Sanitation of the Montone River in the 15th Century

I'm writing a story set in 15th century Italy (1460, to be precise) and had an idea for a scene where the characters go swimming in a river. The book is pretty depressing ATM, so I want to add a scene that's fun/romantic. However, I also know that sanitation standards weren't necessarily high back then, and I'm wondering if it would be practical for them to want to swim in a river or if it would be too dirty to be appealing.

The point in the book where I want to add the scene involves the characters being in Forli, which is why I thought the Montone river would be the most reasonable. Again, however, sanitation problems might make that a very bad idea.

If you don't think this is practical, do you have other ideas for something they could do in Forli at that time? The main problem the characters face in doing fun/romantic activities is that they have to remain conspicuous, or they'll alert the entity they're hunting about their presence. But while they're in semi-hiding, I want them to do something that's fun/romantic.

(An example of a similar scene is when the two characters are in Venice. They arrive during the Carnivale season and climb to the roof of the building in which they're staying to see the fireworks at night.)

King Neptune said:

I don't know that river, but generally rivers would have been swimmable upstream from cities and towns, unless livestock wee polluting them, and een then it would be safe as long as they weren't swimming among the livestock, say a half mile downstream. People would have been washing clothes and themselves in it, and taking water for domestic use.

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Thanks for the response! Maybe I'll use that idea after all, then.

Alessandra Kelley said:

By the fifteenth century didn't most Italian towns have well developed sewer systems? It would probably be worth checking out an archeological history of the area, starting from Roman times.

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Thanks for the advice! Do you know of any sources where I could get this information? I tried to look it up on Google, but could only find information specific to Venice, which involved the use of their canals, so I don't think it would apply to Forli.

King Neptune said:

Fpr information about the installation of sewers in particular towns you would have to ask the minicipal government. During that era getting the sewerage off the street was a considerable advance, so it would have been fresher when it got into the river.

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Okay, I will try to get in contact with them!

Thanks to both of you. If I can't get more information, I'll probably just use the scene, since the general consensus seems to be that it'd be okay. However, I'll try a few more ways to get the info I'm searching for before I get to that part.

Thanks so much for the replies, everyone! Seems like sanitation wasn't a big issue, so I'll write the scene as planned.

jaksen said:

Did people swim for fun at this time? I know even in our time, many young people don't know how to swim and there's a big push to get more minority children and young people involved in swimming.

During WWII (diff. era) not every young male soldier knew how to swim either. My father was a country boy and could, which is one of the reasons he survived the landing at Normandy. He was horrified to learn many of his companions could not swim and drowned before they could reach the beaches. Of course, there was the constant gunfire, too.

And in America and parts of Europe, swimming became popular and something to do (at least in summer) in the late 1800's and early 1900's. A lot of beach-goers sort of just waded around in the water because they couldn't swim.

So swimming in a cold, fast-moving river...

If I am wrong and it was very popular activity or pastime in Italy at the time you are writing, apologies...

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Good point. My MC is technically undead (it's a YA fantasy rather than historical), so she doesn't breathe and therefore can't drown. However, she could certainly get washed away by the current. Perhaps I'll have them sit on the water's edge and dip their feet in instead. I think it would have the same effect (fun/romantic) without posing any challenges to believability.