The Po, after its junction with the Ticino, exhibits no longer the features of a mountain torrent; the pebbles have been triturated into the finest dust, and no piled-up masses of débris are met with along its banks. If it were not for its dykes, or argini, it might spread itself freely over the plain. These artificial embankments rival those of the Netherlands, and date back to the most remote ages. Lucian refers to them as if they had existed from time immemorial. During the great migration of peoples they were allowed to decay, and only in the course of the ninth century were measures taken to restore them. In 1480 the great work had been achieved. Its importance may be judged from the fact that these embankments protect 3,000,000 acres of the most fertile land, yielding annually more than £8,000,000 sterling’s worth of agricultural produce. Most of the towns have been built upon artificial platforms or terraces, and up to the beginning of this century they have never been known to suffer from floods; but whether owing to the devastation of the forests or to the closing up of all breaches in the dykes, the floods rise higher now than they did of yore, and it has been found necessary to throw up embankments around Revere, Sermide, Ostiglia, Governolo, Borgoforte, and other places.

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DELTA OF THE PO

Continuous embankments begin at Cremona, and they extend not only along both banks of the Po, but also along the lower course of its tributaries. The main dykes have a length of nearly 650 miles. In addition to these there are smaller dykes traversing the space between these froldi, or main dykes, in all directions, and enclosing willow plantations, fields, and even vineyards. In fact, the river extends to the foot of the main dykes only in a few localities. It is ordinarily only 650 to 1,600 feet wide, whilst the dykes are several miles apart, to allow the river to spread during the inundations. The land thus lying within the dykes has been divided by the villagers into golene, and is protected by smaller dykes against ordinary floods. The rules laid down for the construction of embankments have been drawn up in the general interest, and are sufficiently precise, but they are not always observed. The old system, embodied in the dreadful proverb, “Vita mia, morte tua,” is not yet quite extinct. Formerly the peasants were in the habit of {211} crossing over to the other bank, and deliberately cutting through the embankments there, thus saving their own crops by ruining their neighbours’.

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Fig. 69.—THE PO BETWEEN PIACENZA AND CREMONA.

From the Austrian Staff Map. Scale 1 : 325,000.

The width of the bed of inundation enclosed between these embankments grows less in proportion as we descend the river, and in the case of the arms of the delta does not exceed 900 to 1,600 feet. This is not sufficient to enable the waters to escape during extraordinary floods, when they sometimes rise 25 and even 30 feet. Besides, it frequently happens that the villagers fail to keep the embankments in thorough repair, and sometimes entire districts are ruined because the mole-tracks were not stopped up. A breach in the embankment, unless quickly filled up, produces untold misery. The crops are destroyed, the villages levelled with the ground, the soil is torn up and carried off, and the inhabitants are swept away by famine and its fearful attendant, typhus fever. These great floods of the Po and the earthquakes of Calabria are the two plagues of Italy. In 1872 1,200 square miles between the Secchia and the sea were converted into a lake. Two years afterwards there still remained pools of water.