THE PO DELTA, FERRARA AND MANTOVA

1° Day Ferrara

Late morning arrival of your group in Ferrara, with its rows of trees behind the city wall. The city of the Este ducal family was also home of the most famous artists of the time: Piero della Francesca, Leon Battista Alberti, Boiardo, Ariosto, Tasso. Free time to get to know the city. Lunch in restaurant at about 1.00 p.m. A tour of the main monuments of the city after lunch: The Cathedral and its square, the Museo del Duomo, the Palazzo Comunale, Palazzo Schefanoia, Palazzo di Ludovico il Moro, the Este Castle, the Palazzo dei Diamanti, the National Picture Gallery. When the tour is over, departure for your hotel on the coast, evening meal and accommodation.

2° Day Po Delta

Arrival at Gorino Ferrarese where you will meet up with our guide. Embarkation on the motorship built specifically for shallow water sailing at the canal port along the Po di Goro and start of excursion. A few minutes later you get to Porto di Gorino and the Sacca di Goro, kingdom of mussels and clams sold both in Italy and abroad, the main source of income for the locals. The first important stop is at the “Vecchia Lanterna” (the ancient lighthouse in Goro), built in 1846 to let sailors know this was where the mainland met the sea, today a bird watching centre. Going along the right hand side of the island of Mezzanino you get to the furthermost point of Po di Goro, where you will see Love Island (sandbank of Goro) where the lighthouse proudly stands. The lighthouse in Goro was built in 1950 at the mouth of the Po and bears the same name, and marks the most eastern part of the Ferrara region. On the left you can see Seagull Island, another sandbank arisen from the debris carried down by the river water, and moulded into shape by the waves of the sea, that is but an authentic, ever changing, natural environment. Many new plants grow on these sandbanks , and are able to survive despite the salt. During the spring and summer months many different species of birds, like puffins and plovers, come and build their nests among the bushes. With the Po behind you, you sail along one of the many small canals that make up the Delta, and are thus able to follow the coast of the Valli del Bacucco until you get to the Foce del Po di Gnocchetta (also called “Po Port”). This mouth of the Po has very interesting countryside to admire, with lagoonas and cane fields that turn red when the sun sets. The fauna to be found here: the marine woodcock and numerous species of terns and seagulls. Along another canal and you get to the Po della Donzella, where you can admire the Scardovari sandbank and the monumental “rice warehouse”, proof of the gradual but constant evolution of the Po. Stop for lunch. In the afternoon departure for Bosco della Mesola, where you will visit the Natural Reserve with many varaities of flora and fauna. Next destination Torre Abate, an ancient hydraulic weir that now has a free exhibition on about the Po delta. Departure for Mesole for a visit to the castle, summer residence of the Este family. Return to hotel, evening meal and accommodation.

3° Day Mantova

After breakfast in the hotel, departure for Mantova with a tour of the old part: Piazza Mantegna, Piazza delle Erbe, Torre dell’Orologio, Piazza Sordello and the magnificent Palazzo Ducale. A true “city within a city”, it opens out towards the banks of Lago Inferiore, with many tall buildings, churches, internal squares, gardens and porticoed streets that clearly prove the past architectural and artistic passion during the Gonzaga period. There are many, very interesting places to see, but above all the Sala delle Sinopie, the Sala del Pisanello, the Arazzi building, the Ducale building. Lunch in a restaurant.