"Rovigo, the "town of roses"" a Rovigo Travel Page by Mikebond

Rovigo is the capital town of its province, also known as Polésine, which is located between the rivers Adige and Po, thus often compared to Mesopotamia (that means "the land between the rivers"). It's the southernmost province of Veneto and also the most forgotten one, even if it is a leader in the agricultural field.

Rovigo has an ancient origin. The town was founded by the Romans, who called it Rhodigium, but the area has been inhabited since 6th century BC. Renaissance poet Lodovico Ariosto called it "the town of roses" in his poem Orlando furioso; he thought the Latin name Rhodigium came from Greek rhodon, i.e. "rose":

Come la terra, il cui produr di rose
le diè piacevol nome in greche voci,

that could be translated as:

"Like the land whose rose raising
gave it a pleasant name in Greek words"

(canto 3, octave 41)

Sadly, the poet was wrong, but the epithet "town of roses" remained.

Nowadays, Rovigo has lost much of its importance and of its charme because it has never had a strong political class at the town and provincial level, but something has started improving in the last years. It offers to tourists less than the other towns and cities of Veneto (in terms of organisation, tourist facilities, public transport, etc.) and lying so close to important cities like Padova, Venezia or Ferrara is a disadvantage, for many tourists don't stop here.
However, there are several worth seeing attractions: two medieval towers (parts of the walls, destroyed during the war), beautiful churches, an important library, a Fine Arts museum and a unique ethnographic Museo dei Grandi Fiumi ("Museum of the big rivers"), about the history of this particular region between the Adige and the Po, the rivers that have always deeply influenced the history of Rovigo.
We desperately need tourists! Do stop in Rovigo and visit it!