Oporto Viro

Oporto Viro is a common of the Province of Rovigo in the area of Venezia in Italy of North.

Oporto Viro whose official existence goes back to 1995, is created by the unification of two preexistent communes Contarina and Donada. Oporto Viro takes the toponym of the site of the taglio LED Po (1559-1604) which was held with the mouth of the Gaurus , one of the many channels of the area.

Geography

The commune of Oporto Viro is in the delta river Po and is locked up between the principal arm of the Po of Venice, the Po of Maistra, an arm of Po di Levante and the Adriatic Sea.

The territory of the commune is composed of many grounds whose fertility is due to their alluvial origin, of paludous valleys, the lagoons and the formations called scanni . The scanni are sandy small islands created by the deposit of the alluvia of the river (also called Lais in French or barene , Italian term specific to the Lagune of Venice).

History

The first establishments paléo-vénètes go up with -1000. In the zone of influence of the city of Adria, Oporto Viro passes successively under the domination of the Étrusques, the Greeks and the Romans. Those make pass to Oporto Viro the Via Annia.

With the Middle Ages, always under the control of the archbishop's palace of Adria, the zone of Oporto Viro, called Ostium Carbonaire , undergoes a deep upheaval of with the rupture of the dams of Po.

At this same period, the République of Venice takes the control of the territory of Oporto Viro and places it under the authority of the castle of Loreo. Two noble Venetian, Donà and Contarini, makes build their fields from which the boroughs of Contarina and Donada develop.

At the beginning of 1600, Venice begins work to avoid the filling of the Lagune of Venice. The two agglomerations, Contarina and Donada, make immportant great strides and the archbishop of Adria makes them autonomous: Contarina in 1665, Donada in 1680.

The Habsbourg S support the cleansing of the marshes and the manufacture of bricks. The abundant presence of argillaceous silts and wooded areas characterizes still today low the Polésine.

In 1928, the two agglomerations are unified. New entity a fast rise. In 1937, probably under the pressure of Adria, anxious of its development, the city is again divided into two per royal decree.

June 1st, 1995, Oporto Viro is created by the fusion of ex-common of Donada and Contarina .

Events

The last tragedy undergone by Oporto Viro is the terrible flood of 1951 which submerges the Polésine after the rupture of the dams of the Po and which involves a massive emigration. Moreover, at the same time, the extraction campaign of Méthane causes such a subsidence that the safety of the zone against the floods is not assured any more: the extraction of methane is stopped.

Taglio di Oporto Viro

This diversion of the principal arm of the river Po at the beginning of the XVII century, carried out under the pretext of save the Lagoon of Venice of a stranding, had rather political and economic, vital reasons for the République of Venice.

Geopolitical situation of the time

Into these XVI century ends, Italy, not yet unified, was divided into several inclined states or provinces with the internal wars between the regional lords, the states of Lombardy, the Republic of Venice and the state papal to which the state of Ferrare belonged. These the last two states were separated by the river Po and, more precisely by the northern arm of Po named “canale Bianco” (according to a chart of 1568) which passed to Adria and emerged in the Adriatic, not far from the estuary of the Adige, in the south of the Lagune of Venice.

Economic situation

The displacement of the maritime trade of the ports of the Mediterranean towards those of the Atlantic, had with discovered of Americas and the development of the market of spices of the East by the skirting of Africa by the Cape of Good Hope; the countries of Europe supported which border the Atlantic with the detriment of Venice and the wearing of the Mediterranean. Moreover Venice was recipient in the conflicts of the countries of occident against the Ottoman Empire which competed with it on the commercial counters of Raising. The XVI century will mark the beginning of decline of the maritime trade of Venice. (see heading “Loss of commercial and maritime supremacy (XVI century-1797)” in the page Republic of Venice of wikipédia)

New economic issue

(of the review: “Ferrara-Voci di una città” of June 2005) Venice, whose maritime economy declined, saw badly rise of the trade river of the ports as of the state of Ferrare and particularly that of Goro which served the Lombardy. Moreover, the Venetian ones feared the militarization of the port of Goro, faithful at the pontifical State of Clément VIII and to Ferrare. In spite of the reports/ratios on hydrography that the architect Giovan Battista Aleotti (1546-1636) made the pope in August 1599 and in March 1600 with the duke of Modena; on consequence of a diversion of water of Po in the pocket of Goro: “… a stranding of the port of Goro would oblige the river trade on Lombardy to pass by Venezia and thus to pay him the 13% of right… ”. The lack of document concerning to this episode and the relationship between Rome and Venice, only makes it possible to speculate in the attitude of the pope who, by his answer of April 15th, 1600 to the Legate of Ferrare, lets think that, for “ reasons of State ” and in these difficult times, one should not too much be concerned with this threat which weighs on this “ remote border on Po ”.

Consequences

Completed on September 19th, 1604, the “ Taglio di Oporto Viro ” had multiple more or less happy environmental consequences according to the periods:

According to a report/ratio of the cartographer of Ferrare, Alberto Penna in 1660, the “ Taglio ” did not only cause the stranding of the pocket of Goro but, also of its port like those of Albate and Volano. Which it is necessary to earlier add the damage brought to the network of cleansing of 35.000 ha improved grounds thirty years.
According to engineer Mario Giandotti (studies on the hydrography of the basins), in 240 years the Po di Goro is advanced of 20 km and the Po di Tolle of 23 km, which represents a mini projection of the grounds of 83 mètres/an.

Grounds which again underwent the risings of Po and the tides of the Adriatic until in XIX century end when the drainage works began again.

Today, and thanks to the drainage works by different “the Consortium from allowance”, this immense zone transformed into an immense garden is regarded as one of most fertile World and a great interest for tourism-nature.
With the regional law n.36 of September 8th, 1997, the Venezia instituted the “Regional Park Vénète of the Delta of Po”, single ambient conditions, where the life of the river takes all its splendor: the flora and the fauna of the fishing zones and banks will remain intact.

Art and culture

Museum of Corte di Ca' Cappello
Museum of the Bees (Api)

Administration

Hamlets

Contarina, Donada, Taglio di Oporto Viro, Scalon, Portesin, Fornaci, Ca' Cappello, Oporto Levante, Mea, Ca' Cappellino, Villaregia, Ca' Pisani

Communes bordering

Loreo, Oporto Outcry, Rosolina, Taglio di Po

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