We hear more and more often about pollution, seas in precarious conditions and ecosystems on the brink of collapse. In times when attention to the environment is a constant thought, one wonders how much is really being done to preserve our planet. Well, there are some striking episodes in which the hand of man and (who knows) good luck, have literally rescued a natural landscape. This is the case with the Lago d'Orta, in the Novara area. Let's discover the secret of its crystal clear waters!
The famous Lake Orta: its history
What today appears as a pleasant place, even bathing, was once the emblem of the most anguished horror. Yes, because once Lake Orta was nothing else a puddle in terminal conditions. It seems absurd to think so today, where a simple glance is enough to admire its brilliance and transparency. Oddly enough, this wonderful body of water in the past was severely polluted from copper and ammonium sulphate discharges from the Bemberg textile industry. This company, which produced rayon with the cupro-ammonia process, made the lake unlivable in a few years for its small and large inhabitants. Unfortunately this episode was not the only one to make Lake Orta a contaminated heap of dirt. In fact, the disastrous event of 1926 followed many years after the pouring of metals into the lake, due to the electro-galvanic activities that took place in the area.
The ever increasing industrialization brought the poor lake to its knees, further accentuating the acidification of the entire lake mass, caused by the biochemical oxidation processes of ammonium to nitrate. Paradoxically, if today Lake Orta is famous for being aoasis of refined beauty, in those years it became famous for being one of the most polluted bodies of water in the world. For this reason, it became the subject of various studies, also carried out at an international level. Fortunately, the 80s marked a turning point: Lake Orta saw massive interventions of liming, carried out by the Institute for the study of ecosystems of Pallanza. Several reclamation interventions brought the lake back to his own former glory, making it repopulate with fish and waterfowl.
Lake Orta and its old literary fame
There are many testimonies, in literature, of Lake Orta. Writers from all over the world have taken turns to narrate the sad events of this unfortunate lake, first of all Eugene Montale. The famous poet, in fact, dedicated melancholy verses to Lake Orta, which expressed all the sorrow for his unhappy condition: The anguish one feels / in this deserted grassy sandy shore / where the willows really cry / and stagnates undecided between life and death / an interlude without an audience is strange. His words show all the restlessness of a hopeless landscape. The parodies of Gianni Rodari. In fact, the writer tells a funny story, but also full of positivity. The fish-accountant of Cusio, sweet tale ecologist, he envisions a different future for Lake Orta from that revealed by Montale.
Rodari imagines that an accountant turns into a fish, in order to fight the rampant pollution of the lake, which was then given for dead. In the wake of this light, just look at Lake Orta as it is today! Indeed the famous lake of Novara would be the envy of any tourist resort. It becomes clearer and clearer, and its creatures are finally free to enjoy its natural beauty. What else to add, if not the amazement for a place that was on the edge of the abyss, and which today represents Italian excellence? Go and discover for yourself how fantastic Lake Orta is, which bears the delicate signs of a special rebirth!
