What people tell, and what the documents say
Whirlpools that ring like church bells, buried golden chariots, forgotten tribunals. In the Polesine, the fog has always made room for stories. You will find them all here, with one rule: always keep legend and history apart.
Heretics, witches and a burning at the stake in 16th-century Rovigo
For over two centuries Rovigo had its own tribunal of the Holy Office, based in the friary of San Francesco. Documented burnings and legendary witches.
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Three thousand years ago, elephant ivory and ostrich eggs were being worked in the Polesine
In the Bronze Age a village at Fratta Polesine worked glass, amber, ivory and ostrich eggs. How did they get there? Villa Badoer tells the story.
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In Loreo, a boatmen's legend and a rite no one has ever revealed
A mysterious passenger, two boats on the Po and a secret night rite repeated since 1608: the Madonna del Pilastro in Loreo, between legend and tradition.
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In Adria, the city's oldest church guards legends and age-old stones
Beneath the church of the Tomba in Adria, legend says, lies King Adriano's golden chariot. Inside, meanwhile, stands a 1,300-year-old baptismal font.
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The little baptistery in front of the Duomo and the fresco that would not be destroyed
In 1737 the "Dometto", the baptistery of Rovigo's Duomo, was demolished. Legend says the hammer stopped before the Madonna painted over the door.
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In Trecenta, a deep lake, a runaway bride and bells that ring underwater
On moonless nights, they say in Trecenta, a lament rises from the Gorgo della Sposa. History and legend of the largest whirlpool lake in the Polesine.
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The myth of the Eridanus and the amber of Frattesina
The son of the Sun fell into the Po, and his sisters wept tears of amber. At Frattesina, three thousand years ago, amber really was worked.
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Anatomy of an invented mystery
A rediscovered diary, an initial, a fish-man in the Delta: Lovecraft’s trip to the Polesine is an artful fake. This is how a legend is born.
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The popular devotion that gave birth to the Rotonda
From 1591 an image of the Virgin drew crowds of pilgrims to Rovigo. Tradition credits it with 115 wonders, and from them the Rotonda was born.
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The statue that fell in a storm and never stopped glowing
May 1509: a storm tears a statue of the Madonna from a house in Lendinara. It is said that, fallen beyond a hedge, it shone for days.
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A dream, a flowering crozier and a Greek name
A bishop seeking refuge, a dream of Saint Peter and a crozier covered in roses: the legend that made Rovigo the city of roses.
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