Bertoldi - Po di Primaro - 1785

THE LOST PO: THE STORY OF THE GREAT RIVER AND THE LANDS OF FERRARA
The first and only edition of an important seventeenth-century study dedicated to the history of the Po di Primaro and the transformations of the territory between Ferrara, Argenta, and Ravenna. Francesco Leopoldo Bertoldi reconstructs the events of the ancient river course through historical documents, testimonies, and topographical research.
An work that tells of centuries of hydrological changes, land reclamations, and the relationships between man, waters, and the landscape of the Po Valley. Published in Ferrara in 1785, it received favorable reviews from the press of the time and contributed to the scientific assertion of its author. A significant testimony to the territorial historiography of Italian Enlightenment, particularly interesting for the history of the Po Delta.

ABSTRACT
The Memorie del Po di Primaro, published in Ferrara in 1785, constitute one of Francesco Leopoldo Bertoldi’s most significant studies on the geographic and hydrological history of the Ferrara territory. The work reconstructs the events of the ancient branch of the Po di Primaro, its evolution over the centuries, and the transformations affecting the lands between Ferrara, Argenta, and the Ravenna area. Through a historical-documentary investigation, Bertoldi addresses the relationship between river courses, human settlements, land reclamation, and the progressive modification of the landscape. The volume fits within the eighteenth-century erudite tradition, characterized by the use of historical sources to reconstruct the territory’s evolution. Welcomed favorably by contemporary periodical press, the publication helped consolidate the author’s reputation and predated the realization of his monumental Memorie storiche d’Argenta.

WHY TO BUY
The first and only edition of a work of particular interest to collectors of local history, hydrology, historical cartography, and land reclamation of the Po Valley. The volume documents a territory deeply transformed over the centuries and offers testimony to the historical research conducted at the end of the eighteenth century on the river courses of Emilia-Romagna. The bibliographic importance is enhanced by the role the work played in Bertoldi’s scientific career, for it was thanks to the favorable reception of the Memorie del Po di Primaro that the municipality of Argenta entrusted him with writing the city’s history. The copy preserves the text in good condition, although it lacks the original binding and the folded topographical map provided in the edition, omissions that reduce its collectible value without compromising its historical and documentary interest.

MARKET VALUE
The indicative commercial value of this first and only Ferrara edition of 1785, in the described copy, is estimated between 200 and 300 euros. The work possesses undeniable bibliographic interest for the history of the Po, of land reclamations, and the Ferrara territory, as well as for the importance of its author in seventeenth-century local historiography.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Copy without binding, with a simple strip of cardboard applied to protect the spine; edges lightly sprinkled. Pages with some physiological foxing. In ancient books, with a multi-century history, some imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. This listing contains AI Views. Please refer to the original photographs to verify the object’s actual condition. Images are an integral part of the description. Pp.: 132; 2nn.

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Francesco Leopoldo Bertoldi.
Memorie del Po di Primaro.
In Ferrara, per gli Eredi di Giuseppe Rinaldi, 1785.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
The history of the Po di Primaro constitutes one of the most important chapters in the geographic and environmental evolution of the Po Valley. An ancient branch of the Po delta system, the Primaro played for centuries a fundamental role in communications, economy, and the organization of the territory between Ferrara, Argenta, and Ravenna. The transformations of its course, determined by both natural sedimentation processes and human interventions to regulate waters, profoundly altered the landscape and the region’s economic balances. In the eighteenth century, when hydraulic issues and land reclamation were at the center of territorial policies of Italian states, the study of rivers took on increasing scientific and administrative importance. Bertoldi tackled these problems through historical research, seeking to reconstruct the territory’s events through documents and testimonies of the past. The Memorie del Po di Primaro therefore represent not only a river history but also a contribution to the knowledge of the evolution of the Po Delta and the relations among the natural environment, settlements, and territorial powers.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Francesco Leopoldo Bertoldi (Argenta, 1737–1824) was an Italian priest, historian, antiquarian, and scholar, among the leading scholars of Ferrara and Argenta history in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. After studies in Argenta and Ravenna, he was ordained in 1760 and held various teaching and public administration roles. He collaborated with the numismatist Vincenzo Bellini in guarding the Ferrara museum and in 1783 was named antiquarian and custodian of the Ferrara University museum. His interests focused mainly on local history, archaeology, ancient topography, and hydrological transformations of the territory. The publication of Memorie del Po di Primaro in 1785, favorably received by the press, strengthened his scientific prestige and prompted the municipality of Argenta to entrust him with composing the city’s history. Thus arose the Memorie storiche d’Argenta, published from 1787 onward, which constitute his broader and most representative work. His oeuvre belongs to the great tradition of Italian historical erudition inspired by Ludovico Antonio Muratori’s documentary method.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
Le Memorie del Po di Primaro were first published in Ferrara in 1785 by the Eredi di Giuseppe Rinaldi, a local printing house active in book production. The work sits within the eighteenth-century flourish of historical, geographical, and hydraulic studies devoted to the Emilia region and its transformations. The original edition was accompanied by a folded topographic map depicting the ancient Po course and the present Po di Primaro with its tributaries, an element of particular interest for the history of regional cartography. The publication received favorable judgments from contemporary periodical press and directly contributed to recognizing the author as a scholar of Ferrara’s history and topography. There is no documented record, in available data, of the number of copies originally printed or the extent of the edition. The 1785 edition constitutes the original publication and no independent later editions of the same text have been verified.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Francesco Leopoldo Bertoldi, Memorie del Po di Primaro, Ferrara, Eredi di Giuseppe Rinaldi, 1785, first edition, 131 pages and unnumbered final leaves, with folded topographic map outside the text in the complete edition. Angelo Fabi, Bertoldi, Francesco Leopoldo, in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, volume 9, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome, 1967. For historical and bibliographic context see also Francesco Leopoldo Bertoldi, Memorie storiche d’Argenta, Ferrara, 1787 et sequentes, and Memorie per la storia del Reno di Bologna, Ferrara, 1807. The work belongs to the tradition of eighteenth-century topographic and hydrological historiography relating to the Po, the Ferrara territory, and the transformations of the Po Valley landscape.