Delta del Po
The Po Delta refers to the hydraulic system of river branches through which the river Po flows into the northern Adriatic Sea after its course from Monviso all the way along the Po Valley.
Its present hydraulic layout stems from the consequences of the Ferrara earthquake of 1570 and from the Taglio di Porto Viro, a great hydraulic work carried out by the Republic of Venice in 1604.
It is made up of the set of river branches and, by extension, of the territory enclosed between them, today reaching a surface area of about 18 thousand hectares. According to this definition, the Po Delta lies entirely within the Province of Rovigo or Polesine and occupies almost all of its eastern portion (from the intake of the Po di Goro to the sea), and is also defined as the "active delta".
In a broader sense, it comprises the wider area of the historic delta, that is, the area enclosed between the ancient deltaic branches of the river Po: as there once existed important southern branches of the watercourse, among which we may mention the Po di Volano and the Po di Ferrara or Po di Primaro, it would include the cusp-shaped part of the Province of Ferrara enclosed between the points of Stellata, Sacca di Goro and the Valli di Comacchio.
The contemporary hydraulic layout of the Po Delta supports the more restrictive definition set out above, even though the coastal parts of the Province of Ferrara, in particular the area between the mouth of the Po di Goro and the Lido di Volano and the part including the Valli di Comacchio, retain a landscape character that is typically deltaic and marshy.
Since 1999 the Po Delta has been included in the list of Italian World Heritage Sites by UNESCO, as an extension of the recognition conferred on the city of Ferrara in 1995.
The Po Delta comprises the protected natural areas established within the relevant geographical territory:
- Regional Park of the Po Delta of Emilia-Romagna - established in 1988, but operational only from 1996, it also includes territories that are part of the water basin of other rivers (among them the Reno). It comprises the southern part of the historic Po Delta, but only a minimal part of the present-day delta;
- Veneto Regional Park of the Po Delta - operational from 1997, it comprises practically the whole geographical delta of the Po, as defined above;
- Interregional Park of the Po Delta is the name of the park that the Regions of Veneto and Emilia-Romagna were to have established jointly by 1993, pursuant to the Framework Law on Protected Areas (Law no. 394 of 1991, art. 35). As no agreement was reached between the parties, the two separate regional parks were established.
Source: wikipedia
