Tra Colli Euganei e Laguna Veneta

Italiano

PREFACE

The people that live in this land soon get to know the bridges, banks, roads, water works, so that these very features become a very part of their life, like the friendly faces of fellow villagers or the facades of the parish church
[Claudio Grandis, 2000, p. 17]

The Venetian Lagoon and Euganean Hills: two geographical elements with remarkable geomorphological features, two significant settings that contribute to and enhance the complex physiognomy of north eastern Italy. The sudden rise of the hills with their rough profile, made even stranger by the dominating and rhythmic rise of regular and tapered forms, creates an easy dialogue with the southern edge of the Venetian Lagoon, just twenty kilometres away as the crow flies. This reciprocal relationship boasts the language of visual control, the narrative capacity for observation, a fundamental skill since ancient times for descriptive geography, whether in the form of tales of travels, or the first timid and uncertain cartographic rendering. In fact, looking to the west from the quaysides of the Venice Lido, Malamocco or the long island shores between San Pietro in Volta and Pellestrina, the articulated silhouette of the Euganean Hills appears in the distance, seeming to emerge like an island from the stretch of lagoon towards the fringing sandbanks and further on inland. The tenuous strata of the reclaimed lower plains occupying the first terra firma, mostly lying below sea level, increases the illusory effect of a lagoon that extends beyond sight, with the water deceptively embracing the hills. It is the image of fictitious islands, the mirage of a landing place, which probably attracted the first sailors from Magna Graecia and Liburnia, feeding off the mythical geography of its founding heroes, such the case of the Trojan Antenor who put an end to his marine odyssey, gazing from the open sea onto the reassuring outline of the hills, a landmark for the subsequent navigation along of one of the tributaries of Medoacus (now the river Brenta) until permanently mooring at the site later to be known as Patavium [Braccesi, 1997].
Meanwhile, to view the lagoon from the hills, we need to climb the slopes to the many scenic points and natural viewpoints, all mentioned in detail since 1954 in the Touring Club Guide to Italy dedicated to the Veneto region (the famous guide rosse or ‘red guides’). It is well known that a view of Venice from any main landmark of the Veneto region is seen as a sort of certificate of quality, giving added value to these panoramic spots. The slopes of the Euganean Hills looking to the east offer many such opportunities. In fact the older guide invites the visitor to reach the hermitage of Mount Rua to enjoy the ‘magnificent view’ (with the asterisk*, a graphic symbol used to indicate ‘items of special interest’) and admire Venice and the lagoon from above. Another asterisk points out the view from the Mount Venda and from Mount Ricco, above Monselice, where visitors can even make out the bell tower of St. Mark’s [TCI, 1954, p. 350].
Further recognition of the previously mentioned island-like illusion of the Euganean Hills while looking towards the eastern horizon from the outermost edges of the lagoon, can be found in an intuitive quote from the travelling poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Here, in 1818, from the top of Mount Venda, his eyes met with a layer of fog embracing the hilly outcrop and hiding the plains below, suggesting a geographical transformation of the Euganean Hills into ‘islands without sea’, leading the poet to praise the saving grace of the solitary hills above the uniform void of the Po Valley fog, as a vast vapour, as a perfect reflection of the metaphoric sea of suffering.
After highlighting the close physical interaction of the hills and the lagoon, where the intense flow of reciprocal observations is nevertheless difficult to translate into concrete land marks, the path of geographical discourse needs to take a “detour”, to see the work ‘on site’, reading the landscape as if it were text. And here immediately the plains separating the upper eastern Euganean Hills from the shores of the lagoon between Fusina and Chioggia reveal themselves as a rare and complex hydrographic setting, where natural downflows and human intervention have, over the centuries, resulted in a territory able to withstand the increasing weight of human activity, through to the most recent explosion of sprawling cities. We need only to consider the negligible gradients, the hanging form of watercourses, the importance of river banks, the precise layout of drainage ditches, and the strategic role of water pumps to understand the vital need of engineering control in this area of the plains. The ruinous floods that hit the area of Bovolenta in the Autumn of 2010, an authentic aquatic centre of gravity in the area considered here, also show that even in countries equipped with highly sophisticated instruments for control of the land, increasingly critical factors can arise, affecting the hydrographic systems both in the case of excessive and exceptionally low water flows [Ercolini, 2012]. From this basic observation, a new humanistic approach to water is worth considering, to identify a possible interface for reflection, where the more specific engineering skills can be combined with anthropological and geo-historical disciplines.
