Here is a new slide show of our visit on Sunday, June 27, to the Po Valley Delta Regional Park along the Adriatic coast near the town of Comacchio. It is an area that once comprised over 73,000 hectares of brackish wetlands and waterways but is now less than 18,000. Fishermen, bandits and poachers once plied these waters, but most have since disappeared along with the fish. In the 1920s, the Fascist government of Benito Mussolini began the process of reclaiming and draining the marshes—most of which are under the level of the nearby sea—to convert them into farmland, making hard lives even harder. Since 1988, this zone has been protected and is home to many species of birds such as the greater flamingo (P. roseus) and the common stilt or "cavaliere d'Italia" (Himantopus himantopus).



Comacchio from john sopinski on Vimeo.

Italian Gestures 101 from john sopinski on Vimeo.

Learn 10 ways Italians talk with their hands as demonstrated by my niece, Virginia.

Who let the dogs out? from john sopinski on Vimeo.

Ragù bolognese, part 2 from john sopinski on Vimeo.