The Roggia Curna is part of Bergamo’s complex irrigation system, developed both in the city and in the provincial territory.
The history of Bergamo’s irrigation ditches is a long one: their presence was shown to be necessary as early as ancient times because of the peculiar hydrography of Bergamo, which never had a natural watercourse close enough to supply its needs and had to plan, therefore, to redirect sources from more distant places.
Canals built for this purpose became decisive in the development of the city, influencing its urban layout as well.
Like the Colleonesque Canal, the Curna Canal derives from the Roggia Morlana, built in the 12th century.
Lined with magnificent plane and alder trees, it crosses the Astino plain making a large arc between cultivated fields, although today it no longer serves to irrigate them, but rather to channel the excess rainwater flowing down from the hills.
Its original design was conceived by the Benedictines of Astino (c. 1100) to convey the waters of the Serio River to the fields of the lands to the west: Mozzo, Curno, Treviolo and San Pietro.
It was resumed and improved in 1475 on the order of Bartolomeo Colleoni, who wanted to make the irrigation system more efficient in order to make his estates more profitable.
The irrigation ditch is therefore over 500 years old and is an important historical-landscape testimony to the city.
This is because its presence has left marks not only in the Astino Valley.
In Via Sant’Alessandro in Bergamo, in fact, just after the intersection with Via Borfuro it is possible to notice on the pavement a pair of engraved slabs, indicating the place where the ancient route of the canal flowed.
In Curno, on the other hand, there is an ancient mill still in operation, built along the final stretch of the canal and fed until the 1960s by the canal’s waters.
The Curna Canal now constitutes, in its lower reaches, a true ecological corridor rich in reeds, local fauna and flora.
It naturally needs periodic maintenance to prevent natural silting.
Not far away you will find the Astino Monastery, the Biodiversity Valley and the Ripa Pasqualina Steps, which climb the hillside to reach the area of Via San Martino della Pigrizia and the beautiful Borgo Canale, where Gaetano Donizetti was born.
The irrigation ditch is now maintained and periodically reclaimed by the Consorzio di Bonifica della Media Pianura Bergamasca, a public-law entity whose establishment dates back to 1955.