LAND RECLAMATION. — In its etymological sense (*bonum facere*), it summarizes the work carried out by man to “make good” an environment kept in a deteriorated state of backwardness by adverse causes. In its normal meaning, referring to land, it denotes the action taken to confer upon it that productivity which unfavorable environmental conditions have diminished.
In Italy, works of land reclamation have been carried out since ancient times. The Etruscans reclaimed the Maremma and built flourishing cities there; the Volsci transformed the Pontine marshes; the Romans focused especially on draining the Rieti valley, the Val di Chiana, and Lake Fucino; Greek colonies reclaimed the Ionian coast, where the cities of Taranto, Sybaris, and Syracuse arose. With the collapse of the Roman Empire and the barbarian invasions, stagnant waters and malaria returned almost everywhere. However, land reclamation works were resumed by some Benedictine families, particularly the Cluniacs and the Cistercians. Extensive reclamation works were also carried out over the centuries by the Venetian Republic; while, under the Lorraine Grand Dukes, the Val di Chiana was reclaimed and the reclamation of the Grosseto Maremma was begun. Among the Popes who distinguished themselves in land reclamation works were Clement VIII (1592–1605), Innocent XI (1676–89), and Pius VI (1775–99): the latter, strongly supported by the engineer Rappini, nearly completed the drainage of the Pontine marshes (see MONACHISM; PIO VI; PONTIFICIO, STATO).
Among the most common causes of land deterioration is especially hydraulic disorder, which can cause floods, waterlogging, landslides, erosion, etc. Therefore, the term land reclamation, or land improvement, has been and still is mostly, and more so in the past, referred to the work of hydraulic restoration of a territory.
As such, hydraulic reclamation has had, especially in the last century, a predominantly hygienic purpose in combating malaria caused by marshland. However, since the essential aim is to restore to the land a higher degree of productivity, the agricultural purpose has gradually become the prevailing one. Thus, through land reclamation, the aim is to achieve a more complete and integral form of land use in order to increase its productivity and, with it, the well-being of the populations that benefit from II. This is not only for the greater quantity of products that can be obtained from reclaimed lands, but also for the greater stability and consistency in employment, the better form of settlement, and the higher standard of living of the rural populations.
The social purpose is thus intertwined with the hygienic and economic ones, and sometimes, as in the case of the need to acquire new lands for cultivation to absorb demographic surpluses, or the land transformation of latifundia lands, it ends up prevailing even over economic purposes.
Achieving these complex goals means ensuring land reclamation its integral character. The definition of “integral reclamation,” already appearing in previous documents, was introduced especially in the law of 24 Dec. 1928 and codified in the legislative text of 13 Feb. 1933. It can be expressed as the “coordinated implementation of all the works and activities required to adapt the land to higher agricultural production and rural living” (Serpieri).
Land reclamation is carried out in specific territorial units called reclamation districts, classified by legislative or administrative decree. There are two categories of districts: in the first, colonization goals prevail.
Land reclamation is carried out according to a general plan of coordinated works and activities: the works undertaken are all those that may be required to achieve the above-mentioned goals. Large works of common interest to the entire district or a significant part of it (hydraulic arrangements in the mountains and plains, reforestation and establishment of windbreaks, agricultural and potable water use, roadways, creation of villages and centers of civil life for rural populations, rural electrification) are of a public nature and as such reserved to the State, which contributes the majority of the expense and may carry them out directly or grant their execution to the consortium of interested landowners.
The subsequent land improvement works aimed at conferring upon the reclaimed territory its high productive potential are the responsibility of private initiative, but are mandatory for landowners according to the land transformation directives approved together with the general reclamation plan. Landowners who fail to comply with these obligations may be replaced by the consortium in their execution and expropriated if they are unable or unwilling to carry them out.
In Italy, reclamation districts cover a total area of more than 9,000,000 hectares, of which about 2,500,000 hectares are represented by plain reclamation with a predominantly hydraulic character; about 700,000 hectares by irrigation reclamation; over 4,000,000 hectares by extensive complexes and land transformation; and 2,300,000 hectares by hilly and mountainous reclamation. The first two types are located mainly in the Po Valley and along the Venetian coast. The others concern for the most part the Tusco-Latial Maremma, the Mezzogiorno, and the Islands, while the mountainous ones involve mostly the foothills of the Apennines.
Remarkable achievements have been accomplished, especially in the Po Valley and Veneto, where hydraulic and drainage works can now be considered nearly complete. Among the largest reclamation projects are those in Veneto: the Bassa Friulana, the Basso Piave, the areas around Venice, and the Basso Polesine. In the Po Valley, the Cremona-Mantua reclamation, the Bassa Parmense, the Parmigiana Moglia, Burana, the Reno reclamation, and almost the entire province of Ferrara, from the Terre Vecchie to the great Ferrarese reclamation, the Valli di Mesola, and the lands surrounding the Valli di Comacchio. A particular feature of these districts is that much of the land lies below the flood level of diked rivers or the sea. In low-lying lands, the drainage of spring or rainwater is ensured by hydro-vacuum plants. The mechanically drained areas amount to 680,000 hectares, of which 600,000 are in the Po Valley and Veneto alone.
Among the major Tuscan reclamations, we recall the Grosseto Maremma and the Val di Chiana. In Lazio: Maccarese, Ostia, and the reclamation of the Agro Pontino (90,000 hectares) recently redeemed from marshland, where several towns and villages have been built: Latina, Sabaudia, Pontinia, Aprilia, and Pomezia, along with over 3,000 farmsteads, under the care of the Opera Nazionale Combattenti.
Southern reclamations are in a less advanced stage due to the greater difficulty of the problems to be solved and the land transformation required on extensively cultivated latifundia lands.
The largest districts, where works are largely completed and where work is still ongoing, are those of the Basso Volturno, the Sele, the Tavoliere of Puglia, the Bassa Premurgiana, and the Ionian Lucanian coastal area between the Bradano and Agri rivers (Metaponto). In Calabria, the plains of Sybaris, Neto, and S. Eufemia. In Sicily, the plains of Catania, Gela, and the Belice basin. In Sardinia, the Campidani of Cagliari and Oristano (the latter irrigated by the waters accumulated in the artificial Tirso Lake, which has made possible the agricultural development of the desolate Terralba area, where a new town, Arborea, and one of the most modern agricultural enterprises have been established), the Basso Sulcis, the Agro of Chilivani, and the Nurra, where the village of Fertili has been built.
The execution of land reclamation, especially in the extensive southern areas, is closely linked to any possible rational land reform.