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Visit Comacchio

The settlement at Comacchi is situated on the Po Delta, on the eastern coast of Emilia Romagna.

Comacchio is a beautiful 'town' that has developed across a number of islands in the Po Delta, now joined by bridges and an attractive place where tourists can admire impresive buildings and numerous churches.

An itinerary at Comacchio can begin by following the path of the Canale Maggiore, which is marked by some fairly important architectural artefacts - starting with two bridges, the Bridge of St. Peter and the so-called 'Prison Bridge'. From the top of them you can admire the beautiful neo-classical façade of the 1770 San Camillo Hospital (by Antonio Foschini ). The palace, designed as a hospital for the poor, is great: the facade recalls a Greek temple, with Ionic columns and two slender towers on either side. Close by is the Bellini Palace, in warm brick tones and now with the Public Library and City Gallery.

Continuing towards the Piazza Maggiore there are two artefacts that are striking for their elegance and beauty: the Loggia dei Mercanti (Merchants Portico) from 1621, which was the public granary of the city with its beautiful porch; and the Clock Tower, of octagonal plan and rebuilt in the first half of the nineteenth century. Along the Canale Maggiore you come to the 17th c. Carmine Church and the Church of the Rosary (also built in the seventeenth century) with a brick façade and portal stone, and quite spectacular for the reflected light of the brick both of the Church and of the bell tower. The interior has one nave and four side chapels, and some interesting 16th - 17th century paintings such as the Annunciation by Jacopo Bambini, the Beheading of St. John by Carlo Bononi , and the Virgin of the Rosary, by the local painter Cesare Mezzogori. Also interesting is the nearby Fish-Market (Pescheria), with its open-air fish market trading on benches of stone and marble.

Nearby stands the most beautiful bridges of Comacchio, the Trepponti bridge (1634), built in brick and stone from Istria, by Luca Danesi (who is also responsible for the so-called Ponte degli sbirri (Cops Bridge ) and manages with extraordinary architectural skill to link four waterways in a structure of great compositional harmony. In fact there are five arches, meeting from opposite directions, under which passed the waterways of the city.

Returning to Piazza Maggiore, to the west you meet the mighty Cathedral of St. Cassiano, began in the mid-Seventeenth Century, with one nave and several side chapels, and dedicated to the patron saint of the city; and beside it the magnificent Bell Tower, with the base of Istrian stone, and the 17th century Loggiato dei Cappuccini (Capuchin Portico), with more than 140 arches which follow each other continuously ending at the Shrine of St Mary.

If you are looking to have a picnic in Comacchio travel along the Romea road to the nearby 9th century Pomposa Abbey, with a basilica structure and religious and cultural centre among the most distinguished of the Italian Middle Ages - adjacent is the extraordinary and very tall bell tower (1063), relieved by a series of mullioned and four-trefoils windows.