This Antonioni's firs film, was shot in 1943 but could only be finished in1947 as the rushes were stored in Venice which was then under Nazi occupation and were only uncovered after the liberation of Italy. More than half of the material about the fishing villages on the banks of the Po was found to be missing, and Antonioni presumed that the fascists must have decided to destroy this record of poverty then suffered by a large section of the Italian population. Nevertheless, this film is one of the first and most important Neorealist documentaries.