CAVARZERE

The municipal area is part of the Pianura Veneta (Vento Plain) and is therefore totally flat. The town is crossed by the river Adige, which has changed its course several times and took on its present course in 589 with the so-called ‘Rotta della Cucca’, a disastrous flood. The Gorzone, Botta, and Tartaro-Osellin rivers also flow within the town’s administrative limits. The Adigetto and the Canal dei Cuori mark the borders of the town of Cavarzere to the south and north, respectively.

Worth Visiting

  • The Duomo San Mauro, the cathedral dedicated to the patron saint, originally built in the 16th century. The current building is the work of 20th-century architect Guido Cirilli. In the chapel is a miraculous crucifix: it was built with the head upright, but the next morning the carpenter found it bent to the left.

  • The Chiesa di San Giuseppe, located on the other side of the Adige River, houses a relic from the church of Santa Maria in Vado Donato.

  • Palazzo Silimbani, a Grignella (una frazione di Cavarzere)

  • The castle, described as “a powerful and beautiful fortress”, equipped with weapons and provisions, was demolished in the 16th century to build the church of San Mauro and the essential river embankments. The embankments have an exposed brick wall, decorated with false doors and equipped with steps for access. The castle still bears the marks of Second World War damage, with bullet holes from rifle fire.

  • The town hall is housed in Palazzo Barbiani, built in 1892 by the architect Barbiani from Bologna, who also designed the 66-metre-high bell tower, one of the tallest in the Veneto region

  • The ‘Tullio Serafin’ Municipal Theatre, located in the historic centre of Cavarzere and part of Palazzo Danielato (formerly Piasenti) in the former boys’ school complex, is now a civic centre and library It is the only example of a late 19th-century structure that was miraculously left standing in Cavarzere after the 1945 bombings

Don’t Miss

The route covers the southern part of the Metropolitan City of Venice – the area of Cavarzere between the Adige River and the Tartaro and Botta drainage channels. The natural attraction of this route is the broad Marice floodplain marsh, a site of outstanding natural interest. The vegetation in some sections of the canal have the features of a riparian scrub (the Tartaro drainage channel) and it is a nesting area for the kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) recognisable by its straight flight and sharp call. There is more interesting aquatic vegetation, with many species flowering in late spring and summer. These include the water lily (Nymphea alba), the yellow water lily (Nuphar luteum) and the rare, fringed water lily (Nymphoides peltata). Where there is almost no current, the surface of the water is entirely covered by vegetation. This is home to the edible frog (Rana esculenta) and its predator, the water snake and other interesting species.