Tipologia
The Mantuan Oltrepò also conserves amazing natural richness. It is marginal, residual nature that has miraculously survived the agricultural exploitation or has been lovingly reconstructed, whose value increases exponentially due to the presence of the Po, the most extraordinary ecosystem in the Po Plain.
Hence, back in the 1980s the Regional Nature Reserves were set up, the Paludi di Ostiglia, Isola Boscone and Isola Boschina, and from the 1990s the local parks of San Lorenzo, San Colombano, Golene Foce Secchia and Gruccione,leading to the recognition on a European levelin 2006 of the Mantuan section of the River Po, with the establishment of the Special Protection Area “Viadana, Portiolo, San Benedetto Po, Ostiglia”.
Over 9,000 hectares of protected territory, enclosing a cross section of the most significant environments of the Oltrepò, such as sandy areas, oxbow lakes, expanses of water known as “bugni”, willow groves, lowland forests and marshes. An exceptional variety of habitats that host about 300 animal species.