The paper will investigate the role played in landscape planning by countryside elements created and managed by the land reclamation and irrigation boards. Particular importance is attached to the generating process of Po Valley landscape, promoted by land reclamation and irrigation boards during evolutionary cycles lasting centuries – sometimes constituting an actual landscape matrix. This process can be understood as a succession of human and natural actions which allowed to a portion of countryside to take on its distinctive landscape characters. We are interested in identifying the ability to control the evolutionary possibilities of landscape, i.e., the modification of its elements in a manner consistent with the historical evolution, and as a result of their ability to persist for a long time. Furthermore, we intend to highlight some criteria to identify a more effective role of reclamation boards in future actions of care and development of rural areas.