• Padanian-Venetian River System
• River system of Tuscany
• River system of Latium
• River system of Campania

Of the four geographical areas mentioned, only the first is equipped with a real network of navigable canals and interconnected rivers (fig.1), while the remaining three zones are constituted by rivers and/or canals which have a limited potential for shipping.

The main ports of the Padana network, are Cremona and Mantova.

The nautical distance between Cremona and the Sea, is a little over 300 km, and on the route there are currently 5 dams.The route is practicable downstream in approximately 15-20 hours, while upstream the time increases to approximately 23-28 hours.

The critical points of the waterway system are the limited tie rod under the bridges (distance between water level, and the bottom of the bridge), from the dams and from the limited availability of appropriate water depth for the entire course of the year.

For the entire Padana network, the overall annual volume of cargo traffic is a little over 1 million tons; the traffic is, mostly represented by solid shipment cargoes carried in bulk to the port of Cremona, and by liquid shipment cargoes direct to Mantova Port.

The type of fleets operating are mainly represented by convoys constituted of River Barges, and Push Boats.The presence of floating maritime river transport is somewhat limited.

The operating commercial fleet is managed by few operators, the main one is “Fluvio Padana” – River Padana of Venice.

There is also a notable growth of tourist activity with cruise boats along the Cremona – Venice stretch of the river.