LAND RECLAMATION. - In its etymological meaning (bonum facere) it sums up the work accomplished by man to "make good" an environment that adverse causes keep in a deteriorated state of backwardness. In its normal meaning, referred to land, it denotes the action carried out to confer upon it that productivity which unfavorable environmental conditions have diminished.
In Italy, works of land reclamation were carried out from the most ancient times. The Etruscans reclaimed the Maremme and built flourishing cities there; the Volsci transformed the Pontine marshes; the Romans engaged above all in draining the Rieti valley, the Val di Chiana, and Lake Fucino; Greek colonies reclaimed the coasts of the Ionian Sea where the cities of Taranto, Sibari, and Syracuse arose. With the disintegration of the Roman Empire and the irruption of the barbarians, stagnant waters and malaria returned almost everywhere. The works of land reclamation were however resumed by certain Benedictine families, especially by the Cluniacs and the Cistercians. Vast works of land reclamation 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 Pontiffs, Clement VIII (1592-1605), Innocent XI (1676-89) and Pius VI (1775-99) distinguished themselves in works of land reclamation: the latter, ably assisted by the engineer Rappini, brought almost to completion the work of draining the Pontine marshes (v. MONACHISMO; PIO VI; PONTIFICIO, STATO).
Among the most common causes of the deterioration of land is above all hydraulic disorder, which can cause floods, waterlogging, landslides, erosion, etc. Therefore the word bonifica, or bonificamento, refers for the most part, and more so in the past, to the work of hydraulic reclamation of a territory.
As such, hydraulic land reclamation had, especially in the last century, a predominantly hygienic purpose, to combat the malaria caused by marshland. But, the essential purpose being that of restoring to the land a higher degree of productivity, the agricultural aim gradually asserted itself as prevalent. Through land reclamation, therefore, the goal is a more complete and integral form of land utilization in order to increase its productivity and, with it, the well-being of the populations that benefit from it. And this not only because of the greater quantity of products that can be drawn from the reclaimed lands, but also because of the greater stability and constancy in the employment of labor, the better form of settlement, and the higher standard of living of the peasant populations.
The social purpose is therefore grafted onto the hygienic and economic one and sometimes, as in the case of the need to acquire new lands for cultivation to absorb demographic surpluses, or of the agrarian transformation of lands under a latifundist economy, it ends up prevailing over the economic purposes themselves.
Achieving such complex purposes means ensuring for land reclamation its integral character. The definition of "integral land reclamation," which had already appeared in previous documents, was introduced especially in the law of 24 December 1928, and codified in the legislative text of 13 February 1933. It can be expressed as the "coordinated implementation of all the works and activities needed to adapt the land to a higher production and rural coexistence" (Serpieri).
Land reclamation is carried out in specific territorial units called comprensori, classified by legislative or administrative measure. The comprensori can be of two categories, in the first of which the aims of colonization prevail.
Land reclamation is provided for according to a general plan of works and coordinated activities: the works carried out are all those that may be needed to realize the above-mentioned purposes. The great works of common interest to the entire comprensorio or to a notable part of it (hydraulic systems of drainage and of leveling, reforestation and establishment of windbreak plantations; agricultural and potable use of waters; road networks; creation of villages and centers of civil life for the rural populations; electrification of the countryside) are of a public character and as such reserved to the competence of the State, which contributes the majority of the expense and may carry them out under its direct management, or grant them for execution to the consortium of the owners concerned.
The consequent works of land improvement capable of conferring upon the reclaimed territory its high productive possibilities are of private competence, therefore reserved to private initiative, but obligatory for the owners according to the agrarian transformation directives approved together with the general plan of land reclamation. Owners who fail to fulfill these obligations may be replaced by the consortium in their execution or expropriated when they cannot or will not carry them out.
The comprensori of land reclamation in Italy cover a total area of over 9,000,000 ha., of which approximately 2,500,000 are represented by plain land reclamation of a predominantly hydraulic character; approximately 700,000 ha. by land reclamation of an irrigation character; over 4,000,000 ha. by extensive complexes and agrarian transformation, and 2,300,000 ha. by hilly and mountain land reclamation. The first and second are located predominantly in the Po Valley and along the Venetian coast. The others concern for the most part the Tuscan-Latial Maremma, the Mezzogiorno and the Islands, and those of the mountains cover for the most part the spurs of the Apennines.
The achievements accomplished are very notable, especially in the Po Valley and in the Veneto, where by now the hydraulic and drainage works can be considered close to completion. Among the largest land reclamations are to be remembered in the Veneto those of the Bassa Friulana, of the Basso Piave, of the lagoon-surrounding zones of Venice, of the Basso Polesine. In the Po Valley, the Cremonese-Mantuan reclamation, the Bassa Parmense, the Parmigiana Moglia, Burana, the Rhenish reclamation and nearly the entire province of Ferrara, from the Terre Vecchie to the great Ferrarese reclamation, to the Valli di Mesola and the lands surrounding the Valli di Comacchio. A particular characteristic of such comprensori is the fact that a large part of the lands lies below the flood level of the embanked rivers or of the sea. In the lowlands the outflow of spring or meteoric waters is ensured by means of pumping plants. The surfaces drained mechanically amount to 680,000 ha., of which 600,000 in the Po Valley and the Veneto alone.
Among the major Tuscan land reclamations we recall the Grosseto Maremma and the Val di Chiana. In Latium: Maccarese, Ostia, the reclamation of the Agro Pontino (90,000 ha.) recently redeemed from the marsh, where several cities and villages have been built: Latina, Sabaudia, Pontinia, Aprilia and Pomezia, and over 3000 farmsteads under the care of the Opera Nazionale Combattenti.
The southern land reclamations are at a less advanced stage due to the greater difficulty of the problems to be solved and to the agrarian transformation to be carried out on lands of extensive cultivation and latifundist economy.
The largest comprensori, where the works are largely completed and where work is still ongoing, are those of the Basso Volturno, of the Sele, of the Tavoliere di Puglia, of the Bassa Premurgiana, of the Lucanian Ionian coast between the Bradano and the Agri (Metaponto). In Calabria the plains of Sibari, of the Neto, of S. Eufemia. In Sicily the plains of Catania, of Gela, and the Belice basin. In Sardinia the Campidani of Cagliari and of Cristano (the latter irrigated with the accumulated waters of the artificial lake of the Tirso, which have made possible the agricultural development of the desolate zone of Terralba, where a new municipality, Arborea, has arisen, along with one of the most modern agricultural enterprises), the lower Sulcis, the Agro of Chilivani and the Nurra, where the village of Fertilia has been built.
The execution of land reclamation, especially in the extensive southern zones, is closely connected to every possible rational agrarian reform.