Chiavica dell'Agrifoglio

The Chiavica dell'Agrifoglio is a brick sluice on a bend of the Po di Volano near Codigoro. Built in the late seventeenth century and enlarged in the eighteenth, it is a surviving example of the hydraulic works that drained the low-lying Pomposian countryside.

Why it matters

Before powered pumps became common, tidal sluices helped manage water across the Ferrarese Delta. The Chiavica channelled low waters from the Pomposian area toward the Volano while its gates helped control the flow. Its construction records an early phase in the long transformation of marshland into agricultural territory.

What to notice

The structure is formed by three brick vaults resting on buttressed piers. The arches and masonry show how water could be channelled beneath a road, combining hydraulic and transport functions in one building. Set on a bend of the river, the sluice was positioned to direct water from the surrounding low ground into the Volano.

Context and history

The sluice belongs to the reclamation works begun under the Este and extended across the Ferrarese Delta over several centuries. Its tide-operated gates used differences in water level to help drain the Pomposian territory. The structure was enlarged during the eighteenth century as the drainage network developed. Later reclamation and changes to the surrounding land left the sluice obsolete, but its masonry remains as a record of pre-industrial water engineering.