Bursting of the Cucca banks
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The so called bursting of the Cucca banks (rotta della Cucca in Italian) traditionally refers to a flood in the Veneto region of Italy that should have happened on October 17, 589[1] according to the chronicles of Paul the Deacon. The Adige river overflowed after a "deluge of water that is believed not to have happened after the time of Noah"[1]; the flood caused great loss of lives, and destroyed part of the city walls of Verona as well as paths, roads and large part of the country in lower Veneto[1].
The tradition asserts that the banks of the Adige then burst at Cucca, a hamlet near Veronella, about 35 km SE of Verona; anyway contemporary historians think that the bursting never really happened, and the tradition simply refers to the disasters due to the lack of maintainment of the banks that followed the fall of the Roman Empire.[citation needed]
Due to the high fragmentation that followed the fall of the Roman Empire, no government was willing to repair the flood, and the waters of the Adige had been let free to flow through the lower Veneto for centuries.[2] The name Polesine originated at that time and was given to the whole territory that turned into a swamp.[2]
[edit] Consequences
The hydrography of the lower Veneto had a dramatic change after the bursting of the Cucca banks: the river Adige did no more pass through Montagnana and Este, and the new lower course diverted to the south passing through Legnago, Badia Polesine and Cavarzere, roughly following what had been the lower course of the Tartaro river until then.[2]
The Tartaro itself diverted to the south contributing to the swamp; centuries later, as the land dried up, it started following what had been the former lower course of the Mincio river, and has flowed into the Adriatic Sea by Adria; the current lower course of the Tartaro has been then known by the name of the Canal Bianco (White Canal in both Italian and Venetan).[2]
The Mincio itself diverted to the south and has become a tributary of the Po river since then; it had been a waterway from the Adriatic Sea to the lake Garda until then.[2] The loss of this last significance contributed to the definitive decline of Adria and its port.[2]
