Three of Europe’s greatest rivers begin in the same geological cradle: one fertile patch of high Alpine ice in the jagged heights of central Switzerland. The consequences of this small fact can hardly be overstated: taken together, the Rhine, the Rhone and the Po do not simply symbolise three different cultures of Europe – French, German and Italian – they were the dynamo that gave them life.
Between them these extraordinary waterways have not only shaped the landscape, carving out the valleys in which early humans settled, they influenced the structure of Europe’s societies – the pattern of its towns and cities, roads and railways. They laid the foundation for its economies, creating an intricate network of agriculture and trade. And they enriched its cultural diversity: language, religion, philosophy, science, politics and art – from the Romanesque buttresses and vines of Provence and the Wagnerian music of the Rhine to the spiritual and arti