The realization of Ca’ Vendramin dewatering pump was an event that crossed over the local borders.
Meaningful descriptions of the work and the results obtained were published on the newspapers of the time, together with the information on the visits of authority representatives and technicians coming from different Italian and European places. The newspapers of the time proudly carried the news item of the visit of Dutch engineers, expert in hydraulics, as proof of the international interest in a high-technology work of engineering.
In conclusion, Ca’ Vendramin became the heart of the reclamation of a piece of land that has been transformed, fertilized, populated, socially and economically developed. It has also become a reference for lots of Italian and European territories to be reclaimed.
The drainage of Ariano island with Ca’ Vendramin dewatering pump became famous in Italy and participated in exhibitions and congresses, collecting a series of prizes and appreciations for the realization of what had been planned and for the great results achieved.
The reclamation work is a guarantee of land safety: during the rains 12 machine operators are employed in operating 10 steam boilers and 4 pumps that raise 11000 litres of water per second and drain them in the Veneto Emissario canal, which, in its turn, conveys the water to the sea near the Po mouth of Goro.
The original project went on until 1921, when the plant was partially electrified and the old Langen Wolf boilers were replaced with the TOSI boilers, that we can still admire.
It was an important change for the dewatering pump and for Ariano island, because the electrification, even though partial, reduced considerably the manual work of the operatives, who became more expert and partially free from the hard work required before.
During the total drainage of the 1920s and 1930s, the reclamation work affected both Ariano island and the whole area of the Po Delta. In this period the Consortium was the real transformer of the district. It not only controlled drainage and irrigation (the latter meanwhile became a fundamental agricultural practice for the reclaimed lands) but also carried out land improvements, built farmhouses and buildings annexed (stables, sheds, storehouses), as well as social buildings, schools, roads and aqueducts.
Ca’ Vendramin was not entirely in line with the technological development, but it was a fundamental reference point for the total reclamation of Ariano island (that in the meanwhile had reached a population of 25000 inhabitants), it was a guarantee of the agricultural development and of the settlement of other activities of production.
It was not only the heart of the hydraulic system, but also the symbol of social and economic deliverance. Therefore people considered Ca’ Vendramin as a certainty for their future life.
Ca’ Vendramin dewatering pump went undamaged through farming alterations and war events. Later, in the 1950s, there was an unpredictable, slow, progressive, perturbing phenomenon of earth: the subsidence, a consequence to the extraction of methane-producing water from the subsoil.
The working of the dewatering pump became difficult. It was more and more necessary to use the auxiliary dewatering pump of Ca’ Verzola, in San Basilio, in order to reduce the quantity of water coming from the west side of Ariano island, through the drainage headed for Po di Goro.
The floods of 1957 and 1960 did not make the plant unserviceable and it proudly started working again after such catastrophic events. But they revealed that something had changed in the landscape: the subsidence of the 1960s hindered the functioning of Ca’ Vendramin and accelerated its effects.
So the Consortium and the Delta Padano Institution were compelled to take either-or options, like the installation of temporary dewatering pumps in Conca Ca’ Vendramin at some hundred metres downstream.
The drainage was transferred to a different point of the territory, though not very far. Ca’ Vendramin dewatering pump seemed to refuse to give up the activity, so that, though within certain limits and for short periods, the working went on until the end of the 1960s, when, sad to say, it stopped once and for all.
But, persistently, the ex-dewatering complex of Ca’ Vendramin did not want to disappear from the operative scene of the Consortium, nor from the social scene of the Delta; it firmly remained the residence of four Consortium employees’ families till the end of the 1980s. It became the Operative Centre of the new drainage Consortium Delta Po Adige, that started operating in 1978 after the union of elementary Consortia of the Delta area, including the one of Ariano island.
In the wide spaces of the boiler room, in the ex coal storehouses and, above all, in the premises of the workshop there is an intense activity of the Consortium.
The engine room of Ca’ Vendramin dewatering pump lies silently in the background, but in the surrounding rooms there are bustle and activity.
The technology and, above all, the business aspect make relentless progresses: the environments and the rooms should undergo deep changes to adapt to the new operative demands of the Consortium, and should accept unhealable wounds.
The new role of Ca’ Vendramin dewatering pump and its symbolic meaning
The dewatering pump had been an important and prestigious complex for about 70 years and then it was used as the Operative Centre of the Consortium for more than 15 years. Now, in the light of the need of adjustments to make the dewatering complex more functional, there is a project for a different utilization equally noble and important: the idea of a Regional Land Reclamation Museum after a targeted restoration of the buildings, the adjustment of some rooms, without too many alterations, trying to restore the original forms where they have been changed or removed.
At first the proposal aroused some perplexities: in the era of consumerism and extreme research of concrete objectives of any human act, whose value is measured almost exclusively for its economic effectiveness, the realization of initiatives whose aim is the cultural evaluation of collective goods can arouse someone’s perplexity and disapproval, more or less direct.
