Land reclamation in the Chiana Valley (Val di Chiana)
The everlasting struggle against water

Between Arezzo and Chiusi the Chiana Valley stretches out. The fertile soil and green meadows that cover this valley, only date from recent times. A few centuries ago, the Chiana Valley was a swampy, disease-ridden region with a substantial fishing industry. In his Divina Commedia, Dante Alighieri describes the Chiana Valley as a dreary area. The story of the land reclamation is one of the numerous technical interventions made through the centuries.

Thousands of years ago, at the end of the prehistoric era, the valley was a natural riverbed. Archaelogical discoveries in Farneta, Foiano and Cignano have revealed that the Etruscans lived in the Chiana Valley and cultivated it. They were the first to reclaim land from the water. Once fertilised, the valley became the granary of Etruscan civilisation.

The harbour of Torrita
On his way to the battle at the Trasimenic Lake (Lago Trasimeno) in 217 BC, Hannibal traversed the Chiana Valley with his massive army, and the valley was extensively plundered. Later on the Romans, fearing the possibility of Rome being flooded, perfected the Etrurian reclamation work. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AC and the ensuing barbaric invasions, the work was neglected for a long time. Little by little the valley turned into marshland again.

By the time Leonardo da Vinci drew his Atlantic Codex, in 1502, the Chiana Valley had turned into an unhealthy and dismal area. Even malaria roamed the lands. But by then the valley was also economically booming; harbours and watermills had been built on the waterfront, enabling a flourishing fishing industry. One of these thriving harbours could be found in Torrita di Siena.

Extra taxes
From the middle of the sixteenth century onwards, under the reign of Cosimo di Medici, the grand duke of Tuscany, parts of the valley were once more reclaimed when dikes were built, canals were dug and the course of rivers was diverted. In the following century the Habsburg-Lorraine family, who had become the new rulers, decided to the plan of total land reclamation. From the second half of the eighteenth century until the first half of the nineteenth century, engineer Vittorio Fossombroni supervised the work. Engineer Manetti continued Fossombroni's work until the reclamation work was completed under supervision of engineer Carlo Possenti.

Today all inhabitants of the Chiana Valley pay special taxes for the maintenance of their canals. The diverted water ends up in the main canal or Canale Maestro di Chiana, which discharges in the Arno in Arezzo. When the Arno water level reaches alarming heights, pre-dug reservoirs and breakage land is flooded in order to preserve Firenze from a flood.

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- This site was realised thanks to the co-operation between the town council and the inhabitants of Torrita di Siena and ten graduated students 2004 from the “Katholieke Hogeschool Mechelen”, Belgium, department communication science, campus De Ham. - © Torrita di Siena