Sacca degli Scardovari

❝The Sacca degli Scardovari is a basin between the mouths of the Po di Gnocca and the Po delle Tolle, filled with vast stretches of water. Due to its complex hydrogeological configuration, it is an ideal environment for the cultivation of mussels, clams and oysters, making it one of the most intensively farmed areas in the Delta. The inlet (sacca) onto the sea, ringed by sandy beaches, is an especially fascinating landscape.❞

The Sacca degli Scardovari is one of the most recognizable and characteristic landscapes of the Po Delta: a wide basin that extends for several kilometres inland, facing the sea and hosting numerous “cavà” (traditional fishermen's houses, built and suspended on the water using piling or stilts). Scardovari is the most important economic district of the Municipality of Porto Tolle, which is about 15 kilometres away. Its name derives from the "scardova" (rudd), a fish that was abundant in the area towards the end of the 18^th century.
The lagoon environment of the inlet is a passage between freshwater and marine habitats: indeed, the variable salinity is due to the continuous encounter between the waters of the rivers and the salty waters of the Adriatic. The basin is protected from the sea by thin strips of land and sandy banks. It communicates with the Adriatic through two openings: one located near the mouth of the branch of the Po delle Tolle and the other to the south-east. Formed through the continuous remodeling of the coastline due to the evolution of the Delta, the inlet is about 3,200 hectares, with an average depth of about one and a half metres.
Sacca degli Scardovari, thanks to this particular hydromorphology, is an ideal lagoon area for aquaculture: the first fishermen's cooperative dates back to 1936. Currently the production of mussels, clams and oysters from this area is well-established, involving many workers and family businesses: the Polesine Fisheries Cooperative Consortium has about 1500 workers and this makes it the largest company, in terms of employees, in the entire province of Rovigo.
The quality of the product is closely linked to the particular nature of the area, which has unique and peculiar characteristics, allowing very high levels of productivity and income. Climatic factors (meteorological conditions, solar radiation, average annual water temperature), hydrodynamic factors (the particular mix of currents in the lagoon, turbidity, water supply, tides) and biotic factors, such as interactions with communities of existing organisms in the lagoon, determine the quality of the local products. The aquaculture activity in this area, which is among the most important in Italy, boasts the presence of two autochthonous species of great value, namely the Cozza di Scardovari DOP (Scardovari Mussel PDO) and the Ostrica Rosa (Pink Oyster), or Pearl of the Delta (Perla del Delta), cultivated with an innovative system that simulates, thanks to a technology using solar panels, the Atlantic tides of the northern European seas.