A landscape is striking to the extent that it arouses emotions. And the emotions can be the most intense; different, among which surely the most attractive; the one of amazement. Those who for the first time look out over the Po Delta for the first time cannot but be impressed by it: for its rarefied atmospheres that seem to shape us; that the eye focuses on, making the vision almost surreal. A sensation that unites the various landscapes and the different micro ecosystems that this territory – truly unique in its kind so much so that it has become a Unesco &ndash Heritage Site; it offers in its environments, rich in flora and fauna, history, culture and nature. The Po Delta embraces part of the Polesine and borders Emilia Romagna, transforming from time to time between dunes, embankments, floodplains and lagoons. It is a territory to observe – not for nothing è privileged destination for birdwatchers – inspiring a meditative approach and conquering for its dimension of silence, in which sometimes è very pleasant to linger. But the Po Delta è also everything to live, in ways that satisfy everyone’s tastes, starting from the many excursions that can be undertaken, including boat trips and horseback riding, walking and cycling, without giving up the relaxation that a day at the beach can always give.
Oasi di Campotto – Photo by PriceM/shutterstock
History of nature and men
We are in Polesine, in a territory that has not to spend famous names, but many suggestions. Scardovari and Bonelli are two small towns where the history of the territory is told starting from the characteristic houses of the fishermen, who with their bright colors seem to be posed to be immortalized in a perpetual shot. In this corner of land and sea there is actually one of the largest lagoons of the Delta, where clams and mussels are grown and where you can discover a land of reclamation and wetlands, such as l’Oasi di Ca’ Mello, paths that seem to have been made especially for cycling and excursions all’sign of the “slow”, where l’to discover also means to stop every time the landscape becomes too beautiful not to be enjoyed calmly. At the gates of the Veneto Regional Park of the Po Delta, on the other hand, we are waiting for an excursion on its paths l’Oasi Golena di Panarella, protected by the WWF and equipped for l’observation of its fauna, a paradise for birdwatching among rushes, reeds and willows.
Laguna di Scardovari – Photo by Andrea Padoan
Goro, Gorino and the labyrinths d’water
You can choose to discover the Delta starting from two characteristic locations; fishing, Goro and Gorino, which overlook the Sacca di Goro, a brackish lagoon between the most important rivers of the Adriatic Sea, the Upper Adriatic, meeting point of the salty waters of the Adriatic Sea and the fresh waters of the Po, natural habitat of clams and mussels, so this unusual territory è, also known and appreciated from the gastronomic point of view. All’apex of the province of Ferrara, the name of the town è also linked to the Scannone di Goro, also known with the più suggestive name of Isola dell’Amore, a strip of land that gives in its extreme part a real jewel that stands on a strip of sand that bears the name of Scanno del Faro: the Go Lighthouse, 22 meters high, which stands between maze of water and land. Small treasure of the lagoon è the Church of San Basilio, in the municipality of Ariano Polesine, meeting the branches of the Po with the countryside, with a beautiful Romanesque facade, for a break out of time.
Scanno del Faro – Photo by Robert67/Shutterstock
Salines, saltworks, l’eel
Here the story is told by the water, the brackish water from which strips of land torn by reclamation emerge. Comacchio, in the province of Ferrara, è first of all the landscape of its valleys, all to be observed but also to be experienced by discovering it on board motorboats departing from Stazione Foce in the direction of internal canals, open navigation and casoni, the typical fishing buildings now recovered to restore their original appearance. But Comacchio è also its salt pans, located behind Lido degli Estensi, a particularly protected part of the regional park of the Po Delta, to be visited on foot as long as you have an authorized guide. Comacchio, designed by the Etruscan base, water, and then in the Etruscan market, the Early Middle Ages salt emporium, è to be discovered also in the Ancient Delta Museum and at the table, tasting the typical eel, whose processing è, told in the ancient factory Manifattura dei Marinati.
Comacchio, Tre Ponti – Photo by StevanZZ/Shutterstock
Cervia, markets and tradition
Comacchio also gives opportunities to the desire to relax in its Lidos, seven seaside resorts, bordered by the Po Delta Regional Park of Emilia Romagna, but not è l’ the only seaside resort that overlooks the coast from the Po Delta. Cervia with its hamlet Milano Marittima è famous for its fun and nightlife, and perhaps not everyone knows that è also a centre and its surroundings can be discovered in modalità slow, even better if on the pedals. Just in Cervia shopping can ò be that of the market on Thursday ì morning, where to buy the typical printed fabrics of the Romagna tradition, and always about markets c’è the fish market in the canal port, or in Pila, with the typical fish auction on weekday afternoons.
Mercato a Cervia – Foto di Claudi Zaccherini
