The Po Delta: between land and sea
The Po Delta is a testament to how Nature models the countryside.
The constant accumulation of silt that is continually moving the barrier between the land and the water towards the East, has always proved a challenge to man, who has tried to establish his settlements along the Delta.
Evidence of the first works of land reclamation date back to the IV century and the Etruschi of Spina.
They were works destined to improve the commercial shipping and the production of salt. The Romans then developed the roadways, pisciculture and the brick production.
It was only after the Italian Unification that the work to reclaim land became more intense, leaving what today are large areas of Natural environment rich with flora and fauna.
Following this is was the Benedictine monks of Pomposa who took over the land reclamation process. Frequent floods, to a certain extent, ruined these works apart from those carried out bt Duke Alfonso II of the Estensi family in the XVI Century and the brief Napoleonic period when the works were concentrated on the centre of Commacchio and many important monuments of the 1600-1700 period.
