The Navile runs from south to north; it goes through the town of Bologna and crosses the Bolognese plain until it joins the Reno river once again near Passo Segni after a journey of about 40 km, of which 5.3 from the Chiusa di Casalecchio to Bova di Via Lame (where the Port was located).

Its regime is partly determined by adjustments of the locks, partly by the collection of meteoric waters in Bologna and a portion of the plain; its ordinary average flow rates can be estimated at 10 cubic meters per second, while the maximum flow can reach 100 cubic meters per second.

Destroyed several times by the ruinous floods of the Reno, it has always been rebuilt and represents, still today, one of the greatest examples of hydraulic engineering existing and built before the advent of reinforced concrete.

[4][5] After the Port of Bologna was dismantled, the canal has been exclusively used for irrigation and reclamation, as it is no longer suitable for navigable use.

In 1866, water from a well nearby the Port was bottled and locally sold; it was explicitly advertised as healthy, although the city had suffered from cholera until a few years earlier.