At the far end of the Delta, where the land frays into reed beds and sandy islets, rises a white tower about 45 metres tall. This is the Punta Maistra lighthouse, also known as the Pila lighthouse.
It marks the point where the Po di Pila, one of the river’s branches, splits into its last channels, the Busa di Tramontana and the Busa di Scirocco, before pouring into the Adriatic. Here the river stops being a river and becomes sea.
A lighthouse chasing the sea
The first lighthouse was built in 1885 near the village of Pila. During the Second World War, retreating German troops destroyed it.
After the war it was rebuilt further east, on a small islet on the left of the river, about five kilometres from Pila. The move alone shows how far the Delta advanced into the sea in little more than half a century. Regional sources describe it as the easternmost masonry building in the Delta.
A light over the Adriatic
The lantern sits about 47 metres above sea level. Its beam reaches some 30 kilometres and comes on every evening, from sunset to dawn. For those at sea it is a fixed point in a landscape that never stops changing.
The kingdom of the birds
Around the lighthouse stretches one of the wildest landscapes of the Po Delta Park. There are the lagoons of Scano Boa, the Basson and the Burcio, the Isola della Batteria, small sandy islands and dense reed beds. The channels run at different depths, in different colours.
It is an ideal refuge for herons, little egrets, cormorants and gulls. The lighthouse can be reached only by water. So the boat trip from Pila, along this branch of the river, becomes part of the journey. Those who make it this far find a world of water, wind and wings, where the land still seems to be under construction.
