Italian Minor Rivers in a Bio-Regionalist Vision: the Case of the Low Plain between the Euganean Hills and the Venetian Lagoon

The most urgent issue currently affecting the quality of lived spaces in the Western world is the remarkable spread of the urban sprawl phenomenon. This leads to irreversible loss of the main support underpinning the basic eco-systems, with special regards to the dynamic of the hydro-geological system. The presence in Italy of a complex hydrographical network comes into collision with the expansion of the urban sprawl, thereby posing serious problems for correct territorial management. The case study here considered is the low plain between the Euganean Hills and the southern Venetian lagoon. Only recently we should note the growing social demand for green spaces and attractive landscapes as river corridors actually are. This specific point of view might allow the development of a sort of hydraulic humanism, that should underpin the recovery and reorganization of Italian hydro-geological management.