There are few places that, although subjected over the centuries to massive transformation by man, have been able to maintain their environmental identity and clearly display what remains, has been reborn and continues on, both culturally and naturally, in the collective memory and in the local folklore. Comacchio is one of these fortunate places. A wealth of natural, social and economic conditions can now be found in the Po Delta, which is no wonder, given the richness of the territory’s millenary history as an ancient thoroughfare of European civilization, traversed in numerous directions to link Europe, the Adriatic and the Middle East. Mercantile trading, military transit, occupations, conquests, and day to day contact with different cultures and civilizations, have, over the years, left their mark and given birth to a multiform reality which is rarely found in similar areas. From this stems the importance of investigating the area’s morphology, its naturalistic and environmental value, and its economy and culture, tracing the different phases and periods of the territory’s history: from its settlements to its economic life, from its means of production to its urban planning, and from its political and social order to its traditions, ways of living and thinking. The Comacchio area and the Delta emerge today from a century old drama of misery and hunger, from which the objective scarsity of resources and the exasperated exploitation of both resources and human labour have led too often to a violence of the natural habitat and have forced the indigenous population to fi ght for its very survival. The lagoon museum is the forerunner of a major project aimed at the Po Delta in Comacchio. Another achievement will soon be the monographic museum exhibiting the ancient Roman ship found in 1981 at Valle Ponti lagoon and which will be restored by the local council, together with regional and national authorities, is preparing to exhibit in Palazzo Bellini, alongside some restored documentary evidence.
The Comacchio Lagoon: a naturalistic and historical itinerary
GIAMBASTIANI, Beatrice Maria Sole
2003
Abstract
There are few places that, although subjected over the centuries to massive transformation by man, have been able to maintain their environmental identity and clearly display what remains, has been reborn and continues on, both culturally and naturally, in the collective memory and in the local folklore. Comacchio is one of these fortunate places. A wealth of natural, social and economic conditions can now be found in the Po Delta, which is no wonder, given the richness of the territory’s millenary history as an ancient thoroughfare of European civilization, traversed in numerous directions to link Europe, the Adriatic and the Middle East. Mercantile trading, military transit, occupations, conquests, and day to day contact with different cultures and civilizations, have, over the years, left their mark and given birth to a multiform reality which is rarely found in similar areas. From this stems the importance of investigating the area’s morphology, its naturalistic and environmental value, and its economy and culture, tracing the different phases and periods of the territory’s history: from its settlements to its economic life, from its means of production to its urban planning, and from its political and social order to its traditions, ways of living and thinking. The Comacchio area and the Delta emerge today from a century old drama of misery and hunger, from which the objective scarsity of resources and the exasperated exploitation of both resources and human labour have led too often to a violence of the natural habitat and have forced the indigenous population to fi ght for its very survival. The lagoon museum is the forerunner of a major project aimed at the Po Delta in Comacchio. Another achievement will soon be the monographic museum exhibiting the ancient Roman ship found in 1981 at Valle Ponti lagoon and which will be restored by the local council, together with regional and national authorities, is preparing to exhibit in Palazzo Bellini, alongside some restored documentary evidence.I documenti in SFERA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
