THE CITY OF COMACCHIO

The city of Comacchio and its valley rapresent the "heart" of the Delta, they are actually the green lung of the entire Adriatic Coast from Chioggia to Cattolica.

The valleys in Comacchio are the real museum and they represent one of the most important laguna complexes in Italy and in Europe.
They extend in the provinces of Ferrara and part of Ravenna, for more than 11.000 hectares, between Comacchio and Reno river and are connected to the sea by the canals of Magnavacca, Logonovo, Bellocchio and Gobbino.
Made by extremely salted water: they represent an important biological type of damp area of salt-water, with extreme vegetation of international interest, by the Ramsar convention in 1971.

The history and economy in Comacchio has developed around the valleys; it's maybe the only example of integration of natural environment and man's activity, where the salt production and fishing have always represented the primary economic base, to which the local handcraft was connected, because the agriculture was almost absent and tourism didn't exist.
Agriculture and tourism developed almost at the same time with the reclaim of the thousands of hectares in the valleys, that didn't change the territory where even today you can fish the eel with certain objects called "lavorieri".

Comacchio, also called "little Venice" keeps intact the characteristic of a laguna city, with its waters that flow every way and where, in a place, they surroung it like once, when you could reach it only by boat.
This up to 1821, the year when the city, born on thirteen islands, was joined to dry land. The Trepponti Bridge is the emblem of the place; from it the inner waters flow along the many canals, on which the low colourful houses of the city and the line of different sizes of boats reflect themselves in perfect symmetry. Comacchio is famous for its welcoming tourism that can offer prepared, for entertainments and fun for all ages.
It's possibile to visit the old town on the typical boats called "batone" for free.
You leave from the magnificent TREPPONTI, in front of the "Antica Pescheria" (antique fishmonger's) and you go directly to "Ponte degli Sbirri" or to the "Carceri".

Beside there is the Bellini Palace, a typical example of handmade building of the nineteenth century, an aristocatic family's home in Comacchio. Whicj today is the office for the historical archive and municipal library. In its great halls you find the Modern Art Gallery, that every year has exhibitions and shows of national standards. Near Bellini Palace there is the "load on the Roman ship" museum that exhibits the precious material taken from a trade-ship of the I century A.C., found in 1981.

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