The Regional Natural Park of the River Sile comprises a protected area that follows the course of the Sile, one of Europe’s longest resurgence rivers.
A journey of many kilometres that begins upstream from the city of Treviso, at Casacorba. Here the water flows spontaneously from the ground, originating the ‘Fontanassi’, as resurgences are called in Treviso dialect. Small lakes and marshy areas, peat bogs and watercourses that intersect in a dense network, are the distinctive features of a natural environment of extreme interest and charm.
The first stretch of the Sile, upstream from the city of Treviso, is the most interesting from a naturalistic point of view because it is the one in which the resurgence phenomenon is evident. It is a rural area of serene and almost melancholic tranquillity, where the banks of the river are low and the water forms a delicate weave of ponds and marshes. Many mills were once in operation here, and Treviso was nicknamed ‘the granary of the Serenissima Republic’ because much of the wheat destined for the lagoon city came from these lands.
Just after Treviso, the river changes its appearance, becoming perhaps less natural. The banks, which used to be low and marshy, give way to a system of towpaths (or restere) that were once used to tow the large boats upstream from the shore. The banks are now lined with well-equipped bicycle and pedestrian paths from which one can admire natural landscapes of rare and undisputed beauty. Still following its course towards the sea, one also encounters former quarries transformed into small lakes and renaturalised environments where numerous species of water birds can be admired.
