Observations on a Floodplain

Research project
Log 53: Perché Italia ora?
2021

The Romans were great roadbuilders, and along their routes they placed milestones – or lapidem – to indicate distances. Over time, settlements sprang up around these milestones: ad sextum lapidem (the sixth mile) became the town of Sesto al Reghena; ad quintum lapidem (the fifth mile) became Cinto Caomaggiore, where my mother was born. Aside from a few archaeological remnants, these place names are all that remain of the famous Via Annia which once cut a path across the Venetian-Friulan Plain.

Today, however, these place names have become dislocated from their geography. Centuries of channelization, wetland reclamation, and agricultural expansion have disrupted the Plain’s seasonal flood regimes. The Romans ultimately abandoned the Via Annia because their engineers could not control the Plain’s ever-changing hydrography. Will modern designers be able to hold back the rising waters of the Adriatic? If not, what names should be given to these drowned landscapes? How might they serve as enduring reminders – or warnings – of humanity’s failed attempts to control nature for centuries to come?