The Po is never in a hurry. Italy's longest river crosses its plain between high grassy dikes, skirting poplar groves where herons hunt and villages that hurried travellers will never see. Polesella is one of them: a quiet port call in the Polesine, the fertile strip of land squeezed between the Po and the Adige, south of Venice. The ship stops here not for the town itself, but for what it brings within reach: Renaissance Ferrara and a villa by Palladio.

On the dike

The ship moors at the foot of the dike, in a horizontal landscape where the sky takes up almost all the space. Before setting off on an excursion, climb up onto the levee: on one side, the river, wide and brown, carrying its tales of floods; on the other, the town's rooftops, cornfields and the bell towers of the plain. Residents walk their dogs there and greet you with a nod. This Italy without monuments on the horizon has a charm all its own, made of morning mists and bicycles. Downstream, the Po Delta scatters its branches among reed beds and lagoons, the realm of grey herons, terns and flamingos that frequent its sandbanks.

Ferrara, city of the Este

Less than half an hour away by motorcoach awaits one of the great cities of the Italian Renaissance. Ferrara, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, preserves at the exact centre of its streets a fairy-tale castle: the Castello Estense, with water-filled moats, a drawbridge and towers of reddish brick, the urban fortress of the dukes of Este, who made their court a beacon of the arts. Around it lies a twofold city: to the south, the medieval maze with vaulted lanes such as Via delle Volte; to the north, the "Addizione Erculea," an extension planned from the late 15th century that earned it the title of Europe's first modern city.

A city that pedals

Nearly nine kilometres of walls still encircle the old town, and you can walk along these tree-lined ramparts. Below, bicycles reign: the city of the Este ranks among Italy's cycling capitals, and the ballet of cyclists of all ages on the cobblestones is part of the show. The cathedral with its sculpted façade, the brick palaces and the trattorias serving cappellacci di zucca, pasta filled with squash: the half-day goes by quickly, too quickly.

Villa Badoer, elegance according to Palladio

Another possible excursion from Polesella: Fratta Polesine and its Villa Badoer, designed in 1556 by Andrea Palladio, the most imitated architect in Western history. A columned pediment, a monumental staircase and curved service wings like two arms open to the countryside: the villa, a World Heritage Site along with the master's other works, shows the Palladian ideal in its purest form. Its interior frescoes and the small archaeological museum housed in its outbuildings complete the visit.

The taste of the plain

The Polesine feeds its visitors without fuss: rice from the paddies of the nearby delta, eel, squash and wines from the sands. Delta eel risotto ranks among the region's signature dishes, as do the fruits of the orchards that thrive on these alluvial lands. If your program includes a food stop, let yourself be tempted by the cuisine of this countryside of mingled waters, which resembles its landscapes: discreet at first, endearing afterward.

What the river whispers

At departure, the ship glides once more between the dikes, and the plain resumes its steady breathing. Polesella will have been an interlude: no crowds, no famous main square, only a patient river and, all around, treasures that Italy bestows even on its most discreet countryside. Some passengers will rank Ferrara among the best surprises of their trip; the Po, for its part, will take no credit. It simply keeps on flowing.