The project considers the building size, the large usable rooms, the quantity and quality of machines. Its aim is the establishment of a Museum of the Reclamation Work that can house machines coming from other reclamations, important documental material (models, maps, pictures, etc.) in order to highlight the history of drainage hydraulics of the recent years.
The project means to recover the foundation structure of the most important reclamation of the Delta, while encouraging an alliance of the Museum with a technological element (integral machines and structures) belonging to the museum itself, with the purpose of a Museum open to any cultural and social aspects. They represent the man’s activity of reclaiming (in the past) marshes and swamps, of keeping (now) lands suitable for living, in a delicate balance earth-water. Without such action the present agricultural, civil and industrial activities would have been driven back to the early state.
The restoring is a meticulous and rigorous process. Nevertheless the need of transforming the use of some rooms has not changed the pre-existing forms.
In 1990 the Veneto Region financed the adjustment and restoration project for the transformation of the building into a Regional Land Reclamation Museum.
The restoration was finished in 1993 It allowed, at first in some extent and then in a more intense way, to start meetings, congresses, exhibitions and shows that gave the idea of the social and cultural importance of the realization.
Most of all, the deep meaning of this place-symbol comes out: it is not only the place-symbol of drainage and land hydraulics, but also a social and cultural reference point for the people of the Delta, who rediscover the symbolic as well as real value of a building that contributes to the development and evaluation of the Delta.
The restored rooms and the ones in process of adjustment host congress rooms, exhibitions on drainage, the historic archive of the Consortium of the reclaimed land, the study centre, workshops on hydraulics and environment, the visitors’ centre, offices of the Park Authority, and other activities that will be established in the future.
The work carried out, in respect of the original forms and contents, has allowed to show the splendour of such example of industrial archaeology.
From the historic and architectural point of view, we can notice how the plant, despite its specific practical function, has not refrained from facing the problem of integrating forms in the landscape.
Ca’ Vendramin stands out from far off because of its easily recognizable architectonical typology. Nevertheless it integrates in the Delta landscape with its imitation-brick structure, with its classic and severe design, with its essential forms not lacking in valuable artistic elements, like the beautiful mullioned windows with two lights of the engine room.
Ca’ Vendramin is not only a monument to drainage, a testimony of reclamation work accomplished in Ariano island, but, above all, it is a reference point, a symbol of the Delta region and of Polesine. It “abridges” the history of a land of floods and defence against the Po, of men’s hard work to wrench earth from water and make it fit for habitation and cultivation.
It is the fruit of the human labour and will, where it is possible to find the cultural and social identity of people from south Polesine.
The complex of the ex dewatering pump is nearing completion. It will be not only a place of memories, but also a place for activities, for cultural and territorial interests for the benefit of the population that will be able to meet again and recall their traditions. The structure will also offer opportunities for new activities and alternatives of utilization.
“The objects, the techniques, the material and immaterial elements of the hereditary patrimony, are to be used to highlight and sustain the change, to recognize and support the leanings of the area, with coherent projects of development”.1 >>
It is a Museum of the territory, an institution that will not dry up in the simple exhibition of materials, but will become the starting point for a complete knowledge of the land characteristics, namely history, culture and environment.
The presence of such institution is important for south Polesine: in fact it divulges, in an original way, the crucial events that marked and produced the history of Delta.
In fact most of the people are still not familiar with the extraordinary events contributing to form the present reality of Polesine, with the history of water flooding inland districts, with the lands that defeated the sea and made it move back.
Here the human being contested the Nature’s right to develop freely its own strength.
Therefore it is clear that it is necessary to create, in this very area, a museum as a place of memory, to divulge, as much as possible, the salient moments of the evolution of our territory.
Here nature and culture stand by each other in the protection of the human environment.2 >>
Besides, Ca’ Vendramin Museum of the Reclamation Work can offer a great opportunity to visit a land of significant environmental interest, a unicum in the story of its development.
Ca’ Vendramin: a place of historical, cultural and tourism interest
Ca’ Vendramin is included in the typology of “Ethnographic, Territorial, Specialized and Composite”3 >> Museums. According to lots of local authorities, its merit is to present, to everybody’s judgement, objects and experiences that belonged (and still belong, in the continuity of identity) to the particular environment.
These objects and these experiences must be known, collected and preserved as such, even when they are of no further use, in order to allow the cultural and scientific interpretation of an original history.4 >>
The museum can be therefore considered as an attempt to hand over more interest in the territory we are dealing with, made by the keen and active people’s commitment.
The completion of the premises transformation is not taking place in a drastic and traumatic way. It considers the valuable typological characteristics of this important construction of industrial archaeology and, beside the real museum, it makes provision for a cultural centre for study and research in the technical-scientific disciplines concerning the reclamation work, the territory and the environment. The vacant adjoining rooms are thought to host a botanical garden specialized in the species characterizing the area.
