Presezzo

Geography

The surface of Presezzo comune covers a mostly flat area of 213 hectares (530 acres) in the central-western sector of the province of Bergamo, in the so-called Isola Brembana. The core of the town is located at an elevation of 236 metres (774 ft), on the two sides of the modest Lesina torrent; the eastern part of the territory, known as Ghiaie di Presezzo, lies 20 metres (66 ft) below the main part of the town, the ground lowering toward the banks of Brembo River. The Lesina torrent crosses the town from north to south 5 kilometres (3 mi) before flowing into the Brembo River. Its flow is narrow all over the year, primarily because waters are diverted upstream to feed industrial facilities and civil usage, and the general global warming concurred in a growing decrease of the average flow of the torrent in last years. Nevertheless, the torrent capacity can quickly grow after copious rainfalls, specifically after late-summer cloudbursts. The unexpected spates of the Lesina caused several floodings in the past decades, resulting in damages to private and public properties; the municipal administration had thereafter renovated the embankments in the early 2000s, thus avoiding further floodings. The actual geomorphology of the area is chiefly due to the perpetual deposit of debris and material by the Brembo River and its tributaries descending from the Prealps located few kilometers to the north. The soil is thus of alluvial origin, mostly made up of gravel and grit in the proximity of Brembo River, clayey in the southerner part of the territory beyond Lesina torrent, rich in humus in the remaining territory. The terrain is suitable for an agricultural exploitation, and for centuries provided subsistence to Presezzo inhabitants; nowadays, only a few part of the territory is still cultivated, most of the land being destined for urbanization.