The ferrarese: landscapes and tastes

The Ferrarese: Landscape and Flavours

In a fascinating alternation of misty cultivated fields, rice paddies and watercourses, brackish valleys and majestic buildings from the Este period. This is the territory of the Province of Ferrara, enclosed between Po River, Reno River and the Adriatic Sea.
A great journey through alluvial lands, largely drained, that today appear in an orderly and geometric configuration, with roads and irrigation canals acting as dividing lines between mighty hydraulic works, extensive cultivations, natural environments among the most beautiful in Italy and centres of architectonic value, the Delizie Estensi of Ferrara as a reference.

Three characteristic landscape routes can be identified in this extensive territory:
'Via del Grande Fiume', runs along the course of the river Po, from the reclaimed lands of the Alto Ferrarese to the sea. This itinerary crosses the municipalities of Bondeno, Berra, Migliarino, Massa Fiscaglia to reach the splendours of Mesola Castle and Pomposa Abbey, witness to the ancient land reclamation that the Benedictine monks conducted, struggling with the waters of the river on one side and the sea on the other. Local flavours range from duck to salama da taglio, amidst orchards, cereal fields and poplar groves along the mighty banks of the Po.

'Via delle Corti Estensi' is a route leading from Alto Ferrarese through a 'frontier' area, at the crossroads between Veneto, Emilia and Lombardy, touching the splendid ducal residences, true 'Delights' of magnificent architectural refinement: 'Belriguardo', 'Il Verginese', Copparo and Mesola Castle. Here we are in the capitals of salama da sugo, garlic, rice and asparagus.

'Via del Delta' is the 'wildest' and most evocative part of an area designed over the centuries by irrigation canals, brackish valleys, pinewoods and sand dunes, a place of reed beds, fishing facilities, wooded areas and the flight of thousands of birds where the DOC wines of the Sabbie del Bosco Eliceo are produced, light and savoury, the enogastronomic protagonists together with the eel of this route. Comacchio is the 'capital' of this area, and its precious historic centre is world-famous, making it known as 'little Venice'.