Water Museum of Venice Water Museum of Venice Global Network

Memories of the Po Delta

Stories and memories from the tradition of river navigation in an "immersive room"

The immersive room "Some stories from the Po" (Un Po di storie) is full of evocative images from river landscapes. It can allow anyone to experience stories, places, and landscapes that are typical of navigation on the Po Delta. The multimedia project, which includes a free app for smartphones, was conceived to promote the unique heritage of an ancient tradition: this heritage also inspired the young director Antonioni to make his first short film.

The multimedia space "Memories of the Po Delta", an exhibition that includes an "immersive" room, a series of interactive touch screen stations and a free app for smartphones and tablets, aims to accompany tourists and visitors in their discovery of the heritage of memories and "liquid" identities linked to the ways of life and knowledge shaped by the ancient practices of river navigation on the Po. Most of the tourists who visit the Delta do not know anything about the role played, over many centuries, by inland waterway navigation, which has generated traditions, ways of life and even very particular linguistic connotations. Unfortunately, this world has now largely disappeared but, thanks to the UNESCO recognition of the "Biosphere Reserve" (a status attributed to the Po Delta in 2016), there is today the opportunity to stimulate new uses and tourism practices along the rivers (that are now deserted), promoting more responsible tourism and suggesting lifestyles that can be adopted in order to strive for a more sustainable future.
The multimedia exhibition “The Po for EXPO”, realized in 2015 as part of EXPO Venice, is located in the Rosolina Conference Centre and is easily recognizable from the outside from the big window sticker of a “bùrchio” wooden boat (typical Italian barge): the symbol of the final epic chapter in Italian inland navigation. Thanks to river navigation, the Po basin has been the main communication network in northern Italy for centuries. The branches of the Delta have represented an extraordinary mesh of "liquid roads", from which a particular form of civilization has developed, linked to ways of life, knowledge and perceptions that have now disappeared, together with the traditional wooden boats that, for centuries, brought the Delta to life. It is no coincidence that the first short film by Michelangelo Antonioni, “Gente del Po” (People of the Po), was inspired, in the immediate post-war period, by this world, already in an inexorable and agonized decline. Today the images of the famous director welcome the visitor inside an "immersive room", enriched by evocative digital animations.
In the adjoining multimedia space, the touch screens allow you to experience an interesting repertoire of photos and videos that tell the story of the people profitable symbiosis with water - all too quickly forgotten. The ways, customs and traditions of the people of Polesine have been shaped in the long term by the forces of nature, which here are essentially manifested by the creative, and at the same time destructive, power of the great river. The multimedia exhibit explores these aspects in addition to the radical morphological transformations due to human activities. The deepest manmade territorial transformation took the form of complete land reclamation, which radically reshaped the natural landscape of the Delta in the period between the two world wars and in the years immediately preceding it. The definitive change for the living conditions of many communities dates back to the 1950s, when the economic boom generated the birth of seaside tourism and the new phenomena of social emancipation.
The " Memories of the Po Delta" immersive room is also supported by the free app for smartphones and tablets "Delta del Po" (available in English and Italian), aimed at promoting new sustainable ecotourism practices in the delta area. In the spirit of more sustainable tourism, and far from mass tourism, 18 routes can be completed by kayak, boat, horse, bicycle or on foot. The "immersive" virtual experience made up of evocative historical images thus combines with a series of digital pathways aimed at defining an "extended” water museum, to inspire healthier and more sustainable lifestyles. The project was carried out at EXPO 2015 by Civiltà dell’Acqua (Water Civilizations) International Centre, in collaboration with the UNESCO Office of Venice and the CARIPARO Foundation to create the first "virtual and extended” water museum of the Delta and raise awareness about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

1h

How to Get There

By train: the Rosolina Conference Centre is situated about 10 km from Cavanella d'Adige station (railway line Rovigo-Adria-Chioggia), with good cycle-rail interchange facilities.

information

Where to eat:
we suggest Ristorante Pizzeria Zefrido and Ristorante Pizzeria Europa (Piazzale Europa 6, Rosolina Mare; tel. 0426 68482).
Where to stay:
we recommend Albergo Ristorante Fiorella and Hotel Alexander.
Tours and bike & boat rental:
for bike and horse trips and boat tours please refer to the website of Parco Delta del Po.

In the environs

Ancient river village of Badia Polesine

Ancient river village of Badia Polesine

An ancient fortified settlement on the Adige river that controlled trade and river traffic

Volta Grimana Oasis

Volta Grimana Oasis

An ancient navigation basin that has been transformed into a beautiful marshland of incredible biodiversity

Septem Mària Museum

Septem Mària Museum

The settlements of the Delta people brought to life with the reconstruction of a historic water-drainage pump

Scano Boa

Scano Boa

A sandy stretch of land at the mouth of the Po, rich in biodiversity and literary references