The aim of this essay is to highlight how, within the specific interface between the hills and the lagoon, there has been a consolidated and profitable network of nautical relations, right from medieval times, above all following the opening of the canal of Battaglia, dug towards the end of the 12th century, joining Padua to an important navigation route from Monselice towards the lagoon of Chioggia [Zanetti, 1989]. Clear evidence of the importance of these connections can be seen in the increasing demand for slabs of trachyte for use in the flooring of calli (roads), campi (squares) and fondamenta (quay sides) of Venice. For centuries, the quarries of Monselice and Lispida supplied stone, contributing to the spreading the urban myth from one among the major European trade emporiums. It is worth noting that this stemmed not from a purely cultural tendency, but arose from pressing operative needs, aimed at the protection, functional recovery and social use of the water networks. Thus the case here considered constitutes a privileged scenario to show indisputable evidence of the extraordinary variety of the waterways and the complex and age-old dynamics in development that have marked the co-existence of communities and water landscapes over time (fig. 1).
This background helps to explain the subsequent in-depth analysis of the water and geo-anthropic characteristics, in order to highlight how nautical practices evolved over the centuries, making Battaglia one of the most important inland ports of Italy. The recovery of historical and graphic memory provides a clear awareness of the heritage value of the riverside landscapes both along the main navigation routes and on secondary waterways. This approach enables us to appreciate the role of the Museum of Navigation in Battaglia and the great and varied potential of this centre, with significant impact not only on a cultural level but also in terms of recreation and tourism. In fact Battaglia thus represents a driving force for the “rebirth” of numerous marginal landscapes located along the waterways in the lower plains of the Veneto region. For example, the Museum of Battaglia could represent the starting point for promoting tourism on board traditional boats, boosting activities related to the minor shipbuilding industry [Vallerani, 2009], in order to offer an alternative to the usual and banal use of motorboats, so wasteful and pointless, with the risk of neglecting the age-old nautical skills of Venetian rowing, lug sailing, and ‘parando‘ sailing (i.e. using a pole, similar to punting), as illustrated by the iconographic painting of Guglielmo, Beppe and Emma Ciardi between the 19th and 20th century.
The case of waterways no longer used for freight traffic in fact constitutes the most interesting and significant potential in terms of river tourism, a leisure sector now expanding throughout the western world (where Italy is clearly a late-comer) and not only due to its attraction in terms of mobility, but also thanks to a number of significant ideological and cultural conditions in line with the aims of sustainability.

1. THE GEOGRAPHICAL CONTEXT

Even a brief geographical analysis shows that virtually all of the current landscapes made up of former lowlands along the coastline are densely intersected by branches of rivers that wind themselves lazily out to sea, often branching off into various directions well before the final destination. Here they outline lagoons, change meanders, and modify the layout of the beds, and even the contents carried by the water, interacting with the sea and motion of the waves, to create that extraordinary variety of sublittoral morphology which, where not modified or fixed by human intervention, still today constitutes an undisputed environmental heritage, a refuge of biodiversity, and a vital opportunity to keep ecological awareness alive. In such wet environments, such as the lower plains to the east of the Euganean Hills, a hydraulic apprenticeship has grown, leading to increasingly larger and more complex interventions that have modified the natural layout of watercourses to improve control and divert flood water needed for fertile soil, building canals for irrigation, ditches and drain manifolds, and barriers and river banks to protect fields and houses from overflowing water.
