Bourbon Locks | Park Gates
The Ofantino, juwel of the hydraulic engineering of the 19th Century
The Ofantino derivative, also known as “Contr’Ofanto”, is a canal built in the first half of the Nineteenth century in order to drain the flood waters of the Ofanto and, at the same time, thanks to their sediments, to reclaim the swamps in the area of the saltworks that Charles III the Bourbon decided in those same years to reorganize with a modern production structure. While the original Ofantino ended at the salt pans of Barletta, or rather in Margherita, in the Twentieth century, a “new” canal was created to reach the farther basins in Trinitapoli. In the place where the derivative originates from the Ofanto, the old locks and the guardian’s old house are still visible. Not far away, from the Casalonga ford in summer you can quickly reach Canne della Battaglia.