With a wide bend, the Dolo torrent creates the immense amphitheatre which houses the Fontanaluccia basin.
This is an artificial lake formed by a dam commissioned and built by Land Reclamation companies in the late 1920s (from 1923 to 1928), due to the prevailing need to pump up water in the areas along the Po river in the provinces of Modena, Reggio Emilia and Parma.
Almost 2,000 workers were employed on the various construction sites (dam, hydraulic works and power station). They came from all over the Po Valley and the Apennines.
The dam, made of reinforced concrete with sandstone overlay, with multiple arches supported by buttresses, through a long underground channel, excavated in the rock, conveys the water to the loading basin of the Farneta hydroelectric power station 16 km downstream along the Dolo.
The structure represents an interesting example of hydraulic engineering. The road needed for its construction, which was equipped with a narrow-gauge railway, can still be seen.