With this in mind, anyone working with water will undoubtedly recall the classic quote from the famous essay by Karl Wittfogel, published in 1957 and dedicated to eastern despotism, a historiographical benchmark useful when reading of and interpreting events and environments in the distant past, as well as facts of today. In the area considered here, the lesson of Wittfogel remains open to further clarifications, tying together scattered and vague literary documentation with the rhetoric of a historiography that is uncertain but tending greatly towards mythical creation. We allude to the pre-historical condition where the lower plains, outlined by the lidos, lagoons and marshlands touched by the upper Adriatic, where the prevailing amphibious conditions allowed for a special lifestyle for the community of fishermen, horse breeders and sailors ploughing through the final sections of rivers, lagoons and marshland to the sea. For example, the account of Livy regarding the origins of the ancient Padua, shows that the nautical, military and organisational superiority of Cleonimus, the Spartan who led his ships into a large lagoon (identifiable with the Venetian Lagoon of today) and moored at the mouth of a deep river (Brenta), can little compare with the poor accessibility of the locations remaining in their natural state, i.e. not transformed by a social system still limited to simple subsistence. The self-confidence of the conqueror, much more at ease when among ports, landing places and routes ensured by the nautical ‘despotism’ of the Magna Graecia, falters when he directs the prow of his ships into the primeval chaos of the lagoons and coastal marshland, an uncertain border between land, water and shallow beds preventing him from moving inland. These difficulties enable local populations to start rapid counter attacks on board their small flat bedded boats, ideal for sailing through shallow water (fluviatiles naves planis alveis fabricatae).
This brief mention of Livy’s writings provides environmental colour in a landscape virtually untouched, and stimulates curiosity in a territory that still today is seen as a mere physical support for single intensive crops and the urban diffusion of residential, productive and commercial settlements, where the vast horizons and subtle growth of the inhabited fabric lay way to the greed of speculative urbanisation. Hence a geographical context stilI rich in potential, still relatively unaffected by the most devastating results of land consumption, and where the ancient nautical vocation of the land still holds its charm.

1.1 The lower plains
The area considered regards a section of the plains sloping gradually to the south east, bordered to the west by the canal of Battaglia, and to the north and north east by the Piovego-Brenta system (branch of the Cunetta), to the east by the lagoon edge and to the south by the last stretch of the river Adige. The geomorphologic nature of the sublittoral plains of the upper Adriatic feature dominant and dense deposits of fine sediment, lime and sand, which reduce permeability of the soil, thus favouring prolonged stagnation of water in the event of overflow flooding from the numerous pre-alpine rivers, such as the Brenta and Bacchiglione. What are usually defined as flood plains are created by the force of water dynamics, responsible for the erosive action, shifting and the progressive consolidation of this land (fig. 2). This was a long process, during the Quaternary Period, and is linked to the gradual erosion of the alpine and prealpine mountains by atmospheric agents, providing the material to fill the large Pliocene gulf that the Adriatic formed, insinuating itself within the limits of the current river Po plains. {Bondesan, Meneghel, 2004].
It was during the alternating glacial eras that the plains were created, starting with the upper plains at the foot of the pre-alpine range. Following this, and moving away from the raised land, the gradients of the river beds decreased, thus limiting the carrying capacity to only fine sediments, which then became compact soil, reducing permeability of the land. This process was particularly marked at the end of the last great glaciation (Würm glaciation), following the abundant floods of melting water which, by spreading freely across the lower plains, distributed enormous quantities of sediment, thus increasing the thickness of the alluvial strata. It was in this evolutionary phase that along the land-sea interface, the presence of even smaller detritus deposited by the mouths of numerous rivers gave rise to coastal strips and lagoons, due to the redistribution and accumulation of material by the sea and tidal currents [Rotondi, Zunica, 1995]. The subsequent morphological evolution of the lower plains, and in particular in the specific area between the Euganean Hills and the lagoon, was entirely due to the unrestricted expansion of river water, with consequent variations of the watercourses, forming river ridges and pools and changing the meanders [Zangheri, 1988-1989].
