History
Rovigo (both Rodigium and Rhodigium in Latin script) appears to be first mentioned in a document from Ravenna dating April 24, 838; the origin of the name is uncertain. In 920 it was selected as his temporary residence by the bishop of Adria, Paolo Cattaneo, on the destruction of his city by the Hungarian ravagers; the fortifications started by him were already finished in 945. The viscounts of Rovigo built a line of brick walls in the 1130s in the name of the House of Este. The current Torre Donà is a remnant of the castle built some time in between; it is 66 m high and it may have been the highest brick tower at that time if the date of construction is correct.
In 1194 Rovigo became a formal possession of Azzo VI d'Este, duke of Ferrara, who took the title of conte (count) of Rovigo. The Este authority ended in 1482, when the Venetians took the place by siege and retained possession of it by the peace of 1484. Although the Este recovered the city during the War of the League of Cambrai, the Venetians, returning in 1514, retained possession till the French Revolution. In 1806 Napoleon I Bonaparte created it a duché grand-fief for general Anne Jean Marie René Savary. The Austrians in 1815 created it a royal city.
Rovigo was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy in 1861; in 1866 it was connected by railway to Padua, Ferrara, Verona (through Legnago), and Chioggia (through Adria). In the 1900s the first modern industries were established, the most important of these was a sugar refinery. In 1927 the territory of the comune was extended to the extent it has now by including near former municipalities. In 1937 the course of the Adigetto Canal was diverted to the west edge of the town and a large avenue Corso del Popolo was built in place of the former course. In the years 1943–1945 Rovigo was part of the Italian Social Republic and it has been in Italy since 1946. In the 1950s and 1960s Rovigo had a dramatic development and it had the highest urbanization rate among the towns in the Veneto region after World War II.
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