WHO

WE ARE PROVINCE OF

Emilia-Romagna

TERRITORIAL SCOPE OF THE GAL • Number of : 17 • Surface (km2): 494 • Population: 108.535 • Density (inhabitants / Km2): 220

The G.A.L., Local Action Groups, are partnerships Public component: , Chamber of with public and private participation, engaged in the Commerce I.A.A Venice Rovigo Delta Lagunare, CONSVIPO, enhancement of rural territories, identified on the the Municipalities of Arquà , , , basis of common elements that define a recognizable Castelgugliemo, , , , Giacciano con Barucchella, , Lusia, Pettorazza historical or natural identity of the area. The function of Grimani, Rovigo, , , each G.A.L. consists in managing and allocating funds for , , . the Rural Development, according to a methodological approach “bottom up” type, accepting instances from Private Member / Social Economic Parties: ASCOM, the base to send them to the institutions, according to a Polesana Direct Farmers Association, Bank of Credit Cooperative of Venice, and Rovigo-Banca Annia, participatory approach (Leader Approach). Confagricoltura Rovigo, Consorzio di Bonifica , Rovigo Cooperative Credit Bank - Soc.. GAL POLESINE ADIGE Private Company / Civil Society: Cultural Association This is precisely what the GAL Polesine Adige deals Leonardo da Vinci, Consortium for the Protection of Lusia with since the 25th February 2008, as a non-profit PGI Salad, WWF of Rovigo, Pro Loco of Lendinara. association recognized by the Region. The territory of the GAL Polesine Adige, in the province of Rovigo, is bordered by two : the Adige and the Canalbianco. Currently it has 30 members between public and private subjects. THE UNDERTOOK ACTIONS The allocation of grants to 120 beneficiaries was of € 10.661 million. Take a look at the following IN THE 2007-2013 examples: • 26 agricultural enterprises for the development PROGRAMMING of multi-functionality and diversification • 22 agricultural entrepreneurs for the modernization of their companies • 12 Municipalities for the redevelopment of itineraries and rest areas • 10 Local authorities for the renovation of buildings for architectural and cultural purposes

The PSL is the programming tool of the GAL Polesine PROGRAM OF LOCAL Adige through which its territorial strategy is defined and proposed. DEVELOPMENT (PSL) The preliminary stages of its preparation have been developed in 2015, through a questionnaire 2014-2020 “A RIVER OF IDEAS” addressed not only to local stakeholders, but also to the entire population through ADIGE 3.0: a river of ideas public meetings. The GAL then continued to listen to the territory by presenting in April 2016 the final between history and innovation version of the PSL, approved by the Region in October of the same year.

The SWOT analysis of the territory showed some strengths and improvements as the basis of the PSL:

STRENGTHS IMPROVEMENT Architectural, historical and environmental assets Aging (55.4% of farm managers in are over 60) Accommodation facilities (1236 beds) Poor degree of computerization of the company Quality and certified products Poor interaction between the production chain and the (Lusia PGI salad, PDO white garlic of Polesine) touristic one Dies (nuts, bread, horticultural products) The accommodation facilities are not suitable to receive medium-sized and organized flows Slow network and intermodal transport Absence of organized paths and network of cultural-landscaping-monumental and historical heritage Research institutes The strategy is completed by 3 key projects AREAS • AGRI... CULTURE IN THE TERRITORY OF ADIGE • THE PRECIOUS LANDS: THE EXCELLENCES IN OF INTEREST THE TERRITORY BETWEEN ARQUÀ AND LUSIA • THE VILLAS OF THE ADIGE AND THEIR NICHE (A.I.) PRODUCTS The main characteristics of the Key Projects can be summarized as follows: The GAL identified 3 areas of interest • Concentration of interventions and resources • ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DIVERSIFICATION IN • Common goal of land development RURAL AREAS • Interaction between public and private (at least two • SUSTAINABLE TOURISM measures / interventions that ensure the presence of both subjects) • DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION OF SUPPLY CHAINS AND LOCAL PRODUCTIVE SYSTEMS • Operative formulas for public announcement and for GAL direction 11 goals have been associated to these A.I.

