Comacchio, known as the “Little Venice” for its bridges and canals, arose in the Middle Ages near the ruins of the Etruscan city of Spina. Long contested between Ferrara and Ravenna, at the end of the sixteenth century, with the Devolution of Ferrara, it came under the direct control of the Papal States. Originally it extended over thirteen islands, later reduced to five through centuries of hydraulic transformations culminating in nineteenth-century land-reclamation works.
Its present appearance dates back to the period of its greatest splendour: from 1600 onwards, at the behest of the Church, a major urban redevelopment took place. Canals were dug to bring “new water” into the town and bridges were built to link the different districts. The main gateway was built at this time: Trepponti, a monumental bridge erected in the 1630s at the behest of Cardinal Giovan Battista Pallotta.
At the foot of the bridge stands the Antica Pescheria, an eighteenth-century building (1745–1748), probably constructed on the remains of medieval structures, bearing witness to the importance of fishing as an economic activity in past centuries. Nearby stands the Ponte degli Sbirri, which offers a magnificent view over the San Pietro district, with the eighteenth-century Ospedale degli Infermi, now home to the Museo Delta Antico, and the nearby Palazzo Bellini, an elegant nineteenth-century building housing the public library, the historical archives and exhibition spaces.
The cargo of the famous Roman ship from the Augustan age, discovered in 1981, is now preserved and displayed in the Museo Delta Antico, which has been moved from its original location in the former prisons beside the Ponte degli Sbirri to its renewed display in the Ospedale degli Infermi.Other noteworthy buildings include the Loggia del Grano (or dei Mercanti), the Clock Tower, the former Cathedral of San Cassiano, the Church of the Carmine and that of the Rosary, and finally the sanctuary of Santa Maria in Aula Regia, which can be reached from the town centre along the distinctive Loggiato dei Cappuccini, built in 1647 at the behest of Cardinal Stefano Donghi
Valli di Comacchio
In the Middle Ages the Valli were among the richest fishing grounds in the Mediterranean, thanks to their shallow sandy bottoms. The catching of eels and other valuable species, together with salt production, brought substantial income both to private owners and to the Este ducal treasury and, after 1598, to the Apostolic Chamber.
The small ports of Magnavacca, Primaro and Goro, located along the eastern edge of the lagoon basin, played a crucial role in coastal navigation in the Adriatic: although hampered by Venetian raids, they ensured Ferrara a supply of salt, oil, grain and wine.
La Delizia le Casette
Palazzi, castalderie e delizie. Forme degli insediamenti estensi nel Ferrarese tra Quattrocento e Cinquecento
di Francesco Ceccarelli
Among the outposts of older tradition, particular mention should be made of that at Magnavacca, near Comacchio, where Alfonso II had the residence of Le Casette rebuilt to a design probably drawn up by the ducal architect Alessandro Balbi, who from 1578 onwards created a majestic building of rectangular plan with polygonal corner towers in a ‘German’ taste, together with an adjoining lower court, gardens and a fishpond.
La Delizia delle Casette was one of the main Este outposts in the delta area between Comacchio and Magnavacca: an extra-urban residence for representation and leisure, closely connected to the system of fishing lagoons and coastal waterways.
Archival and topographical research carried out in recent times makes it possible to place the Delizia between Comacchio and Magnavacca; no standing remains of the historic complex survive above ground today, and its presence is documented by historical and cartographic sources – in particular Pasi’s map – as well as by an aerial photograph from the 1990s, which still reveals its ground plan.
In the third decade of the seventeenth century, during the pontificate of Urban VIII, the Delizia was purchased by the Apostolic Chamber and earmarked for demolition. By order of the papal legate Cardinal Francesco Cennini, the palace was dismantled and its stones, bricks and timbers were reused in the masonry construction of the fishing huts (casoni da pesca) in the Comacchio valli lagoons. In this way the Este residence disappeared from the landscape, while the surrounding territory continued to bear witness to the long-standing relationship between ducal power, water and the productive exploitation of the delta.
