‘If the sea rises we’ll have to leave’: plans to restart gas drilling threaten Italy’s sinking delta

Sixty years after fatal floods and subsidence halted gas extraction in the Po delta region, politicians are once again eyeing methane reserves. But at what cost to one of the Mediterranean's largest wetlands and the people who live there?

To a visitor driving through Polesine in north-east Italy on a winter morning, the area might seem blessed with an abundance of wildlife. The biodiversity is among the richest in Italy, with 400 species of bird, lagoons, marshes and reed beds that have created a true natural labyrinth. Yet, it soon becomes obvious that something is not right: houses and fields are all lower than the road, visibly sunken, protected by embankments about four metres high. The reason? Without those barriers, they would be under water.

The entire area of Polesine, a strip of land between the Po delta and the Adriatic Sea, has long suffered the consequences of subsidence, but it was aggravated by gas extraction, which is why the practice was banned by the government in 1961.