It will become, therefore, a place of aggregation of civil interests, a place for assemblies, congresses, courses of study, a cultural outpost of the Regional Park of the Po Delta.5 >>.
In conclusion it will be a kind of ecomuseum (according to a definition in fashion in recent times), the first one in Veneto, a structure included in an environment which will become an integral part of the museum itself.
Ca’ Vendramin can be considered the first “doorway” for the visitors of the most valuable environment in the Po Delta.
The building must not be simply considered a testimony, just because it now lacks of practical use, but it can represent a cultural occasion to get acquainted with a great historical and environmental patrimony and a new activity for the free time, which could be really welcomed by the Italian and European tourists.6 >>.
Therefore Ca’ Vendramin Museum proves to be a consequential support for lots of initiatives connected to local tourists and week-end excursionists, who are interested in gastronomic specialities, in the countryside and in the environment.
The new trends for tourism and the love for landscape, together with the rediscovery of this patrimony and its potentialities, will demand further efforts to keep on defending the extraordinary originality of this land.
Fulfilled projects, proposals and initiatives in progress at Ca’ Vendramin
A project called “Delta Culture”, started in 2000, makes the provision for the cooperation of the Consortium of Reclamation Work Delta Po Adige, the University of Padua, the Academy of Concordi in Rovigo and the Veneto Region. It will have Ca’ Vendramin dewatering plant as its centre.
The project provides for lots of different initiatives whose aim is researching and writing the history of a peculiar district in order to offer the opportunity of planning, on scientific bases, the future of an area whose natural value, history and traditions are to be defended.
The objects, the techniques, the material and immaterial elements of the hereditary patrimony, are to be used to highlight the pre-existences, to sustain the change, to recognize and support the leanings of the area, with consistent projects of development.
Within this project, in June 2002 a study congress was open on the events of Taglio di Porto Viro (1600-1064), a hydraulic work about which three reports were made from the historic, financial and hydraulic points of view.7 >>
The meeting that got considerable approvals, started a series of various initiatives of the Delta Culture project.
On September 29, 2000, for example, the Provincial Education Authority of Rovigo promoted a seminary with the aim of offering information and experiences for educational projects on the history of the Po and the Delta.
The meeting was an important moment of reflection and connection of teachers, library directors and people in charge of the local authorities of south Polesine. It was warmly received by the school world, as a token of the need of a stimulating place, a place of dialogue for teachers, aiming at examining closely the local culture.
In 2001 there were guided tours, exhibitions of sculptures and paintings8 >> and the Fair of Naturalistic Tourism organized by the Veneto Park of the Po Delta Authority last September.
Long steps forward have been taken, indeed, since Piero Bevilacqua and Manlio Rossi-Doria remarked: the reclamation work is a weak presence among the events of the historic reconstruction and the Italian culture. 9 >>
Among the projects in progress there is the inclusion of the Consortium’s library and archive in the southern wing of the building.
The library will collect not only works on the dewatering pump story, but also bibliographic material concerning the hydraulic, social, financial and cultural history of the Po Delta.
The archive will contain the documentary material (projects, letters, pictures, administrative acts, etc.) that are in part already present in some museum rooms, concerning the events of the Consortium and the district it concerns in.
The rooms destined to the library and the archive will have to be easily usable, therefore provided with skilled personnel, catalogues-inventories as much detailed as possible, for a better management of work and for an easier reference.
It will be necessary to have an out-and-out cataloguing of the material of the Museum, that is an ordered series of files containing the identification of the “pieces” and their careful description according to pre-arranged rules.
The cataloguing will be made on a computer and will be included in the Internet for a widespread and quick reference.
The exhibition will not be only a display of documents (in this case machines, plans, pictures, projects, administrative documents, etc.) that tell the story of the reclamation work, but new situations will be created to renew and enrich the museum, introducing research and study areas.
The technological environment of the dewatering pump/museum can represent the ideal situation for contemporary art performances, because the interaction of works of art, the definite architectural reality and the immaterial language of electronics can increase and modify the pictures involving the spectators/users.
Anyway, Ca’ Vendramin dewatering pump will always be the Museum of the Reclamation Work strictly connected to the Drainage Consortium, as doing like this it will be close to its people, the population of the Delta, who can use this visiting card to make their territory and history known. Only a few places are as linked as Ca’ Vendramin to the events of the Delta and its population.
Ca’ Vendramin is reclamation work and story of Delta of the last century
The reclamation work represents the privileged point of examination to recount the alternation of events of land and citizens, it represents the operative activity that has become culture and evaluation of the precious and delicate environment of the Po Delta.
For this reason, when entering Ca’ Vendramin we need to pay attention, to walk on tiptoe, respecting its history made of human toils and great social and financial results, achieved thanks to the drainage and its century-old activity.
Any activities developing at Ca’ Vendramin must take into account that the people of the Delta and the Delta itself deserve our respect.
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