• Increase the degree of connection and the link DISTRIBUTION OF RESOURCES PSL 2014-2020 between the resources of the territory, using the existing paths and qualifying the existing itineraries • Raise the quality standard of local productions € 879.596,43 • Raise the level of territorial integration of niche productions € 533.088,75 • Strengthen the identity of the territory • Develop cultural resources by linking them to the reception of the rural system • Improve the usability of rural areas and their natural and historical-cultural heritage € 5.330.887,68 • Strengthen the communication of the values / resources / characteristics of the territory

• Guarantee more income to rural populations RESOURCES AT DISPOSAL OF THE TERRITORY • Raise the level of territorial integration between COOPERATION public and private subjects GAL OPERATION • Increase the level of competence of the operators • Active conservation of historical rural landscapes and redevelopment of ordinary rural landscapes For more information visit the website www.galadige.it Leader cooperation is the sum of relationships, COOPERATION objectives and results between national and international partners that, by joining their forces, design and implement projects of different nature. PROJECTS The added value is the meeting of different territorial realities that fosters a cultural, social and economic growth of the territories involved.

In this general framework, the GAL Polesine Adige participates in two cooperation projects

RURAL VENETO HE-ART (Rural Art)

5 GALs take part in the interterritorial project of This transnational project was born with the goal of Veneto; together they want to strengthen the actions promoting cultural tourism, one economic resource linked to local development strategies. recognized at a national and international level. The overall purpose is to promote, in a joint and The GALs involved in this project are going to be 6: coordinated rural way, the tourism in Veneto 3 Italians, 1 Finnish, 1 French and 1 Latvian. through the use of the cinematographic medium, The aims of the project are the promotion of art in one tool capable of generating positive effects on the all its forms and the enhancement of the important territory, enhancing local excellence in an innovative artistic heritage of the territory through promotional and effective way. initiatives and structural interventions. With this project the GAL partners aim to consolidate Cultural tourism within rural areas can become a the “rural and sustainable tourism” product, to increase flywheel for the economy and a stimulus for local the flow of tourists and visitors in the interested rural communities, both from a social and sustainable point areas concerned and promote business development, of view, always respecting the territorial identity with encouraging job creation. the intent to make it grow. ART, CULTURE AND TERRITORY

The territory of the GAL Adige is extremely rich in gardens and taste the delicious produced history, art and culture, but still little is known; a portion by the “fertile land”. In Villanova del Ghebbo you can of nature that extends between the rivers Adige and devote yourself to shopping, the town is in fact famous Canalbianco with an extension of just 494 sq km, for its numerous handmade shoe factories. Continuing crossed by cycle paths that link the nature to civilization. to reach the village of Costa di Rovigo which offers The story accompanies the visitor within these 17 the opportunity to visit the “a l’Alboron” Ethnographic municipalities of Polesine with surprising numbers: Museum. 112 Venetian villas, 3 archaeological sites, 111 Villamarzana is located near the Canalbianco, here you monuments including churches, palaces, theatres, can practice rowing at the “Società Canottieri”, admiring city walls, towers and bell towers, 2 castles, 2 the territory from another angle. Paddling you reach picture galleries, 2 archaeological museums and Ceregnano, a town that has become famous for having 2 civic museums. Each of the territory established “the Department of happiness”. After has important testimonies both in socio-cultural and Ceregnano we reach Villadose: do not miss the historical naturalistic terms. Starting from the west and heading re-enactment of the Roman Centuriation Market. east, in the territory of GAL Adige, the first municipality Heading North you still meet the Adige and along its you meet is with the banks you can see San Martino di Venezze, witness of enchanting embankments of the Fossa Maestra to travel the industriousness of these territories with its beautiful also by bike; proceeding towards Canda you can admire rural courts, including Cà Venezze Giustiniani. The tour Villa Nani Mocenigo, followed by ends at , with a visit to the 16th where a novella of Boccaccio’s Decamerone was set; century rural complex, Corte Grimani, which gave its next to this municipality you can find San Bellino with name to the town. its precious 17th century Basilica. Further North, near the banks of the Adige river, Lusia offers visitors the opportunity to walk through its For more information visit the website www.galadige.it THE PEARLS OF GAL ADIGE ART

VILLA BADOER, FRATTA POLESINE La Badoèra is a Venetian villa designed by the architect in 1554-1555 commissioned by Francesco Badoèr. It is the first villa in which the architect from Vicenza fully used a pronaos with a pediment on the facade, as well as the only one built in the Polesine area. The building, together with the other Palladian villas of the Veneto region, entered the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1996.

