The Global Network of Water Museums is a flagship initiative endorsed by the Council of UNESCO-IHP (Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme)

Paese dell'Acqua / Waterland

Sassinoro (BN), Italy

The association was founded in 2015, after years of experience on the occasion of the “World Water Day”, event established by the United Nations. Its aim is to spread the safeguard of the hydrological resources, give the opportunity to anyone to actively participate with ideas and projects, and convey concepts of environmental care and sustainable tourism and lifestyle.

The association's objective is to enhance and protect water resources and to develop a diffuse environmental culture, which is open to local needs and wishes. The association wants to contribute to the growth of a network able to collect good practices and to promote studies and research in order to develop a debate that valorizes such important issues.
The association's activities are mainly directed at developing an environmental culture in the territory. In particular, "Paese dell'acqua" is dedicated to promoting and managing a series of environmental education projects for schools. The aim of these projects is to promote in children a mentality of responsible territorial management, in particular of the water resources present in it, starting from the contexts of life and relationships in which they live, and to encourage the new generations to develop a responsible, active and proactive attitude towards their own environmental and social context.
These activities were naturally combined with river monitoring, as a moment of knowledge and investigation of the area. It becomes an attempt to identify both the most environmentally valuable and the most degraded sections of our rivers, and is mainly aimed at a young audience.
River monitoring has been carried out by applying the Fluvial Functionality Index as a study method, which make s it possible to study the level of functionality of a water course through the description of the morphometric and biotic parameters of the ecosystem studied and to give a detailed knowledge of the river environment, without resorting to chemical physical analyses of the water. Recently, monitoring has been extended to include activities of riverbed cleaning, carried out with the help of the local community.

Projects

Let's adopt the river

The project was aimed at both preschool and primary schools of the Sassinoro complex of the I.C. "Eduardo de Filippo" of Morcone (BN) and was carried out during the 2017/18 school year following an educational path structured in eight workshop meetings. These meetings were organised both in the classroom and on the river and touched on various topics related to the knowledge of the geological structure of the river and the living beings linked to its environment the water cycle and river pollution.

The children's forest

This project is also aimed at the preschool and primary schools of the Sassinoro plexus and took place during the 2018/19 school year. Following the same didactic scheme, the children touched on various themes related to the knowledge of the forest habitat, the living beings linked to its environment and the problems related to its destruction.

RIBES (Integrated Resources for Special Educational Needs)

For two consecutive years, in 2020 and 2021, we participated in the RIBES project, which took place mainly in the summer, where we experimented with designing and running environmental workshops also for children with special educational needs. Over the two years, we covered both topics related more closely to the world of water in nature, such as river monitoring or searching for water in the mountains, and others aimed more at a cultural concept of water, such as water in food.

River monitoring

Every two years for the past six years, we have been covering large stretches of the Sassinora stream and monitoring its natural environment. We have applied the Fluvial Functionality Index

Itineraries

Rimavota River

Birth of the Sassinora: Rimavota water source

This is one of the most important sources that gives rise to the Sassinora stream and is located in the territory of Sepino (CB). In addition, there are other sources that feed the stream, also coming from the Morcone and Sassinoro (BN) areas. The route runs from 1,100 to 1,300 m a.s.l. It crosses high altitude pastures (orchid blooms) and beech woods, habitats included in the Habitat 2000 directive. Part of the route follows the old mule track linking Morcone and Sepino.

Sassinora page 0001

From Santa Lucia to Contrada Querceto


This route recreates the descent of the water into the valley, positioned between the upper and middle reaches, characterized by the presence of a very closed gorge. It crosses mixed deciduous woods dominated by oaks and mesophilous woods with the presence of sycamore, Neapolitan alder and black hornbeam. Along this stretch, it is not uncommon to come across the terdigitated salamander, freshwater crayfish and brown trout. In the summer months, the stream also attracts a variety of fauna, which, in addition to drinking, uses it as a passageway, not least the Apennine wolf.
In this stretch, the anthropic presence is more marked, and traces can be seen of the old formal, a canal built in the early 1900s that was used to irrigate the fields downstream, as well as the modern hydroelectric power station that, during periods of flooding, draws water to generate electricity, returning it further downstream.

Gallery

Sassinora source, Sassinoro (BN), F. Di Sisto, 2019
Sassinora source, Sassinoro (BN), F. Di Sisto, 2019
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Paese acqua 6bis low
Particular of the fountain in the main square of Sassinoro, Sassinoro (BN), Marco Iamiceli, 2020
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Sassinora source, Sassinoro (BN), F. Di Sisto, 2019
Sassinora source, Sassinoro (BN), F. Di Sisto, 2019
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Sassinora source, Sassinoro (BN), Marco Iamiceli, 2020
Sassinora source, Sassinoro (BN), Marco Iamiceli, 2020
Sassinora source, Sassinoro (BN), Marco Iamiceli, 2020
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