The Po River Delta Geography

The Delta occupies the south-eastern corner of the Veneto, in the province of Rovigo, in the low country known as the Polesine between the Po and the Adige.

The river divides here into several branches -- the Po di Goro, di Gnocca, di Maistra, di Pila, di Tolle and di Levante -- which between them enclose a fan of islands, reedbeds and shallow brackish lagoons called sacche. The largest and most important is the Sacca degli Scardovari.

Almost all of it is flat to the point of being featureless, and a great deal of it lies below sea level -- kept dry by an unbroken system of embankments, drainage channels and pumping stations without which most of the province would flood.

The delta is still advancing into the Adriatic with the sediment the Po carries, while the land behind it subsides. Between them, the coastline here changes measurably within a human lifetime.

Toward the sea, long sandbars and dune systems enclose the lagoons; behind them are pine woods, reclaimed farmland, rice fields and the villages strung along the embankments.