Mesola

Four imposing towers, crenellated walls and large windows dominate the village of Mesola.

The construction of the castle, between 1578 and 1583, gradually resulted in a settlement which formed at the base of the structure, half fortress and half luxury residence and intended by the Este family to be a 'place of delight'.

The large estate, which also includes a vast wooded area, was the most significant testimony linked to the history of Ferrara's land reclamation and the efforts made by the Este seigniory in the hydraulic defence of the territory.

The origin of the name, presumably derived from media insula, would be an explicit reference to the conformation of the ancient settlement, located on a strip of dry land in the large marshy space formed as the coastline advanced. Witnesses to this process, the 'fossil dunes' preserved in the Oriented Nature Reserv of the same name, help us imagine this territory, before the reclamation, still submerged by water.

THE Mesola Woods, today the largest wooded area in the Ferrara area, was once a vast hunting estate.

The environment, magnificent and rare, is rich in plant and animal species, including dune deer, a subspecies only found in these places, to which a museum housed in the rooms of the castle is dedicated

The Delta Green Asparagus Fair, the Radicchio Festival and the traditional 'Flavours of Autumn' review are just some of the initiatives aimed at enhancing these places.

This is a unique territory, to be enjoyed at your leisure, perhaps by bike, so you can take in every corner of this tourist cycle route which follows the final kilometres of the great river until it flows into the sea.