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Parco del Delta del Po


Valli di Comacchio e Zone Umide di Ravenna
Valli di Comacchio e Zone Umide di Ravenna After the recent reclaim of the Mezzano they're reduced in a few more than 11.000 hectares. They're included among the historic centre of Comacchio and the reclaimed territories of the Valleys Valli Pega, Rillo and Zavelea on the North, and the River Reno on the South, and among the reclaim of the Mezzano on the West, and the State Road Romea on the East. The actual set is formed by the Valleys Fossa di Porto, Lido di Magnavacca, Fattibello and Campo. The valleys are brackish with a high augmentation of the salinity, because of the evaporation, during the summer period.

The morphology is really articulated because of the artificial enbanckments that delimit basins for the fish cultivation, of the raising backs and foreshores and of ancient border dunes.

From the bank of the Reno, between the Valleys Fossa di Porto and Lido di Magnavacca. the Boscoforte peninsula extends for about 6 kilometres; it's a strip of sand large only few tens of metres and rich of canals and ponds in the middle-northern side that characterise it as one of the more spectacular places in all the Delta del Po.

Particularly suggestive is the Salina di Comacchio, placed behind the Lido degli Estensi. It has got a surface of about 600 hectares and it's articulated in a interlacement of canals and sheets of water, with dykes and branch-circuits for waters, with the Administration Centre and some big buildings placed along the border. The salt production in Comacchio started during the raising of the Etruscan civilisation and it finished in the beginning of the '80 years because it was considered not remunerative.


Valli di Comacchio e Zone Umide di Ravenna The Valleys of Comacchio are linked with the sea through the Portocanale of Porto Garibaldi and through the canals of Logonovo and Bellocchio. Fresh waters are brought from the River Reno. All the water entrances are controlled by some drains and siphons.

The waters level is mediately lower than a metre. The vegetational characteristic are sometimes substantially different from those ones of the other brackish basins.

The Ruppia spiralis forms some extended coverings on the muddy soundings and it's associated with algae (Lamprothamium papulosum, Sea lettuce and Valonia algae) on the sanding ones.

On the plate argillaceous backs, few high from water, the Slender glasswort associated with the Common marsh grass are diffused. On the backs of Boscoforte the Rush plantations and the borders of Tamarisks are numerous.

The habitat of the Comacchio Valleys forms a very strong call for birds: there are quite all the ornithologic species assessed in the humid zone of the High Adriatic.

It must be signalled that here made their nest also the Shoveler, the Gadwall, the Mediterranean gull, the Shender-billed gull, the Sandwich tern, the Avocet and the Black-winged stilt, besides the Collared Pratincole, a very rare specie, the Shelduck, that is favourite by the presence in Boscoforte of a colony of Wild Rabbits of which it uses the abandoned dens for deposing its eggs, the Scaup and the Cormorant.

The Coots and the Pochards hibernate in tens of thousands: about a third of the Coots assessed in Italy and the 75% of the Pochards.

During the summer period there is the White-headed duck.

Among migratory birds: the Black-necked grebe, the Red-crested pochard and, rarely, the Glossy ibis and the Spoonbill. Among the rapacious there is a consistent number of Marsh harriers.

The Oasis Fossa di Porto merits a tour (North-Western coin of the valleys) where you can observe numerous "limicole" species such as several species of Plovers, Snipes, Curlews, Godwits, Sandpiper and also Herons hibernate there, but also the Faunistic Oasis in the Southern side of the peninsula of Boscoforte.

Some of the numerous " Casoni" (big buildings) that still give proofs of the human and productive installations before the reclaims of this century, were recently repaired. They form the cornerstones of a touristic itinerary of a unique suggestion, that develops along the banks and along the internal canals of the valleys. The starting point is in the Casoni di Foce, reachable from Comacchio along the border-road of Fattibello.

The visit is controlled by regulations and must be paid; for further information please ask for the Special Administration Society Valli di Comacchio (Via Mazzini, 200 -Tel. 0533/81159).