Rosalia Vacca and the Dream of… Diego Caldera
Living the Water: Diego Caldera and the Entrance to the Ivrea Canal
Diego Caldera, born and raised in Ivrea, has a life entirely dedicated to water: first as a rafting enthusiast and guide, then as manager of the Ivrea Canal entrance for the Consortium. His construction training and the profound aquatic experience developed from a young age—swimming, sailing, and experiencing the Dora River—make him a unique expert on the river environment.
His daily work involves managing the water intake, monitoring flow, and communicating promptly with colleagues and downstream offices to ensure the safety and proper functioning of the entire irrigation network. Caldera emphasizes how the ability to directly read water—color, level, noise, debris—is still irreplaceable, despite monitoring technologies.
In addition to irrigation, he also handles maintenance, relations with farmers, water distribution, and emergency and flood management. His area, primarily elevated, requires constant attention to prevent environmental damage. The story is enriched by reflections on the river's transformations, the difficult communication with the Aosta Valley during floods, and the importance of a shared water culture, still fragile and often forgotten today.
Video table of contents
- Born in Ivrea on the Dora
- I learned to swim in the Dora, I lived on water and taking care of the canals
- The proposal to work at the entrance to the Naviglio d'Ivrea canal
- Waiting for the floods to "play"
- I'm not the son of an artist, but I had a great foundation. Protecting those downstream
- Service orders, respecting user requests along the 30 km of my area of responsibility
- Most of my area is elevated
- I put together my life experience and the teachings of my colleagues
- Living on the canal. I live at the mouth of the Naviglio d'Ivrea.
- Relating to colleagues, we are a network and I am first in line
- My main work is on the river, the nearby mountains, reading the river
- Aquatic awareness, the sensitivity that keeps you alert
- There is a lot of nature along the canal
- In my area it's not difficult to please everyone, I always have the canal full
- Winter and irrigation water: the Naviglio never stops. The hydroelectric power plants
- The Torre Canal and its indirect management. Disputes between farmers.
- Measuring the water in the Naviglio and outside the Naviglio
- When the flood arrives, it has an impact. A dialogue with the Aosta Valley.
Interview information
Country: IT
Region: Piemonte
City: Ivrea
Diego Caldera
Date of birth: 12-25-1967
City: Ivrea
School: High school or Secondary
Profession: Other
Languages: italiano
Document by: Luca Ghiardo
Video by: Luca Ghiardo, Davide Porporato
Created: 05-04-2025
Questo video fa parte del seguente archivio
Rice stories
Rice stories
Food is a fundamental resource for man and his health, both through the supply of nutrients and the ability to embody traits of human culture that play a leading role in our well-being.
Over time, each territory has built original ways in which to relate to the fruits of its land, enriching them with rituals, symbolic meanings and culinary customs. Much of these relationships have been lost following the years of the economic boom, with the exodus from the countryside to urban centers, with the advent of agriculture for mass production and ultimately with the globalization of markets and the consequent impoverishment of the heritage of biodiversity and ethnodiversity.
The purpose of this archive is to collect evidence relating to the main rice production area in Europe, that is the Po Valley, and to investigate, through the analysis of textual sources and testimonies collected in the field, both what survives of this heritage, and the ways in which which has evolved and reached us, paying particular attention to the explicit and implicit links that bind food and health.
