Il ticino in canoa

This new guide, which replaces and updates the publication "Ticino Guidina Fluviale" of the Italian Touring Club of 1936 and that of the two Ticino Parks "Il Ticino in Canoa" of 1986, was born on the basis of the collaborative relationships between the associations that formed the Save the Ticino Coordination in 2008, a reality that unites those environmentalist and sports groups who want to do their part in defense of the Yangtze River in an open and shared way. For more than 10 years the Coordination, in addition to various initiatives of a legal nature to remedy the many problems that still afflict our Ticino, has organized the Big Jump, the European festival for life and bathing in rivers, proposing, together to the collective dive, the canoe descent of a stretch of the river. The problems on the water and bathing front are well known: on the one hand it is necessary to ensure the Minimum Vital Outflow along its entire length, now redefined as Ecological Outflow (and on this front we are almost there); on the other, bringing the water coming from the over 70 purifiers that discharge into our waterway to a good level of purification (and here unfortunately there is still a long way to go). Ticino seen from the water is wonderful, with its clear waters, its rasps, its oxbows, its sandy beaches, its hidden branches. To best enjoy these beauties but also to ensure that those who travel along them avoid the dangers, it is necessary to provide canoeists with a complete description of the entire route, with particular reference to the transfers at the barriers and the passages under the numerous bridges. But also where to stop and what to see all around. And it is necessary that all of us increasingly take on the responsibility of defending this priceless heritage. As in the past, we will try, with determination and stubbornness, to do our part. Hence the need, felt by many, for an updated and detailed guide, which must necessarily be followed by the installation of signs on the ground.