Ravenna's Maritime Park

Ravenna’s Maritime Park is an urban redevelopment project covering an overall coastal area of 35 km from Casalborsetti in the North to Lido di Savio in the South. It covers the beach dunes and the pinewoods running along the coast. Water is the soul of this natural heritage. Ravenna’s coastline is a well-known tourist destination, mostly appreciated by domestic tourism. Today beaches, beach clubs and clubs are the main attractions. The Maritime Park project wants to radically change this mainstream use of the coast by re-creating the original ecosystem composed of sandy dunes, pinewood forests and water (including the inland basin called “pialassa”, belonging to the complex geological history of the Delta of the Po River). For this reason, the significance of the site is destined to change in quite a short time: a sustainable and responsible tourism will be promoted and water, as a natural heritage, will be one of the main drivers of the future. The redevelopment of the site was decided by the Municipality in its Single Programming Document 2017- 2019 as part of its Urban Regeneration strategic planning. The operational goal is to regenerate the areas behind the beach facilities of all the municipal seaside resorts and to create foot and cycle paths in order to safeguard the natural environment.
The general objectives and expected goals of the project are:
• to reveal the water landscape of the wetlands and also have the opportunity to live the pinewood and the beach dunes by connecting the sea and the beach with the natural environment lying on the back;
• to reconstruct the environmental equilibrium between beach, dunes and pinewoods interrupted over the centuries by human exploitation;
• to boost the potentials of the area by identifying each regenerated element with information panels;
• to promote a quality tourism network all year-round, contributing to extend the tourism season.
The area covered by the plan is 35 km long and has been divided into three sections, based on the specific features of the individual beach resorts. The executive plan for the first section has been approved and regeneration works were expected to start in September 2020, but due to legal actions during the procurement phase they have been postponed to October 2021. The first section covers a 9km coastal area located North-East of the town centre. The costs for the first section are covered by regional fund, whereas the remaining sections of the Maritime Park project have been approved for funding through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan in January 2022 for an overall budget of € 10.475.000,00.