The Roya Roia (Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

), or Ròia (Brigasc

Brigasc

Brigasc is a dialect of the Ligurian language. It is spoken in Italy and France.-Area of use:The Brigasc dialects are Roya, Tanaro, and Argentina, named respectively after the rivers Roya, Tanaro and Argentina. Roya is spoken in the French department of Alpes-Maritimes. Tanaro is spoken in the...

, Occitan) is a 59 km river of France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 and Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

.

The river rises in French territory near the Col de Tende

Col de Tende

Col de Tende is a high mountain pass in the Alps, on the border of France and Italy.It separates the Maritime Alps from the Ligurian Alps. It connects Nice and Tende in Alpes-Maritimes with Cuneo in Piedmont....

 and flows through the Mercantour National Park

Mercantour National Park

Mercantour National Park is one of the nine national parks of France. Since it was created in 1979, the Mercantour Park has proven popular, with 800,000 visitors every year enjoying the 600 km of marked footpaths and visiting its villages.-Extent:...

 The river passes through the communes of Tende

Tende

Tende is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France.-Geography:Tende is located within Mercantour National Park in the French Alps. The mountainous commune is bordered by Italy to the north, with the boundary determined by the watershed line between the two countries...

, Saorge

Saorge

Saorge is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France. Highway E74 which runs north from Menton, passes through Saorge on its way to the Col de Tende where it crosses into Italy....

, Breil-sur-Roya

Breil-sur-Roya

Breil-sur-Roya is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France.-Population:-Transportation:...

, La Brigue

La Brigue

La Brigue is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France.Brigue became part of France after the World War II, when Italy was forced to hand it over in September 1947 under the terms of the 1947 Peace of Paris. Before the hand over, it was part of Province of Cuneo...

, before entering Italy in the commune

Comune

In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...

 of Olivetta San Michele

Olivetta San Michele

Olivetta San Michele is a comune in the Province of Imperia in the Italian region Liguria, located about 130 km southwest of Genoa and about 40 km west of Imperia, on the border with France...

. The remainder of its course remains within the province of Imperia

Province of Imperia

The Province of Imperia is a mountainous and hilly province, in the Liguria region of Italy, situated between the Maritime Alps to the north and the Ligurian Sea, an arm of the Mediterranean Sea to the south...

 and, after crossing Airole

Airole

Airole is a comune in the Province of Imperia in the Italian region of Liguria, located about 130 km southwest of Genoa and about 40 km west of Imperia, on the border with France...

 the river enters the sea at Ventimiglia

Ventimiglia

Ventimiglia is a city and comune in Liguria, northern Italy, in the province of Imperia. It is located southwest of Genoa by rail, and 7 km from the French-Italian border, on the Gulf of Genoa, having a small harbour at the mouth of the Roia River, which divides the town into two parts...

.