The Molato dam is a unique and suggestive barrier located in Nibbiano in the municipality of Alta Val Tidone. It forms Lake Trebecco, It has a useful reservoir volume of 7.6 million cubic meters and is a fundamental element for the conservation and distribution of the resource, for the rolling of floods to protect the hydrogeological balance of the area itself, for the production of hydroelectric energy, for the development of socio-economic conditions of the territorial area and for the tourist enhancement of the entire valley. The Molato dam is managed by the Piacenza Reclamation Consortium.
The Molato dam has an architecture sometimes supported by buttresses (n. 17 vaults with a distance of 10.00 m inclined by 45°) with two lateral parts with massive gravity in concrete. The façade towards the valley is highly distinctive, characterized by a sequence of immense voids, interrupted by arches in succession that makes it highly monumental, but never excessive. the Dam fits into the valley context with great harmony and naturalness, as if it were a spontaneous appendix of the Apennine peaks that host it.
The Molato dam, entirely in reinforced concrete, is 55 meters high compared to the foundation floor, 180 meters long on the front and the upper crown measures 322 meters including the lateral structures that turn from the front to the sides. The basin is two and a half kilometers long and for a stretch penetrates the Pavia territory of Zavattarello. At the point of greatest amplitude it measures about 600 meters.
The plant includes water runoff systems: two discharges for surface water, located one in the central part of the dam and one on the right bank that through a tunnel of length equal to about 670 m, returns the waters to the stream; an intermediate discharge placed on the right bank, also equipped with a tunnel of about 290 m in length; two bottom drains consisting of two pipes with a diameter of 1200 mm. There is also a derivation for hydroelectric purposes that feeds the plant installed in the body of the dam whose discharge, being placed at a lower altitude than the plane of the riverbed, takes place through a tunnel about 1.28 km long that flows downstream into the Tidone stream.
The surface of the catchment area directly subtended by the dam is equal to 83 sq km.
The Molato dam, every year is the destination of thousands of visitors including families, schools and groups who want to see the beautiful landscape it creates and learn about the history and functions of this barrier thanks to which, in addition to the production of hydroelectric energy and the defense of the valley territory, there is a useful resource for the irrigation district and an agricultural production with an estimated value of about 14 million euros (estimate based on data of the average value of provincial production analyzed by the Laboratory of Local Economy – Catholic University of Piacenza).

History
The work was designed by Ing. Augusto Ballerio along the Tidone stream at the foot of Monte Bissolo, about 250 m upstream of the confluence of the Rio Molato. The Technical Director of the works was Ing. Guido Comboni.
The work was designed to regulate the flow of water, defending the countryside downstream from the ruinous floods of the stream, and in order to form a reserve for irrigation and to produce electricity.
The works began in 1920 and in 1923 the Filippa Company of Turin took over from previous companies. The work was completed in 1928. The Val Tidone extends between two groups of hills on the border between the regions of Lombardy and Emilia Romagna, and yet, from a formal and jurisdictional point of view, belongs to the province of Piacenza.

The valley is characterized by the presence of numerous streams, among which stands out, for size and extension, the Tidone stream, a right tributary of the Po. It is born at 900 m above sea level, on the Piacentino-Pavia Apennines and, precisely on the northern slope of the Sella del Penice, from which it descends to wide curves with a medium South-North direction, up to the Molato area, continuing, then, in a north-east direction. The Tidone stream has a sinuous course along its entire length, about 46 km and marks the natural border between the regions of Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna.