Did you know?

Short, verified curiosities

Surprising facts in under two minutes' reading. Each with its sources.

Polesine, the land «with many voids»

Before it was a province, it was the name for a river island

«Polesine» was once an ordinary word for a strip of flat land cut off by floods. Its etymology speaks of voids and soft ground.

In the lower Polesine the land has sunk by metres in just a few decades

In parts of the Delta the ground lies 3-3.5 metres below sea level. The cause: subsidence linked to 20th-century extraction.

Peninsulas born in three centuries, now being reclaimed by the sea

Much of the Po Delta came into being after 1604: peninsulas that did not exist in the 17th century. Today, though, the coast is retreating in places.

An imperial title held by a Frenchman who ran the police

In 1808 Napoleon made his loyal René Savary «Duke of Rovigo»; two years later Savary became Minister of Police.

Fifteen championships and a passion born in 1935

Rugby came to Rovigo in 1935. Since then the team has won 15 Italian championships and has never been relegated from the top flight.

Where Antonioni learned to look at landscape

Antonioni made his documentary debut with «Gente del Po» and returned to the embankments for «Il grido». The Delta has hosted dozens of auteur films.

The War of Ferrara and the peace of 7 August 1484

The Polesine became Venetian after a war fought partly over the salt of Comacchio. The Peace of Bagnolo, in 1484, settled the matter.

Where protected nature coexists with the people who live and work there

Since 2015 the Po Delta has been a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve: about 140,000 hectares across Veneto and Emilia-Romagna, over 350 bird species.

Torre Donà and Torre Mozza, bowed by the marsh

One soaring, the other broken: both towers of Rovigo’s castle lean. No spell is to blame, just the weight of brick on soft ground.