The configuration of this section of the Veneto lower plains in its current layout is the result of long term and alternating events, starting from the first significant presence of the Benedictine monks of the Padua monastery of Santa Giustina, documented as far back as the 13th century, between the low courses of the rivers Bacchiglione and Adige [Bandelloni, Zecchin, 1979, p. 19]. These first interventions started the slow process of water control in an area that was undoubtedly among the first to be regularly protected against seasonal flooding and thus equipped to start profitable work of land re-organisation. This ongoing tendency and interest in cultivating the lower plains to the east of the Euganean Hills is certainly due to the surrounding flourishing urban system linked to the cities of Padua, Venice, Chioggia and Monselice.
From the very first cartographic renderings of this area, a significant and well-articulated hydrographic mesh can be outlined, strongly defining the specific amphibious features of this countryside, which was then to be subject to the coordinated action of the first large landowners grouped in consortia. These ‘authorities’ were distributed along the canal of Battaglia and the lagoon border through to the mouths of the rivers Brenta and Adige, after the annexation of the Padua territory to the Republic of Venice at the start of the 15th century [Cosgrove, 2000]. Venice, ever attentive to the water conditions inland, did not delay in perfecting their control of the waters, starting in 1501 with the set-up of the Magistrature of the ‘Savi alle Acque’ which expanded with the ‘Collegio alle Acque’, to be converted some decades later into the ‘Magistrato alle Acque’ (the Venice water authority), still fully operational today. This Magistrature, together with the Magistrature of the ‘Beni Inculti’ (‘Uncultivated Resources’, 1556), dedicated specifically to improving land by adopting procedures for drying out and irrigation, are proof of the institutional commitment of the government in the Venetian era, with their long-standing work producing immense volumes of documentation and maps now to be found in the central archive of the Republic of Venice and in other peripheral archives [A.S. V., 1983 and 1984]. Alongside this abundance of documentary and cartographic memory there is the equally substantial environmental heritage made up of not only watercourse routes but also the complex of artefacts that help to recount the age-old familiarity of the Veneto people with the waterways. In the specific case examined here, the hydrographic network between the Euganean Hills and the lagoon not only constitutes a remarkable territorial asset, but also an inalienable landmark, made up of river banks, bridges, water pumps, basins, and riverside villas; all aspects of the historical and cultural identity of this particular sector on the lower plains.

1.2 The hydrographic complex
An analysis of the nautical relations between the Euganean Hills and the southern area of the Venetian Lagoon requires an accurate prospective study of the main river navigation routes. In fact it is the very inland waterway of Battaglia that can be seen as a “fulcrum” connecting the flourishing urban centres of Vicenza and Padua with the port of Chioggia, while enabling the transport of foodstuffs from the widespread and reclaimed countryside of the Lower Padua plains towards the numerous water mills installed downstream of the Battaglia canal. With the progressive definition of this hydrographic fabric came significant technical and financial investments, which from the end of the 12th century with the digging of the canal from Padua to Monselice, enabled remarkable modifications to the routes, both for peace keeping purposes and also as the result of conflicting strategies for territorial control.
Particularly relevant in this context is the clash between Padua and Vicenza for use of the waterways of Bacchiglione. Here the Vicenza community decided, around the middle of the 12th century, to divert part of this river from the right bank in Longare into a previously dug canal, flowing southward and bordering the eastern edge of the Berici Hills, to join the modest natural bed of the river Bisato, a little further on from Lozzo Atestino, which in tum collects the overflow from lower regions between the Euganean and Berici Hills. From this point, the waterway winds its way irregularly down the slopes towards Este and Monselice. From this last location it is still possible to make out the meandering route of the Bagnarolo canal through to Pernumia, which after a few kilometres flows into the Vigenzone canal, the main nautical connection between the port of Battaglia and Chioggia. The hydrographic route outlined here thus enabled navigation from Vicenza to the lagoon (fig. 3).
