The vast plains of Northern Italy offer the boater and canal enthusiast a remarkable variety of inland waterways, which can broadly be divided into three main categories. First there is the network of canals and canalised rivers connected by the Venice intracoastal waterway (Litoranea Veneta). Linking the lagoons along the Adriatic coast from the Po delta to Trieste, they total 760km, and form an ideal cruising area. The channels across the lagoons are well marked, and commercial traffic is very slight except in the Venice lagoon, where deep-sea ships ply on the channel to the port of Mestre. There are two hire boat firms based at Chioggia. The Venice-Padova waterway is a high-capacity canal designed to give access to the inland port of Padova, but it remains unfinished.
Under preparation (on 28/11/03), a zoom on the extraordinary nework of historic canals in Lombardy, where a master plan for restoration and low-impact navigability is currently being implemented by the region…