Articles > Po Delta

A flat expanse of water broken only by low dykes and mudflats, secured from the tides by a few clumps of saltwort: russet splashes on a canvas dominated by blue and green. Here an egret stands motionless; there, as you pass, a pair of mallards whirr away from the bank.

For those who value solitude and wide-open spaces, the Po Delta is a rare haven in a country where the line between land and sea is more often associated with free-for-all development and swimming bans. Here, at last, you can travel for miles - walking or cycling along the high banks of the Valli, or fishing lagoons - without seeing another person. On the horizon, though, you might glimpse the cooling towers of the Porto Tolle power station, or the ribbon development of beach resorts such as Rosolina Mare or Lido delle Nazioni: distant warnings of human encroachment.

In the Valli, the only signs of life are the casoni - low, peach-washed fishing lodges with green shutters. But these have a closed look: most are privately owned, the bagatelles of rich industrialists who come down from Milan for a few days each year. Large-scale fishing goes on here too, but this mostly takes place in October and November, when the eels in the lagoon are caught in elaborate, reed-walled traps as they try, vainly, to answer the call of the Sargasso.

The Valli fill in a lot of the dead space between the delta branches, where the meandering Po splits into a confusion of channels, some natural and some man-made. Outside of the rice paddies (Italy's prized arborio rice is grown here), this can be poor agricultural terrain, because of the high salinity of the soil - by way of compensation, though, salt pans provide much of Italy's sea salt. Much of the land reclaimed in the fifties and early sixties when Italy needed bread now lies abandoned, a boggy heath which may one day be flooded once more: nowadays, eels, sea bass and flounder are a better economic proposition than wheat.

Ever since the 15th century human intervention has profoundly altered the shape of the Po Delta. Ferrara's D'Este rulers launched an ambitious land reclamation scheme in the second half of the century. Despite initial success, land subsidence and the rival engineering works of the Venetians, who diverted the main course of the Po to prevent their port from silting up, soon submerged the Estense lands once more. In the last century, steam-powered pumping stations finally allowed vast tracts of land to be reclaimed; but, as a glance at a map will show, plenty of water has been left for the herons, the eels and the reed-beds.

The Po is the only one of Europe's four major river deltas not to have been granted protected status. Italy has been debating the institution of a Po Delta National Park for over 20 years, but despite a government ultimatum that expires at the end of this year the various local interest groups are no nearer an agreement. The Delta has the misfortune to straddle the border between two regions, and two political groupings: left-wing Emilia-Romagna to the south and the centre-right administration of the Veneto to the north. In 1988 Emilia-Romagna went ahead and unilaterally declared its section of the Delta a regional park. Though it covers less than a third of the total delta area, this southern section is where most of the tourist sights and facilities are concentrated.

Here you will find the town of Comacchio, with its Venetian-style canals and famous three-way bridge, the Trepponti, which functioned as the town gate of this water-bound community. Here too is the isolated Abbey of Pomposa, a magnificent Benedictine monastic complex dating back to the 8th century. It was here that Guido di Arezzo invented the musical scale in the 11th century. Nearby is the Bosco di Mesola, the only remnant of the woodland which once covered most of the delta area: here Italy's last surviving native population of red deer took refuge, protected by the malarial swamps all around. Today the population is around 100 and rising.

The Veneto side of the Delta - which includes the main branch of the Po - has discovered the conservation = tourism equation only recently, and is still dragging its feet on the question of protected status. What makes the Delta special - the human presence which has moulded the landscape - is also the greatest obstacle to conservation: many local people fear that a national park would cramp their already limited economic activities by introducing strict fishing quotas and banning the use of pesticides in farming.

In any case, as locals are quick to point out, their contribution to the pollution of the delta waters is nothing when compared to the toxic waste which pours down the river from Italy's industrial heartland upstream. It has been estimated that 1728 kilos of arsenic alone are pumped into the river every day.

Local boatman Michele Barini has been plying the maze of waterways around the delta mouth for the past forty years. He and his brother started by operating a rope-and-pulley ferry at Gorino Sulam, on the Gnocca branch of the river. Now he takes tourists out on his small vaporetto ‘Rodry’. "It's disgusting what they offload into this river" he says, shaking his head. "What amazes me is that so much wildlife still thrives."

He is guiding his boat through thick reed beds as he speaks. This is a world apart from the Valli with their great expanses of water and sky. Here the narrow channels and high reed walls form an intricate maze. At times the walls fall back to reveal a small lake clearing where coots go about their dippy business; or, turning a corner, we almost collide with a reed-cutter in his battana - a flat-bottomed boat designed to cope with the shallow water of the lagoons.

The secrecy and inaccessibility of this waterscape has long made it a place of refuge for bandits and exiles.It was here that Garibaldi managed to shake off his Austrian pursuers in the summer of 1849 - though his pregnant wife Anita died during the flight. During the war, this was also a centre of partisan activity, later commemorated in Roberto Rossellini's film Paisà. Artists and writers like Giorgio Bassani - author of The Garden of the Finzi-Contini - have long found inspiration in these misty lagoons and canals with their huts on stilts and cantilever fishing nets.

Humans are not the only animals to have found refuge in the Delta. Many species rare or absent in the rest of Italy breed here: from the oystercatcher, which nests on the more isolated beaches, to the blackwinged stilt, whose noble bearing has earned it the Italian name of cavaliere d'Italia, or Knight of Italy. Among the reed beds red herons and marsh falcons can be seen. Some species, unfortunately, are lost for ever: beavers and pelicans had already been wiped out by hunters in the 17th century, while otters held out until the 1980s. But there are signs of a turnabout: spoonbills returned to the Delta in 1989, and there are hopes that flamingos will one day return to nest here.

To see some of the unique flora of the delta ecosystem, head for Rosolino Mare, where the Giardino Botanico Litoraneo teaches us the importance of plants in the formation of the delta and the gradual reclamation of land from the sea: from esparto grass, which helps to anchor down the frontline defences of the sand dunes, to the umbrella pines further back. This is an ongoing process: parts of the Delta which are now terra firma are less than twenty years old.

This makes the Po Delta not only also the newest part of Italy, but also perhaps the only National Park in the world to have grown while being born.

Practical information

Nearest major train stations are Ferrara, Ravenna and Rovigo; from the latter a branch line to Chioggia touches the Delta at Rosolina. Local bus connections are infrequent and slow. One of the best ways to see the Delta is by bicycle: there are bike hire centres in the main towns and resorts, and local tourist offices will provide you with a map showing recommended routes.

Most of the local hotels are concentrated in beach resorts along the coast - not the best way to see the unspoilt Delta scenery from close quarters. Total Delta immersion is assured at the Rifugio Parco Delta del Po, in the tiny village of Gorino Sullam. A complete range of activities is on offer here, from cycle and canoe hire to guided nature treks with overnight camping stops. For a more luxurious but equally natural experience, the Cannevié hotel is a restored 16th century fishing lodge on the Cannevié-Porticino lagoon area not far from Pomposa. The hotel's restauarant occupies the old tabarra, where nets and fishing utensils were stored; there is also a hide among the reeds from which many species of birds can be observed.

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