The Po river (formerly known in the Greek, as Eridanus and in Latin as Padus) is a long river in northern Italy, which flows from west to east, from the Alps to the Adriatic Sea, where leads near the town of Venice. The Po born in the Pian del Re, in the municipality of Crissolo at the foot of Mount Viso, to 2,022 m altitude, in the western Alps and has a length of 652 km, which makes it the longest river in Italy and its catchment drains 71,057 km³, also had the highest basin Italian.

Its flow is abundant due to receive the water in the Alps on his left, where it has the tributaries more fast-flowing. Usually the maximum in spring and the minimum in late summer, although they are feared their floods also in the autumn.

Crosses several major cities, such as Turin, Cremona and Plasencia, and indirectly Milan. In the latter city enters in a series of channels so-called navigli, which gives a very characteristic to the area.

In the area of Ferrara, the river starts a vast delta, the Po delta, 380 km², fragmenting into five major branches (Po di Teacher, Po della Battery, Po delle Tolle, Po di Gnocca and Po di Goro), a further branch secondary (the Po di Volano) that crosses the city of Ferrara and hundreds of many other small water. After this leads to the Adriatic sea near Porto Tolle. The Po delta, for his great environmental value, has been declared in 1999 World Heritage Site by UNESCO, as part of ‘Ferrara, City of Renaissance and its Po Delta’

In his tour of the plain, the Po is divided often in several branches, forming many islands river, the biggest of which, excluding the present at the mouth, is the Isola Serafini, located in correspondence with the mouth of Arda, measuring about 10 km². At the end of its course, the river forms a delta with hundreds of islands, the most important Po di Teacher, Po della Battery, Po delle Tolle, Po di Gnocca and Po di Goro. In the southern part of delta is Comacchio, an area known by the existence of eels.

The wide valley that exists around the Po is the plain padana, Pianura Padana, as well connected by the river on the same developed the main industrial area of the country.