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EARLY ARIANO
Ariano nel Polesine lies along the banks of the Po di Goro river, one of the 7 branches of the Po Delta. At the beginning of the 10th century, several settlements were scattered in this area, but early Ariano, which was named Hadriani or Radriani, rose along the Via Popillia. This trade route had been built in 132 BC by consul Publius Popillius Laenas and ran through the lands in the neighbourhood of San Basilio (a small town of great historical interest).
Not only was the via Popillia one of the main arteries leading into the Capital, but it was also used for the postal delivery system of the Empire.
Early Ariano had an imposing Castle and also its own river port connected to the Adriatic Sea, very near to the Etruscan port of Adria. All these elements suggest that the town was a fully developed trading centre.
Reliable evidence proves that early Ariano rose in this area. In fact, in the Tabula Peutingeriana, a road map showing the whole route of the Via Popillia from Rimini to Aquileia, we find that “Radriani Stazione Romana” (“Radriani Roman Way Station”) is marked right in the neighbourhood of San Basilio.
The archaeological findings in this area, dating back to the Christian era, the Greek-Roman period, and up to the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, provide further support to this theory.
According to the archpriest Gio.Paolo Preveati, the disappearance of early Ariano was due to calamities caused by the sea and by the river Po.
 TODAY’S ARIANO
At the beginning of the Christian era, the Silvus Longus Canal ran through Ariano. This waterway, together with the via Popillia, was one of the nerve centres of the coast trade network: it had its origin in the Po di Goro river, more precisely where the actual Piazza Garibaldi is found, and flowed towards the sea.
THE NAME
The name Ariano undoubtedly comes from Adria, an old sea town which also gave its name to the Adriatic Sea and the surrounding lagoons.
Up to the 10th century, Ariano was called “Adriano”.
When it became part of the Kingdom of Italy, in 1866, the problem of how to distinguish Ariano from other towns carrying the same name arose (Ariano Irpino in Campania, Ariano in the province of Ferrara). A proposal was then put forward to add “nel Polesine” to the original name.
The town had been also known with the names of “Ariano austriaco” (Austrian Ariano) and “Ariano sinistro” (Ariano on the left bank).
The measure was adopted on the 13th of March 1867, and on the 7th of July of the same year the proposal was accepted and published on the Italian Official Gazette.
As historians have often argued, in order to avoid any problem, the ideal solution would have been to use the old name “ADRIANO”.
SURFACE AND CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES
The town council of Ariano nel Polesine extends itself on an area of 80,92 Km². It has a particular geographical configuration: apart from being the longest town council of the Province of Rovigo, it presents itself as a curious strip of land, about 20 km long and about 100 km wide, which follows the banks of the Po di Goro, reaching the sea. The land is of alluvial origin.
THE MUNICIPAL STATUTE
The municipal statute approved by the Town Council in 1991, and amended in 1994, is not the first statute of Ariano, as the first one dated back to 1328 AC and had been granted by Prince Bertoldo d’Este, marquis of Ancona and master of the castle and of the district of Ariano.
The Town Council was set up after the publication of the first statute, which was then amended by Cardinal Durazzo and, later on, by other Church delegates or powerful rulers.
 THE COAT OF ARMS
The municipal coat of arms was granted on the 17th of December 1931 by King Vittorio Emanuele III, while the gonfalon dates back to the 4th of June 1962 and the corresponding decree was signed by the President of the Republic Antonio Segni.
However, the town council of Ariano already possessed a coat of arms, although it is not known when and by whom it had been granted, whether with the statute or even earlier.
In fact, on the bell of the civic tower overlooking the town hall, there was a coat of arms representing a “keep” with a square pyramid base where was written “1613 – MDCXII – The Community of Ariano”.
Around the bell, it was possible to admire four figures in bas-relief representing the Crucified, Saint Cajetan of Thiene, Saint Roch the confessor and the Lady of Health.
Unfortunately, in 1943 this bell was removed from its place and transformed in war material, and was then replaced in 1950 by another one which read “Town council of Ariano nel Polesine. Bell of the Civic Tower – Easter 1950”.
THE RIVER PO, A BOUNDARY LINE
The Po di Goro river, the most ancient branch of Po Delta, has always served as a boundary line between the Republic of Venice and the Duchy of Ferrara, and the relations between the two States were often on strained terms, not to say belligerent.
Therefore, Ariano has always been subject to the tyranny of both States, finding itself pertaining first to the one and then to the other and owing them obedience and allegiance whether willingly or not.
It was just for the definition of the boundaries that, in 1481 and 1482, the Isle of Ariano Polesine became the theatre of one of the bloodiest wars between the Venetian Republic and the Duke of Ferrara who, after having come to an agreement with Naples, Florence and Milan, invaded the Venetian area with his cavalry, (passing) through the area of Loreo, in order to fight the Venetian States.
Other battles were fought in 1585 between the Republic of Venice and Duke Alfons of Ferrara, always because of the boundaries between Loreo and Ariano.
The quarrels grew even bitterer in 1586, when the Duke placed a fence at the Magnavacca Port in order to take advantage of the fishing activity of Comacchio.
At last, on the 15th of April of 1749, after bloody fights and shifts from one State to another, and following difficult negotiations, an international treaty between Pope Benedict XIV (born in Bologna) and Doge Pietro Grimani was drawn up for the people of Ariano. In 1751 the works for the definition of the boundaries of the Isle ended with the laying of big brick pillars where, on opposite sides, two marble slabs had been embedded. They carried, in bas-relief, the symbols of the two States: the Lion of Saint Mark with the message “Pax tibi, Marce Evangelista meus” for the Republic of Venice, and the Papal Tiara with the keys for the Papal States.
ON VENETIAN LANDS, THE FIRST ITALIAN FLAG WAVED FROM THE TOWN HALL OF ARIANO
In 1848 and 1849 the people of Ariano answered the roll call of Venice to fight and give freedom back to the queen of the Adriatic Sea, the waters of which wash a little strip of land of the town council of Ariano. As a consequence, Italy too would be free again.
From a political point of view, in 1855 Ariano nel Polesine, as well as the rest of Italy, was under foreign domination.
In 1866 Ariano nel Polesine was the first town which ran to meet the Italian troops that, having crossed the border of Mesola-Rivà, were chasing the enemy.
On the 23rd of June of the same year, at 3 pm., the then Mayor of the town council of Ariano nel Polesine, Mr. Vito Violati Tescari, by waving an Italian flag from one of the windows of the town hall, proclaimed, in fact and in law, the Reign of Victor Emmanuel II.
It was exactly that Italian flag that had first waved free on the Venetian lands that was displayed as a memento of the Risorgimento at the Turin Exposition in 1882.
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THE PO DELTA AND ITS EVOLUTION 
THE TOWN OF SAN BASILIO BETWEEN HISTORY AND LEGEND