Published on: 21 July 2022
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A REAL GEM IN AN ENCHANTED PLACE

take your time ... you will not regret it

I admit it: I know very little about the Comacchio area, let’s say the inland part and its valleys. It is also equally true that it is not always so easy to get close to these places as the tracks are almost kept “hidden” by those who know them and are very little signposted.
But on Saturday morning, after reading that the new naturalistic cycle-pedestrian path Lido di Spina-Bellocchio was inaugurated on Thursday, I didn’t hesitate for a moment and took my footbike and left the beach to go and discover something that I thought could not exist on our territory. Direction exit Lido di Spina on viale Etruschi, before arriving on Romea, following the green cycle path, turn left and find myself on a dirt road that runs along the Allacciante canal on the right side, where there are clams that collect and take care of their products, while on the left of the small valleys with already a myriad of diversity of birds. At the end I turn right on a small bridge where I already find several ideas to take a few clicks of mine. I continue to find the Gobbino canal on my right. The road is now really bad: full of scrub so zero maintenance. I meet two splendid modern benches in wood and corten but have long been abandoned and already in a state of decay. I pass the underpass of discord and find myself next to the Casone Bellocchio fishing station, which is undergoing renovations and we hope it will become an information point for excursions in the valley, for refreshments and for documentation. This path is already fascinating but we are only at the beginning. I continue on the dirt road with at my side the fishing equipment in the valley and a mixed landscape between valley and pine forest. Finally I arrive at the new cycle-pedestrian bridge in wood and corten. As soon as I arrive at the highest part of the bridge, a world opens up that I just did not know: expanses of water, pink flamingos, total silence, devastating beauty and only the singing of birds. I remain breathless to admire this beauty. But that’s not all. Because immediately after descending the bridge you find yourself in front of a small dividing bank between the Lido di Magnavacca and Furlana valleys: when you walk along it you feel like you are walking on water because the water envelops you and the more you advance, the more it envelops you at 360 degrees. It is certainly one of the most fascinating scenarios of the Po Delta Park. I think being there at sunrise or sunset can be one of those things that make you say: it was worth coming to light in this world.
I stopped shortly after the start of the embankment, I am not trained and I had already covered 5km on a footbike and I had to do as many to return to the base where my vague Laser was waiting for me for an equally spectacular sea trip. But of course the route does not end here: the route, 5,400 km long, creates a connection between Bellocchio, the bank of the Reno river. In the end, you can decide whether to turn right towards Boscoforte, Sant’Alberto, Argenta, where you take the ancient riverbed of the Po di Primaro. Or to the left so as to arrive in Casalborsetti.
A tip: take some time to walk these white streets and admire something unique that will leave you with an indelible memory. And do it early before it gets too crowded. Now it is still a “gem”.

Zeno Govoni, hotel manager & a happy dreamer