The damp areas and the hydrological resources of

the territory

Da “Manon Lescaut” Intermezzo del III atto

Water has fascinated many artists.

The composer Giacomo Puccini inspired by the waters of Lake Massaciuccoli,

composed some of his best and most famous operas

Environmental resources of the Plain of Lucca   

 

Forest areas in the North and South of the Plain, on the Mountains of Pisa and on the Pizzorne

The river Serchio

Hills cultivated with grape vines and olive trees.

Abundant underground layer water and surface water

The network of tributaries coming from the hills and flow down from the Pizzorne mountain into the Bientina marshlands.

Natural Oasis of Bottaccio

The Plain

The marshlands The river

The Bottaccio

What we have studied

Fountains of the aqueduct

The Nottolini aqueduct

The Bottaccio Oasis

The river Serchio and the public channel

The river bed of Lake Bientina

Public fountains in Capannori

Ozzeri

IN RED THE PUBLIC CHANNEL

The Public conduct built in

1380 has always been

important. Today it still takes

its water from the River San

Gemignano di Moriano and

after a course of 13 Km. it

crosses Lucca from the Norh

West to the South-East.

It generates the irrigation

network of the Plain whose

main canals, nearly all,

.

merge into the Rogio Canal

which also collects waters from

the area of Bientina.

The public conduct and some of

its canals flow into the Ozzeri

 The river Serchio 

It has an annual flow rate of (46 m³/s);

the rate is maintained high due to the

rainfalls of the mountain areas it goes

through and also because of the

permeability of the basin.

The hydroelectric

plant covers about

12% of the local

annual needs.

It is responsible of hydrological disasters such as the 1812 and 2012 floods.

The richest annual period is Autumn, in particular the month of November.

Lake Bientina

8

Lake Bientana was the vastest of

the Tuscan lakes and was also

known to the inhabitants of Lucca

with the name Sesto. It had as

main tributary the Auser and as

outflowing streams the Cirecchio

canal and the Serezza

The area is believed to have always been swampy as it is lower than the the river

The lake had an area of permanent water called «clear waters» and a swamp area which

dried in the Summer and even today continues to be swampy.

Aerial view of former Lake Bientina after abundant rainfalls

Lakes at “Isola Bassa” of Lammari

The area offers to the citizens new forms of aggregation thanks to sports and entertaining facilities which are didactically useful and help people become environmentally aware by coming in contact with recycled material while relaxing.

Today the area is threatened by the construction of an intense traffic road system from the North to the South which runs close to these lakes.

In Lucca Expansion frames are often called “Barrel” and

the Bottaccio Wood is in fact situated inside the expansion

frame of the Stream Visona of Castelvecchio di Compito.

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Natural Oasis of Bottaccio

The municipality of Capannori, with city council By-laws ·N° 82 18.07.96 has instituted The

protected Natural Area of local interest (ANPIL) “The Bottaccio” which extends for 16.6 hectares.

The Italian WWF with the acquisition of government concessions, has been taking care of the

Bottaccio since 1991 and since then has inserted it in the National system of the Italian WWF Oasis.

The Municipality of

Bientina (Prov.

Pisa) With by-law

n.50/14.05.98

added to ANPLIN «The

Tanali Wood» on the

Northern side so as to

unite it with Bottaccio.

In this way the two

adjacent Protected areas

are inside the

Marshlands of Bientina.

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The waters which flow from the Mountains of Pisa, without polluted elements,

closed in by banks, remain in the Bottaccio and so create watery and semi-

watery environments in the wood .

The

Bottaccio

completely

relies on the

expansion of

the Stream,

Visona of

Castelvecchi

o, which

ends here.

The Environment