Discover Comacchio

30 km from Ferrara, toward the sea, we find Comacchio, the so-called "little Venice" that is the most original and fascinating historic center of the Po Delta. Heir to ancient Spina, long disputed by Ferrara and Ravenna, popes and emperors, it has very ancient origins: in fact, it arose at the dawn of the Middle Ages on thirteen islets and based its urban and economic development exclusively on water. Fishing, valliculture and salt production were the source of its prosperity and also of its reverses, due to the conflicts that pitted it against Venice.

Today it remains a town with intact and unique architectural features, inhabited by people proud of their origins and strong identity, a town of canals, palaces and monumental bridges. Comacchio is a picturesque lagoon town dating back to late Roman times, built on 13 small islands in the center of extensive valley mirrors. The present-day historic center preserves remarkable evidence of the past: beautiful churches and monuments suspended between bridges over the canals, first and foremost the 17th-century Trepponti, an ancient gateway to the city. Not to be missed is the Roman Shiploading Museum, which displays artifacts found aboard a trading vessel dating back to the first century BC.

The monumental "Trepponti" is the city gate. commissioned by Cardinal Pallotta in the first half of the 17th century and designed by architect Luca Danese. The Trepponti consists of five arched stairways. Descending the central staircase leads to the small square where the fish market takes place every morning inside the characteristic fish market, also dating from the 17th century. Along the canal are docked the typical valley boats (batanas), on which it is possible to climb to visit the city from a more suggestive point of view.