>> Lomellina… A squared sea. >>
Lomellina is located between the provinces of Pavia, Novara and Vercelli and is the heart of the rice triangle. It is an area transformed over centuries by man’s ingenuity to take advantage of one of the precious resources offered in abundance by the Po Valley… Water.
A remarkable feat of hydraulic engineering, a construction made up of progressively branched canals has allowed the widespread distribution of this commodity SAFEGUARDING THE LANDSCAPE AND BIRD FAUNA and has made this area one of the most fertile in the world.
PROTECTINGING THE LANDSCAPE AND BIRDLIFE
Lomellina, with its poplar groves and the characteristic appearance of “squared sea”, which the territory takes on in spring when the water is conveyed to the fields to prepare the ground for sowing, is confirmed as one of the most interesting wetlands in Europe from an ornithological point of view; here we can meet all nine European species of Ardeidae (grey heron, purple heron, great white heron, egret, squacco heron, cattle egret, night heron, bittern and little bittern) and, alongside these, nest species of absolute conservation interest such as the spoonbill, the glossy ibis and the marsh harrier.
Perhaps more common, but a welcome guest of our company is, lastly, the pavoncella, the cute little wading bird of our logo, which usually nests in our fields in spring.
The European Community has identified this part of western Lomellina as a Special Protection Area, creating the largest SPA in Italy on an area of over 30,000 ha. The area is protected by precise constraints in the agronomic management of the rice fields and contains within it the “heronries”, “Natura 2000” sites (Natural Reserves and Monuments), of fundamental importance for the rest and reproduction of the herons.
A large part of our company falls within the SPA, in close contact with the Natural Monument of the “Garzaia di Celpenchio”.