The Po: An Elegy for Italy's Longest RiverA captivating journey along the iconic River Po and through Italian history, society and culture. 'Delightful... A wonderful cornucopia of history' TLS 'Uncovers the Po's fascinating history' Guardian The Po is the longest river in Italy, travelling for 652 kilometres from one end of the country to the other. It rises by the French border in the Alps and meanders the width of the entire peninsula to the Adriatic Sea in the east. Flowing next to many of Italy's most exquisite cities – Ferrara, Mantova, Parma, Cremona, Pavia and Torino – the river is a part of the national psyche, as iconic to Italy as the Thames is to England or the Mississippi to the USA. For millennia, the Po was a vital trading route and a valuable source of tax revenue, fiercely fought over by rival powers. It was also a moat protecting Italy from invaders from the north, from Hannibal to Holy Roman Emperors. But as humans radically altered the river's hydrology, those floodplains became important places of major industries and agricultures, the source of bricks, timber, silk, hemp, cement, flour and risotto rice. Tobias Jones travels the length of the river against the current, gathering stories of battles, writers, cuisines, entertainers, religious minorities and music. Both an ecological lament and a celebration of the resourcefulness and resilience of the people of the Po, the book opens a window onto a stunning, but now neglected, part of Italy. |
Common terms and phrases
agricultural Alps Arnaud banks Bassa became boat Brescello brick bridge buildings called canals Carmagnola Casale Monferrato castle centre city’s Colorno colours Comacchio Coniolo Cottian Alps created Cremona delta dialect dozen Duke Emilia Escartons Estensi famous farm Ferrara fields film fish fiume floodplains floods flow Francesco French Gianni Gianni Brera Giovanni Giovannino Guareschi Gonzaga Gualtieri Guido Conti hamlet hectares hemp houses hundred ibid Italian Italy killed kilometres lakes land landscape later look Ludovico Ludovico Ariosto Luzzara Mantova Marquis Milano monastery Monferrato Monviso mountain once Padania Pancalieri Parma Pavia Piacenza Pianura Padana Piemonte Polesine poplars puppets rice river riverbanks Rizzoli Saluzzo Santa Vittoria Sarzi Savoia Savoyard says seems side slim square stone story There’s Torino tower town trees tributaries troops twentieth century upstream Valdesi Venetian Venetian Republic Venezia village Vittorio Amedeo Waldensians walk woodland wrote Zavattini