The Battle of Trebbia was fought near the lower course of the Tidone when Hannibal defeated a Roman army in 218 BC. The name dates from the battle when a Roman centurion found the Tidone's waters to be clear and drinkable while the nearby Trebbia supposedly ran red with the blood of the battle's victims. In thanks to the river, the officer said "O Valle ti dono questo anello; ti dono" (I give). Also fought in the area was a second Battle of Trebbia in 1799 which pitted a Republican French army against the allied armies of the Russian Empire and Habsburg Austria.