A glance at one of the first examples in the wealth of cartographic documentation available enables the observer to follow the evolution of the hydrographic mesh linked to the canal of Battaglia, where the course of the Bacchiglione downstream of Padua can be identified as the main axis of the entire waterway complex between the Euganean Hills and the Lagoon. We refer here to the map attributed to Cristoforo Sabbadino, drawn up around the mid-16th century, depicting the upper Adriatic (SEA, Diversi, dis. 119), and clearly illustrating these landscapes (fig. 4). Another significant hydrographic element that appears on the map is the course of the river Brenta Nova, an artificial section created at the start of the 16th century to divert mud-filled overflow water of the river Brenta from the mouth of the Fusina, on the side of the lagoon adjacent to Venice, as this water and its contents were in the long term responsible for hazardous silting. The Brenta Nova starts its course in Dolo, heading south, and at a few kilometres from the mouth of the Brondolo it receives the water of the Bacchiglione. The choice for this route, outlined by the technical engineers of the authority ‘Savi alle Acque’, was seriously criticised by Friar Giovanni Giocondo, distinguished humanist and engineer, who with precise measurements demonstrated the inadequate gradient of the new canal [Zendrini, 1811]. In fact over the next centuries the Brenta Nova was abandoned, assigning the task of shifting the overflow of the Brenta from the lagoon in front of Venice into the new branch of the Novissimo river (fig. 5), which starts at Mira and over a shorter raute flows into the lagoon at Chioggia [Caporali, Zecchin, 1980; Vallerani, 1995]. The current bed of the Brenta, defined as ‘Taglio della Cunetta’, was created in 1858 from Stra to Brandolo, to permanently solve the issue of lagoon silting [Zunica, 1974; Vallerani, 2004].
In addition to these main hydraulic works, it is worth mentioning the lesser but dense hydrographic network. This was not always directly connected, but equally important in the close-knit hydrographic system where still today the precarious balance needs to be kept between the needs of irrigation and drainage, protection of the banks and maintenance of the run-off system, the breakdown of algae and marshland reeds and protection of biodiversity. Indeed, between the Middle Ages and modern times, the creation of important artificial routes such as the canal of Battaglia, the Brenta Nova, the branch of the Novissimo and that of the Cunetta was effectively a significant intrusion into the pre-existing hydrographic layout, whether regarding natural watercourses or run-off systems resulting from previous human intervention. These important works of canalisation can indeed be seen as invasive intersections from north to south, which interrupt the natural drainage of the land at the foot of the albeit weak slopes descending to the south east. The engineering methods at the time, however, provided a solution to this hazardous interference with the minor drainage network with the introduction of siphon culverts [Marzolo, 1963], literal underpasses below the river banks and the new river bed laid to carry the secondary waters and divert the flow towards the valley (fig. 6).
Returning to the previously mentioned map, attributed to Sabbadino, recourse to this specific artificial water system seems to be quite evident, to the extent of easily identifiable main drainage segments. As regards the canal of Battaglia, of the three main drains from the Euganean Hills, the specific name of the body of water is indicated on the map only in the case of the fosso Rialto, the route of which runs, with only very slight variations to that of today, between Treponti and Montemerlo. The other run-off sections, though not named as rivers, correspond approximately to the main drainage canals of the lower lands between the hills of Galzignano and Arquà Petrarca. The same applies to the digging of the Brenta Nova, clearly divided between the section of the pre-lagoon lower plains, blocking the run-off system from the lower lands to the south east of Padua. Here again the problem was solved by building numerous siphon culverts for the underpass of the scoladori drainage canals flowing in from the Padua countryside. The map examined here, as also a more detailed drawing of the 18th century (fig. 7) to depict the waterway node at the end of the lower section of the Brenta Nova [ASPd, S. Giustina 316, dis. 2], is highly accurate in plotting the route of the main drainage canals and the names of the bodies of water (from the north: Brenton, Cornio, Fiumeselo, Cavaiza, Fossa Schilla) maintained through to today, as is clearly seen in the 1:25,000 tables of the I.G.M. (Istituto Geografico Militare – Italian Military Geographical Institute). The same issue arose along the new river bed subsequently created (1611) just behind the southern boundaries of the lagoon, between Mira and the point where the Brenta Nova and the Bacchiglione flow into the Brenta Nova and Bacchiglione, indicated as the Brenta Novissima. Stili today this long straight stretch of river runs alongside the national road Statale Romea and features numerous drains used to remove waters originating from the ancient consortia of Sesta and Settima Presa. It is interesting to note that after passing the bridge-canal, these drainage canals represent practical access points for navigation towards the Venice lagoon.

