Po river (also called Eridanus by Greeks, though ancient people from Liguria called it Bodincus, meaning “with a deep bed, without bottom”, the ancient inhabitants of Latium called it Padus – hence the adjective “padano” – deriving from a variety of wild pine trees that surround the Po source) measures 652 km and it is the longest river in Italy among those flowing in their lenght in the Italian territory.
Po has the widest basin and the one with the maximum flow at its mouth, whatever minimum (270 square metres per second), medium (1540 square metres per second) or maximum (13000 square metres per second).
Po flows through most of the Northern Italy from West to East, and the Padana Valley.
On the banks of the Po river
On its banks live 16 million people and more than a third of national agricultural industries are based there, just as more than a half of the Italian zootechnical heritage. All these aspects make Po and its basin a key point for the whole Italian economy and one of the most densely populated European areas with numerous factories and trade centres.
Piacenza’s track
The Po tract flowing on the side of Piacenza measures 100 km on a total of 678 km. More precisely, those 100 touch Piacenza on the right bank of this great river, which stretches from open plain to curve several times from Castel San Giovanni to Castelvetro.
Nature and landscape
Po’s natural and environmental resources are numerous and fascinating, characterising the landscape with cane and willow thickets, misty woods, yellow water lilies and water chestnuts. Rich in fish varieties, it is also characterised by numerous species of birds and animals: for fish there is the bleak, most diffused in the area, tench, common carp, rudd, catfish, European perch and pike; for birds you might find the Night heron, little egret, Grey heron, nightingale, common moorhen, Great Reed Warbler. Again, the coot, mallard, little tern and the common Kingfisher. A real macrocosm extremely varied, forming an interesting ecosystem of a unique heritage that we will be able to preserve only by paying respect to the great Po river, a geographical borderline diversifying cultures and a common point of reference for the life of people in the Padana Valley.
The Po in Piacenza’s privince in detail
Castel San Giovanni
The river Po hosts here among its waters the Rio Boriacco, formed by the union of the Rio Lora with the Rio Carona.
It is precisely near the river Po, in the locality of Parpanese, that two Bronze Age daggers were found that would testify to the presence of prehistoric man in the Castel San Giovanni area.
Rottofreno
The passage of the Po near Rottofreno forms a bay rich in vegetation that is home to numerous bird species.
Calendasco
In Calendasco, at Soprarivo, near the hamlet of Boscone Cusani, a Romanesque stele indicates the ford on the great river, along the Via Francigena. This passage is also called “Guado di Sigerico” (Sigeric’s ford) because it is mentioned in the 990 travel diary of the famous archbishop of Canterbury.
Piacenza
The city was founded on a terrace overlooking the river Po in 218 B.C. near the ancient mouth of the Trebbia. As it developed in Roman times, the city was equipped with a port and throughout history its power over transport by river was a source of prestige and power. In the city section today, three bridges connect the Emilian and Lombard territories.
Below flows the great river, welcoming the sporting activities of the rowing clubs.
Caorso
What undoubtedly characterises the stretch of river bordering the territory of the Municipality of Caorso is the imposing presence of the “Arturo” Electronuclear Power Station, which has been in commercial operation since 1981 and is now decommissioned in its main activity.
Moreover, still on the Po and partly within the perimeter of the nuclear power plant, as well as protected by the Provincial Territorial Plan and the Regional Landscape Plan, there is the De Pinedo Nature Reserve, an important example of intact conservation of the typical Po River landscape.
Monticelli d’Ongina
The presence of the Po in the territory of Monticelli d’Ongina is strong and has always conditioned the lives of its inhabitants. As a tribute to the river and the traditions associated with it, in the municipal capital there is the Po Ethnographic Museum, the Po Aquarium and the Museum of Rural Civilisation and Craftsmanship.
In the municipality of Monticelli d’Ongina, in San Nazzaro, there is Isola Serafini. It is a river island, the largest on the Po River, located near the point where the Adda flows into the Po, connected to the mainland by a bridge on the Emilian bank.
The island houses a hydroelectric power plant that produces energy by exploiting the difference in height created by a double dam. San Nazzaro is also home to the Po Park, a green area along the Great River where botanical species that are now almost completely extinct, such as the marsh oak, survive.
Villanova sull’Arda
In the floodplain of the municipal territory of Villanova sull’Arda lies the Giarola Island and Lancone Park with its lake, which is actually an artificial basin originating from mining activities that have now ended. Since then, numerous environmental restoration works have been carried out; thanks to these, its banks have now regained their total naturalness and are home to the flora and fauna typical of peripheral wetland environments. The lake is located on the right bank of the Po River in the floodplain area bordered by the Arda and Ongina streams and the Cavo Fontana.
