries==