Polesella
Polesella is a municipality of the Polesine on the banks of the Po river, a few kilometres from Rovigo, in a territory shaped by t...
Updated 12 July 2026
The story
The story of Polesella
A frontier town on the great river
Polesella lies along the course of the Po, in the heart of the Polesine, at a point that for centuries marked the border between the Este domains of Ferrara and the Republic of Venice. Already in 1482, during the War of Salt, a clash on the Po near Polesella ended in a Venetian victory that assigned the town and the entire Rovigo territory to the Serenissima. This hinge position between two powers left a deep mark on the municipality's identity, still tied today to the river through its economy, landscape and historical memory.
The Battle of Polesella, 1509
On the night between 21 and 22 December 1509, during the War of the League of Cambrai, Ferrarese artillery was positioned silently behind the embankment defences, waiting for the river's flood to raise the hulls of the Venetian fleet to firing height. At dawn the first cannon shots caught the Venetians by surprise, causing an almost total defeat of the Serenissima's fleet. The battle marked a turning point in military history: after Polesella, river fleets were no longer used as a tool of war along the Po and the great rivers of northern Italy, effectively closing an era of river warfare.
Villa Morosini, a doge's residence
In the countryside east of Polesella, overlooking the Po's left embankment, stands Villa Morosini, or Ca' Morosini, built for Pietro Morosini in the mid-sixteenth century on land purchased from the Ferrarese Graziadei family. Scholars attribute the original design to architect Vincenzo Scamozzi. In the second half of the seventeenth century the villa was inhabited by Francesco Morosini, Doge of Venice from 1688 to 1694, who in 1690 had a chapel set up in one of the corner towers to celebrate his victory against the Turks. A scenic staircase once descended from the main floor directly onto the river embankment, no longer visible today after later raisings of the levees.
Villa Selmi and other historic residences
Alongside Villa Morosini, Polesella preserves other traces of noble architecture tied to the Po, such as Villa Selmi, today also known as Villa Rondina or 'il Palazzone', restored by the Selmi family who became its owners in 1814. These residences, together with rural courtyards and small country churches, form a scattered heritage telling of the appeal the banks of the Po held for centuries over the Venetian aristocracy, in search of fertile land and a scenic relationship with the great river.
Experiencing the Po today
Today Polesella is a quiet municipality of the Polesine, with an economy tied to plain agriculture and services for neighbouring towns. The real added value for visitors is the relationship with the river: the Po's embankments, walkable and cyclable, form part of wider cycling routes connecting Rovigo, the Po Delta and other riverside towns. It is a way to discover a river landscape often overlooked by mass tourism, yet dense with history and local identity.
Experiences not to miss
- Retrace the history of the 1509 naval Battle of Polesella
- Admire Villa Morosini, once home to Doge Francesco Morosini
- Discover Villa Selmi and the area's historic rural courtyards
- Cycle along the Po embankments between Polesella and Rovigo
- Ride cycling routes towards the Po Delta
To see
What to see in Polesella
Routes · Trovido Route
Routes in Polesella
Jobs · JobFlow
