FUCINO TODAY
The drying up and massive drainage accomplished by Torlonia, totally changed the landscape and the production system of the Marsica. If it is still possible to continue exploiting the Fucino plain today, it is due to the complex system of hydraulic works that continue to drain the water through the drainage channel. The emptying of the lake made it possible to cultivate about 16,500 hectares of fertile and flat land.
The consequences on human geography were of considerable importance: the gravitational assets, which began to move towards Sulmona, Chieti, the future Pescara and the Abruzzo outside.
There were phenomena of depopulation of the inhabited centers of the higher areas to the relative advantage of those at the bottom of the valley, where the infrastructural bundle runs consisting of the Valeria, the railway and then the highways.
They were most benefited the centers arranged around the shores of the lake, first of all Avezzano, the seat of the Administration Torlonia, which will start to be the business center of the entire new post-Torlonian Marsica.
The agricultural revolution of Fucino did not only lead to an increase in the availability of land cultivable, but mainly to the adoption of new cultivation systems, passing from primitive intensive crops of potatoes and beets to our horticultural crops days, oriented to the market and to the link with industrial transformation activities, of the same primary production, first of all the sugar factory.
Land management adopted from Torlonia caused an unsustainable situation for the lower middle classes, partially resolved in 1951 with the land reform and the establishment of a body delegated to regularization the division of funds and the improvement of agricultural techniques.
The use of chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides has generated pollution of the soil and water of the canals and a loss of quality of local products.
Today, production is oriented towards eco-sustainable methods: the direct commitment to assure a higher quality of the products is testified by the IGP recognition (indication protected geographical area) conferred on the Fucino plateau carrot and the export of produced on an international scale.
The agro-industrial development led to a substantial demographic increase: availability of new lands and the post-earthquake reconstruction caused a strong immigration.
The flows of working capital were invested in urban activities, which were concentrated in Avezzano, the well-known mechanism of circular accumulation led to the birth of an industrial pole differentiated, which currently also hosts high-tech productions, such as Telespazio, attracted by the particular geo-morphological situation of the Fucino plain.
An important place in the Marsican economy is held by industrialization, with a network consisting mainly of small and medium-sized enterprises, distributed throughout the territory, which are engaged in the most differents fields of productivity, from the transformation of agricultural products local to the metalworker up to the production of paper, also exported to Latin America.
For the ecosystems of Fucino, which have evolved over hundreds of thousands of years, the drying up of the lake and the subsequent climatic variations, evolved in a continental type climate, altered many micro-environments, modifying biodiversity and almost completely eliminating animal and plant species. Even some crops such as the vine, the olive tree, the FIG tree have disappeared, and the almond tree has drastically reduced.
The habitats and species still present survive only in some areas, such as the pond of Ortucchio, which have preserved a microclimate similar to that generated by the lake.
The establishment of the Abruzzo National Park, the Sirente Velino Regional Park and the two Regional Natural Reserves of Monte Salviano (Avezzano) and Zompo lo Schioppo (Morino) has allowed the protection of vegetation and animal species otherwise at risk, such as the Marsican bear, the Abruzzo chamois, the wolf, the deer and the golden eagle.