Lusia
Lusia is a farming municipality in the lower Polesine area, in the province of Rovigo, known for a rather rare distinction: it is...
Updated 12 July 2026
The story
The story of Lusia
Europe's only IGP lettuce
The product that defines Lusia is Insalata di Lusia, granted Protected Geographical Indication status in 2009 and still, to this day, the only lettuce in Europe to hold this protection. It is grown in two varieties, Cappuccia, with compact, wavy, bright green leaves, and Gentile, with blistered, jagged, lighter-coloured leaves. The product's quality stems from the composition of the soil and groundwater, rich in potassium and calcium, which gives the leaves a natural savouriness that makes them pleasant even without added salt. Production covers ten to eleven months of the year and involves, alongside Lusia, several neighbouring municipalities across the provinces of Rovigo and Padua.
A tradition born in the nineteenth century
The first lettuce cultivations in Lusia date back to 1836, when the activity was purely local and family-based, limited to the needs of individual farming households. It was only in the post-war period, with the spread of the first heavy transport vehicles, that the product began reaching markets in northern Italian cities, turning from a subsistence crop into a proper commercial supply chain. Since then the town's market-gardening vocation has never stopped, culminating in the 2009 IGP recognition, a milestone reached thanks to the work of local growers and the establishment of a protection consortium that still oversees the quality and authenticity of the mark today.
The lower Polesine between the Adige and reclamation canals
Lusia's territory belongs to the lower Polesine, the vast plain between the Adige and Po rivers, an area whose fertility is owed to centuries of hydraulic engineering and land reclamation. Canals, sluice gates and pumping stations still shape the farming landscape today, regulating water levels in the fields and protecting crops from seasonal flooding. It is a flat, orderly environment, without hills, where the eye drifts across rows of poplars, vegetable plots and cultivated land stretching to the horizon. For visitors from outside the area, Lusia's Polesine offers an authentic picture of Veneto's farming culture, built on patient work and respect for an always-delicate water balance.
Country life in the Rovigo lowlands
Lusia remains, honestly, a modest-sized farming town, with no major monuments to list, but with a solid identity built around field work. The centre develops simply around the parish church, while economic life is concentrated in the farms and vegetable-growing cooperatives scattered across the territory. Visitors to Lusia will find above all a genuine setting, made up of village festivals tied to vegetable-garden produce, local markets and simple cuisine based on seasonal vegetables. It is the kind of destination that rewards travellers seeking real rural tourism, away from Veneto's more crowded destinations.
Between Rovigo and Adria
Lusia lies a short distance from Rovigo, the provincial capital, whose historic centre gathers around Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II and the medieval Donà and Grimani towers, and not far from Adria, a town of Etruscan and Roman roots that gave its name to the Adriatic Sea. This position allows for short cultural excursions, alternating city visits with a return to the quiet of Lusia's countryside. The nearby town of Badia Polesine and other municipalities within the IGP lettuce production area, such as Lendinara and Fratta Polesine, also offer opportunities for food-themed itineraries in the province of Rovigo.
Experiences not to miss
- Visit to a farm producing Insalata di Lusia IGP lettuce
- Walk among the fields and reclamation canals of the lower Polesine
- Tasting dishes made with local lettuce and vegetables
- Day trip to Rovigo's historic centre and its medieval towers
- Excursion to Adria, among Etruscan and Roman remains
To see
What to see in Lusia
Routes · Trovido Route
