The rice in Lomellina
Between the end of the century XIV and the first half of the century. XV, the transformations in Lomellina were much slower than in other areas of Northern Italy, due to the paralysis produced by the internal wars of the early fifteenth century. In 1550, according to cadastral surveys, irrigation was limited to 10% of the total surface area, mostly concentrated within the large companies that were being formed in the second half of the fifteenth century, those of the Gallarati in Cozzo and S. Angelo, of the Simonetta in Sartirana , by the same Dukes of Milan, in particular in Ludovico il Moro’s Sforzesca.
The process, however, starts from afar: since the 1480s there has been news of the excavation of some large canals that affect or will eventually affect the territory of Cozzo. They are fed by the Sesia and connect to the system of canals that Novara had built in the 12th and 13th centuries to bring water to the city, for defensive purposes or to increase the driving force of the grain mills, indispensable structures serving the city.
The Busca canal, which takes its name from the family that became its owner during the seventeenth century, starts from the canal that in municipal times divided the territory of Novara from that of Vercelli.
The Gamarra canal, which derives from the more ancient Bolgora canal, is known around 1380 and the first excavation of the Sartirana canal which feeds directly from the Sesia in the Palestro area dates back to a little later.
The functions of these cables are multiple: moving the wheels of the mills, essential for grinding grain and a very notable source of income; remediate areas that are still marshy; make land profitable through irrigation which had previously been sterile and not very productive. Water is an asset of great economic, political and social value and allows those who have it to influence the lives of men and communities who live nearby.