Current view: Text account
Site description (2000 baseline):
Site location and context
This area lies on the eastern Adriatic coast, and comprises Valle Bertuzzi (a large brackish lagoon) and Sacca di Goro (an open lagoon), as well as some smaller sites: Lago delle Nazioni, Taglio della Falce, Scannone di Volano and Valli Cannaviè e Porticino. The main activities are fishing and fish-farming.
An important breeding and wintering site for waterbirds, notably for colony-breeding gulls and terns, for breeding
Ardea purpurea (the largest colony in Italy and one of the largest in the western Paleartic), and for roosting
Phalacrocorax carbo in winter (Valle Bertuzzi is the largest such roost on the Adriatic coast). Winter data refer to January 1994 count only. Wintering waders occur on the sandbanks and beaches of Sacca di Goro.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Important threats to the waterbird colonies are: erosion and subsidence of the islets; predation by rats
Rattus; predation, disturbance and competition for breeding sites by
Larus cachinnans; disturbance by aquaculture workers. Some or all of the site is covered by a management plan. There have been studies on the colony-breeding waterbirds (since the 1970s), on the impact of
Phalacrocorax carbo on fish-farming, and on plants and invertebrates.
National Partial
International Partial221 ha of IBA covered by State Nature Reserve (Po di Volano, 221 ha). Part of IBA covered by Regional Nature Park (Delta del Po, 59,118 ha). Part of IBA covered by Special Protection Area (Valle Gorino, Bertuzzi, Comacchio, Ortazzo, Baiona, 20,400 ha). 3,100 ha of IBA covered by Ramsar Site (Valle Bertuzzi, 3,100 ha).
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Valle Bertuzzi and Goro lagoon (Italy). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/valle-bertuzzi-and-goro-lagoon-iba-italy on 23/11/2024.
