TARA MANY LIVES

The Tara River has lived many different “lives,” each marked by a change in its relationship with the land and the people around it. In ancient times, the Tara was a slightly brackish river, influenced by its proximity to the sea, with a tendency to form marshes that made it valuable both for agriculture and, it was believed, for therapeutic purposes. After World War I, in 1920, the Stornara and Tara Land Reclamation Consortium was established, and reclamation work began under the National Combatants’ Organization (O.N.C.) to make the land more suitable for farming and to reduce the swampy areas. Later, beginning in the 1950s, the Special Agency for Land Reform and the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno expanded the irrigated area and extended the reach of the consortium, strengthening the river’s role in local agriculture.