1.3 The medieval canal
The digging of the Battaglia canal was the first of three major interventions by the city State of Padua between the end of the 12th and the start of the 14th century, to perfect completion of the hydrographic network around the area. We thus refer to the section of the Piovego canal (1209) which, running west to east, connects the port of Ognissanti, to the east of the medieval town, with the ancient section of the Brenta flowing towards the lagoon outlet of Fusina, and the section of the Brentella (1314), originating from the right bank of the Brenta at Limena, around ten kilometres upstream of the city, to flow into Bacchiglione and contribute to the flow of the river before entering Padua. In fact there was previous mention of the diversion of Longare by the Vicenza citizens to supply the Vicenza Riviera and thus the river route towards Este and Chioggia. The consequence was that these interventions are closely related, above all for the control of water supply channelled via the Bacchiglione, where, in the event of hostilities between Padua and Vicenza, the flow could be significantly reduced thanks to the same diversion of Longare.
The section from Padua to Monselice was created as part of a very complex hydraulic system, above all due to the need to solve the problem of removing excess water flowing from the eastern edge of the Euganean Hills, and retained by the banks of the new hanging canal. In fact the new canal (fig. 8) cut through the main drainage canal lines flowing to the east, which followed the natural gradients through to the edge of the lagoon, where, as explained above, the still operative underpasses (siphon culverts) were built in Pigozzo and Rivella [Zanetti, 1989].
The marine communities on the terra firma underwent notable expansion after the departure of the Venetians, above all after trade relationships strengthened with the Republic with Dalmatia and the eastern Mediterranean, culminating in the success of the 4th Crusade [Lane, 1978]. The strategic position of the fortress and centre of Monselice, where the river quays of the previously mentioned Bisato canal were used as berthing points for boats coming from Este and the Vicenza region, was certainly another valid reason behind the envisaged increase in traffic by waterways, ensured by the new canal.
However, the shallow depths of the canal meant that freight had to be transferred onto vessels that could transport the goods to the lagoon destinations, and the point for this operation was identified between the siphon culverts of Pigozzo and Rivella, i.e. where the water from Padua joined that of Monselice. In this particular hydraulic site, a weir had to be built to enable the water to continue down to the valley, i.e. in the direction of the main branch of the Bacchiglione, flowing towards the riverside town of Bovolenta. The difference in height between the shallow raised canal from Padua to Monselice and the underlying existing hydrographic network is approximately seven metres. The presence of such a significant difference in height between two sections of water means a significant quantity of hydraulic energy is available, otherwise difficult to obtain within the modest altitudes of the lower plains, and aiding the short term consolidation of the marine and proto-industrial centre of Battaglia. And it was here that the nautical significance of Battaglia was thus defined, right from the early 13th century, as it was ‘connected to Padua, Este-Montagnana and the Adige, but also Chioggia and the lagoons, to become a state-of-the-art commercial infrastructure, giving rise to the creation of the first industrial centre of the Lower Plains’ [Valandra, 1989, p. 73]. To the same extent Monselice also benefitted from the new canal, thus highlighting the scenario of a large scale territorial intervention, which over the following centuries enabled the laying of economical and infrastructural foundations for land reclamation and extension of a stable population between the Euganean Hills and the Venetian Lagoon [Grandis, 2003].

Francesco Vallerani