Mesola
Mesola is a town in the Italian region Emilia -Romagna with 7092 inhabitants ( 31 December 2012). It belongs to the province of Ferrara. The municipality comprises the main town and the villages of Bosco Mesola, Ariano, Monticelli, Massenzatica and S. Giustina.
Geography
Mesola located in the Po Delta on a tributary of the Po, near the Adriatic Sea to the borders of the Veneto region. The neighboring municipalities are Ariano nel Polesine, Berra, Codigoro and Goro.
History
Mesola is located in an area where there was still 5,000 years ago the sea. Testimony put the dunes on the Massenzatica which individually protrude at Mesola in the hinterland of the Adriatic coast of the agricultural land and the remains of a strip of dunes from the 2nd millennium BC are.
About the origin of the place name Mesola circulating different views. Most plausible sounds the hypothesis according to which the place name from the Latin term media insula ( center island ) is derived, as early as the 13th century Mesola was about a 4 -kilometer-long island between two estuary of the Po, which led a kilometer apart in the sea. Another proposal, the place name with the ecclesiastical term mensa piccola (small cafeteria) could be connected and relate to the fact that the piece of land that once belonged to Mensalgut the Archbishop of Ravenna. There are also other hypotheses.
Beginning of the 14th century, there were on the island provosorische huts of reeds, called casoni, which were used by hunters and fishermen as temporary accommodation. With the exception of six to eight meters higher areas of the dunes from Massenzatica, where had already found scattered human settlements at the time of the Etruscans and the Romans, the area was moist and therefore inhospitable and unsuitable for permanent settlement at that time. The turn brought from Ferrara Duchy of Este in 1566 introduced extensive drainage measures that had suggested the abbot of Pomposa for the entire area of the Po Delta. The Great draining campaign ( Grande Bonifica Estensi ) began with the construction of the Chiavica Neureuther ( lock of the Abbot ) on the grounds of the castle complex. The lock, with the aid of water drainage of the Po Morto was driven into the sea hydraulic, worked for a going back to Leonardo da Vinci swing doors principle and was controlled by a tower, which still exists today Torre del'Abate or Torre Aba (Tower of abbot ). The tower also served military purposes and was an integral part of an approximately 9 miles long and overall 11 observation towers having annular wall that surrounded the area of the Este and was once protected by an outer wall. The Abbot of Pomposa had the Este not only asked to be in the drainage of the Po Delta to help, but also about protecting the border area on the outskirts of Venice before the robbery traps the Venetians. This curtain wall is indeed listed on old maps, no longer exists today, however.
1583 was Alfonso II d'Este within the defense system for his wife, Marghertita Gonzaga, build a pleasure palace, which was to serve the court of Ferrara as a hunting lodge. The star of the Duke family of Ferrara faded gradually after dating for marriage this last ferrarresischen Duke no male heirs had emerged. After the death of Alfonso II the Este family was forced to leave Ferrara. 1598 was the Duchy so over the Papal States. However, the castle and the forest of Mesola remained privately owned by Cesare d' Este, Duke of Modena. In 1771 the castle and forest of Mesola property of the Duke of Austria. 1785 Pope Pius VI acquired. the large estates of the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II of Austria. Thus, the last remnant of the Duchy of Ferrara had come into the possession of the Papal States.
After the interlude of the French occupation of Italy (1797-1815) under Napoleon I and the founding of the vassal state of the Cisalpine Republic Mesola was returned in 1836 as part of the restoration of the political pre-war conditions back to the church, if, the Istituto di Santo Spirito in Rome leaves. It begins a period of relatively stable management and a gradual economic recovery.
1911 acquired the Società per la Bonifica dei terreni ferraresi (Society for the reclamation of the territory of Ferrara ) the area and initiates extensive drainage measures. In 1952 the Company shall duck Delta Padano the area of Mesola. The reclaimed areas are now parceled and allotted as agricultural acreage farms. With this measure, an economic upturn in the region was initiated.
Infrastructure
Mesola is today a bustling center lasndwirtschaftliches with appropriate trade and craft businesses. In addition to crops, including wine grapes are in the surrounding area harvested, which are used for wine presses of wines of the variety Bosco Eliceo, The castle of Este was from the Provincial Administration of Ferrara ( Amministrazione Provinciale di Ferrara) purchased, renovated and expanded into a cultural and event center, the exhibitions and meetings take place and conferences can be organized.
Attractions
- Castello Estense della Mesola; this pleasure palace, Count Alfonso II of Ferrara in the 16th century built for his wife Margherita Gonzaga. The castle was renovated in modern times and expanded to cultural and event center. It now houses the following facilities: Municipal Library ( Biblioteca Comunale )
- Archive for History ( Archivio Storico )
- Municipal Art Gallery ( Galeria Civica ); here of contemporary art will be organized every year traveling exhibitions.
- Environment Centre of the Po Delta (Centro di Educazione Ambientale ); in the well ausgeatatteten Environment Centre, which also has a private laboratory and its own environmental library are shown, inter alia, the aquarium and presented documentary films and slide shows about the flora and fauna as well as the scenic highlights of the Po Delta.
- Banquet halls
In the art gallery significant traveling exhibitions of modern contemporary art is shown for each year. The Environment Centre of the Po Delta serves to clarify, in particular groups of students, about the flora and fauna of the Po Delta. ( The function rooms can be rented for holding meetings and conducting congresses. )
- Church Arcipretale ( Archpriestal Church ); wichtigets the church building on Mesola is. The single-nave church with spacious presbytery and choir room was built at the request of Empress Maria Theresa and during the pontificate of Pope Pius VI. Completed in 1785. Although it has no wall and ceiling paintings, but it contains some altarpieces and oil paintings from the 18th century as well as a valuable organ from the same period.
- Tower of the abbot ( or Torre Torre de'Abate Aba ); this tower from the 16th century in the village of S. Giustina served in the 16th century both as a control tower for the hydraulically operated swing doors - Scheuse on the grounds of the palace of the ruling family Este as well as a military observation tower.
- Dunes of Massenzatica; this 6 .. 8 meter high fossil hills that stand out individually from the flat surrounding areas, are a popular destination for nature lovers. The increases are a remnant of a strip of dunes from the 2nd millennium BC, when the sea coast, there was still further west.
- Gran Bosco della Mesola ( Great Forest of Mesola ); this 1058 -hectare Mediterranean coastal forest was declared a nature reserve in 1977. The reserve is part of the Parco del Delta del Po.
- Bosco S. Giustina; this forest is of the locals Fasanara ( pheasant ), because it is a remnant of the forest that served the Este family for pheasant hunting.