Cassa di espansione del Fiume Secchia

The Secchia River Expansion Basin is a protected reserve spanning about 260 hectares between Modena and Reggio Emilia provinces. The site contains water storage basins bordered by embankments, alongside riverside woodlands and wetland habitats that support diverse plant and animal life.

The reserve was created in 1980 as a hydraulic infrastructure project, with engineers building a dam featuring a ten-meter-high weir to control flooding. The project transformed the landscape while creating new wetland habitats that support regional biodiversity.

The reserve is named after the Secchia River, which has shaped settlement patterns in this region for centuries. Visitors can see how water management remains central to daily life and land use in the Modena and Reggio Emilia areas.

The reserve can be explored on marked nature trails that loop through the water basins and woodlands. Visitor centers and information points are located throughout the area to help you understand the ecology and flood management systems.

The reserve features four discharge outlets and a selective comb weir that create artificial environments replicating the old marshlands that once covered the Rubiera Valley. These structures allow engineers to recreate wetland habitats that had disappeared from the landscape generations ago.