THE CASTLE, ARQUÀ POLESINE It is the most important and best preserved medieval monument of Polesine. The Castle of Arquà, now the town hall, has survived all the fortresses built along It acquired importance thanks to the presence of the Canalbianco. The complex consists of a medieval Benedictine monks in the 19th century. The historical crenellated tower on three floors, a building that events saw numerous changes of ownership until opens to the courtyard with thirteen arches of the 1810, when decided to close it. Today the th 17 century, the barn and the stables. abbey offers a cloister with a trapezoidal plan, from which one enters through a Gothic brick arch from the “LA ROTONDA”, ROVIGO 1400s, up to the refectory and the garden of the abbot. The Temple of Beata Vergine del Soccorso is known as “La Rotonda” in relation to its octagonal plan. It was THE SANCTUARY OF SANTA MARIA DEL built between the end of the 16th and the beginning of PILASTRELLO, LENDINARA th the 17 century, when Rovigo was part of the Republic The history of the sanctuary is linked to a series of Venice. The 57 meters high bell tower was built by of extraordinary events that occurred since the Baldassare Longhena. Inside you can admire paintings 16th century around a Virgin with Child carved and decorations realised by different artists of the in olive wood. In 1595 the city of Lendinara was th 17 century. officially consecrated to the Madonna of Pilastrello. The architecture of the current church is the result of THE ABBEY OF VANGADIZZA, BADIA POLESINE considerable alterations of the late 18th and early 19th Founded around the year 1000, it is a cultural centuries. In January 1911, Pope Pius X raised her to the destination of great charm for the province of Rovigo. rank of minor basilica. ROUTES PRODUCTS

St. Anthony’s Way Polesano white garlic PDO The St. Antony’s way intends to retrace some of the most Polesano white garlic is a PDO product, whose quality significant stages of the exemplary life of the great Saint is guaranteed by a strict specification. Its uniqueness and to relive its history by escorting, those who walk comes from its regular and compact shape, the bright through it, to places that have seen him as a protagonist white colour, the delicate scent and the intense aroma, and that have been touched by his charismatic passage. very persistent and great qualities of preservability. Two main factors make it special: the alluvial soil, In the lands of Adigetto which is the result of the many inundations and floods The ring is defined asunique or almost because it crosses that took place over the centuries (it is rich in calcium, places with almost unique attractions: a medieval tower magnesium, phosphorus and potassium); the human among the highest in ; the only Polesine tourist factor, made of experience handed down from father village still inhabited; the only Este castle that can be to son. visited in Polesine; one of the few terracotta mills of the 19th century, the only one Palladio villa in Polesine; the Lusia PGI salad highest bell tower of Polesine, one of the highest in Italy. Lusia is the only PGI salad in Europe. It belongs to the Asteracee Lactuca Sativa family and occurs in two The cycle path of Adige Po varieties: Capitata or Cappuccia and Crispa or Gentile. The itinerary that connects the Adige to the Po has the The Lusia PGI salad is protected by the EC Regulation charm of discovery and the unique peculiarity of the since 2009, a recognition that the European Community Polesine to tell, in less than 50 km, the fundamental has assigned to this product that excels in quality stages of the territory’s evolution: from the first and finds a positive feedback among the commercial settlements, dating back more than 3.000 years ago, to operators. the occupations that have followed one another over the centuries, determining architectural styles and traditions. The natural fluvial environments and open fields are an For more information visit the website www.galadige.it integral part of the itinerary.

Photo credits: Archivio Consorzio di Bonifica Adige Po - Luca Milan; Archivio della Provincia di Rovigo - Settore Turismo; Archivio Consorzio Aglio bianco Polesano DOP; Archivio Consorzio Insalata di Lusia IGP; Archivio Ciclabile Adige-Po - Rossella Ruzza; Archivio Pro Loco Lusia - Chinaglia.

Iniziativa finanziata dal Programma di Sviluppo Rurale per il Veneto 2014-2020 Organismo responsabile dell’informazione: GAL Polesine Adige Autorità di Gestione: Regione del Veneto - Direzione ADG FEASR Parchi e Foreste

Sede legale Piazza Garibaldi, 6 • 45100 Rovigo • Italy [email protected] Sede operativa [email protected] Via L. Ricchieri detto Celio, 8 • 45100 Rovigo • Italy Tel. +39 0425 1541145 • Fax +39 0425 1880333 www.galadige.it