Bassa Centrico Festival

A widespread festival along the Po

The Bassa Centrico Festival was born in 2026 as a large, widespread review designed to unite and tell the story of the eight municipalities of the Bassa Reggiana Union — Luzzara, Guastalla, Gualtieri, Boretto, Brescello, Poviglio, Novellara, and Reggiolo — into a single, vast open-air stage. Promoted by local administrations together with the IAT Bassa Reggiana, the festival enhances the so-called Lands of the Po and the Gonzaga through exhibitions, excursions, guided tours, walks, river cruises, theater, and food and wine.

Boretto, the heart of water

In the territory of the Municipality of Boretto, in the province of Reggio Emilia, the festival finds its most naturalistic and fluvial dimension. Overlooking the great river, Boretto is the starting point for cruises on the Po: motorboat trips from the Port, from daytime formulas with lunch boxes to suggestive sunset cruises, enriched by stories and aperitifs on board. It is here that the Po ceases to be a border and becomes a protagonist to be discovered.

Exhibitions, museums, and theater

During the days of the review, Boretto hosts the photographic exhibition "H2O The Nature of Water", promoted by the MAB UNESCO Biosphere Reserves of the area, alongside the continuous openings of the Water Museums and the Navigation Museum. Among the most intense experiences is the theatrical performance "Exactly one month. Journey through the plain", based on Ermanno Cavazzoni's Poem of the Lunatics, directed by Carlo Ferrari: an immersive performance dedicated to the most unique characters of the plain, staged in the spaces of the Pumping Station.

A journey through the Lands of the Po and the Gonzaga

Bassa Centrico is not an event concentrated in a single square: it is an invitation to move between the villages of the Bassa Reggiana, from the ducal palaces of Guastalla to the Antonio Ligabue House Museum in Gualtieri, from the towns of Don Camillo and Peppone in Brescello to the terramare of Poviglio. Boretto, with its museums dedicated to water and navigation, represents the gateway to the river and one of the most fascinating hubs of this itinerary through the nature, history, and traditions of the Emilian plain.

Who is it for

It is an event suitable for families, walkers, photography and river landscape enthusiasts, and anyone who wants to discover an authentic corner of Emilia-Romagna away from the most beaten tourist routes. A good part of the experiences require booking: a way to experience the territory at the right pace, the slow rhythms of the great river.