Although nothing certain is known about the origins of Villanova del Ghebbo, if we take account of its position near areas (for instance Fratta Polesine) where recent archaeological research has brought to light many early Veneto finds, as well as Roman ones, we may surmise that our locality too has remote ascendants. The earliest documents, however, are much more recent and date back to 727, when the inhabitants built the church of San Zenone in the locality of Valdentro and the borough was named Villa San Zenone. The little church was destroyed (918?) by a disastrous flood that changed the course of the river Adige forming the bed of the Adigetto; it was rebuilt on the left bank of this new watercourse in 1077. In 1198 the territory of San Zenone was granted by Ferrara to Verona and was endowed with a castle in the locality of Gazzo or Ghebbo, thus named because it bordered on a watercourse called Ghebbo. It was by the name of Gazzo that our municipality was known until 1500; after that date the community of Villanova came to be known definitively as Villanova del Ghebbo. During the early thirteenth century the Mantuans took over the Castle that was occupied and destroyed in 1245 by Ezelino III da Romano, magistrate of Verona. From then on, Villanova followed the lot of Lendinara; it only became an autonomous commune after Campoformio, but not much is known of its vicissitudes because in Napoleonic time, during the early nineteenth century, the town archives were destroyed. The present church, built between 1762 and 1800, is dedicated to Saint Michael the Archangel and, because of its majesty and architectural elegance, it is a national monument. On the tympanum of the façade there is a statue of the local Patron Saint. Villanova del Ghebbo has only one outlying district: Bornio, that dates back to before the year 1000.

Villanova del Ghebbo is a municipality in the Province of Rovigo; it is located on the left bank of the Adigetto, a watercourse that was for centuries an important river route, and it borders on Lendinara, Lusia, Fratta Polesine and Costa di Rovigo. The municipal territory, totally level and at an average altitude of 9 m. above sea level, extends for approximately 12 square km. and apart from the Adigetto contains the watercourses Rezzinella and Scolo Ceresolo. The population is not very dense, also because of the emigration movement that involved many families after the Second World War. The main economic activity is the craft of shoemaking, a ÒhistoricÓ activity that developed in the late nineteenth century; farming is fairly important too, because of the particular fertility of the land.

The present Parish Church is mentioned in documents as early as 1105, and was since its foundation named after Saint Michael. During the Middle Ages, the church was rather poor, despite the fact that it had the rights of collecting quarterage on emerged land in the locality of Villanova, Ramedello, Castello di Gaibo and Picinardi, on the right and left banks of the Adigetto (concession decreed by the bishop Rolando Zabarella in 1221 and confirmed in 1252 by the bishop Guglielmo d'Este). In an inventory dated 1340 of goods and estates pertaining to him, among the possessions some partially sterile lots are mentioned (in the localities of Sabbioni, Coderotte and Livelli), three dwellings with straw roofs and two bells; moreover, some furniture and liturgical books, tools and kitchen utensils. The first pastoral visits confirmed the impression of poverty given by the church and the canonic house: at the end of the sixteenth century the stability of the building was feared for, and finally it was decided to rebuild it. The new church was almost completed in 1604; after the church the belfry was erected, described in 1640 as the most beautiful in the surroundings and later endowed with one of the first clocks in the area. Unfortunately, the costs incurred by the parish priest and the community of Villanova did not lead to erection of a lasting monument, and after just over one century the church of Villanova had again to be rebuilt.

Work began in 1762 and ended in the early nineteenth century: the building, possibly designed by the then archpriest, Don Giovanni Ferro, was realized by Giovanni Padrin del Tresto (although, due to PadrinÕs death in 1786, the work was completed by others). The church was splendid: its interior was embellished with frescos by Giovanni Canal and Tomaso Sciacca, rich altars in polychrome marble, paintings and bas-reliefs. During the early twentieth century a new canonic house was built, designed and realized by Ing. Silvio Sartorelli of Trecenta, as well as a nursery school, that arose thanks to the archpriest Secondo Porta and Guanella the blessed, and was later many times restructured. Buildings worthy of note are also the Sports Hall, a modern construction. The Polyvalent Gymnasium, located in via San Michele n. 30, is named after the ÒJudges Falcone, Borsellino, Morvillo and Escorting Agents".

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Comune di Villanova del Ghebbo - via Roma 75 - cap. 45020 - tel. 0425/669337-648085-669030 - fax. 0425/650315