Codigoro
Codigoro is a small town with 12,337 inhabitants (as of 31 December 2012) in the province of Ferrara in the Emilia- Romagna region of northern Italy.
Location
Codigoro is located on a tributary of the Po, the Po di Volano, near the Adriatic Sea. The distance to the provincial capital of Ferrara, in the west is 43 kilometers by road. Nearby towns include Mesola in the north and in the south Lagosanto and Comacchio.
History
As is apparent from the Tavola Peutingeriana, the place was called in Roman times Neroma ( black earth ', based on the dark color of the peat soil of the area). In the Middle Ages the town was known Caput Gauri, which means, place where the Goro branches ' . The rivers of the Po delta have been many changes over the centuries naturally and as a result of human intervention. In the Middle Ages the Po di Goro branched west from Codigoro the Po di Volano and flowed north to Mezzogoro past in a northerly direction on, before he at Ariano nel Polesine in the Po di Ariano, a tributary of the Po, led .. Due to silting and draining actions have now completely disappeared this original, branching at Codigoro section of the Po di Goro, and only the place names Codigoro and Mezzogoro still remember the old river bed.
As evidenced by numerous documents, the place Codigoro under stand the medieval directly to the abbot of Pomposa. The oldest document dates back to 1018 and contains the investiture, the residents of Codigoro leaves with one of the abbots of some lands in hereditary lease. Within the village Codigoro ordered the abbey over the Domus Dominicata, the administrative and judicial seat of their possessions in the region. This originally built in Venetian- style chioggianischen building still exists today as, Bishop's Palace ' ( Palazzo del Vecovo ) on, but has been greatly altered his appearance in the 18th century through conversions.
1224 gave the abbot of the community Pomposa Codigoro the Duke Azzo d' Este and confessed to him the right to be allowed to appoint the mayor. Mid-15th century, when the political and cultural influence and splendor of the Abbey of Pomposa gradually drawing to a close, the abbot of Pomposa asked the Estensi for protection against the raids of the Venetians, and to help in the defense of the progressive silting up of the region. The Dukes initiated a reclamation measures, among them 1464 Borso d' Este - one hundred years later - Alfonso II d' Este. The architectural drawings for the drainage campaigns from 1570 to 1580 were made by the famous architect Giovanni Battista Aleotti. The drainage measures were only partially successful because in the drained marshes due to the now higher density of the ground subsidence occurred. The drainage measures detrimental also was the end of the 16th, early 17th century forced by the Republic of Venice by a puncture deflection of the Po delle Fornaci south.
The increasing stagnation of the area and the spread of malaria led to the final economic, political and cultural decline of the abbey of Pomposa and regional civilization. Codigoro was together with the Duchy of Ferrara part of the Papal States.
Beginning of the 18th century called the Roman - German Emperor Joseph I of Pope Clement XI. the return of the county Comacchio, since this was a former imperial fief, the State of the Church had acquired illegally. 1708 Codigoro was occupied in connection with this litigation by Austrian troops. 1725 was the return of the county Comacchio to the Papal States.
After the invention of the steam engine, the drainage of the area in 1878 was energetically promoted by appropriate means. In a few months thousands of hectares have been drained and converted to agricultural land. The groundwater level is today regulated by means huge high-tech pumping stations.
Population Development
The number of inhabitants Codigoros had grown to 1951, to nearly 20,000 people, declined continuously since then, however. 2005, only about 13,000 people were counted.
Attractions
- Scariolante Memorial ( Monumento allo Scariolante ); a monument dedicated to the workers who had participated in the reclamation activities.
- Bishop's Palace; a palace on the Riviera Cavailotti, the main street of the city, which was developed during the heyday of the abbey of Pomposa and was restored in the 18th century Venetian style.
- Lock of Agrifoglio ( Chiavica di Agrifoglio ), oldest lock in the lowlands of the province of Ferrara.
Twinning
Codigoro has been twinned with the German community Eppertshausen in Darmstadt- Dieburg.