Argenta is situated in a flat agricultural region near the Valli di Comacchio lagoon wetlands.

Much of the latter is today a wildlife sanctuary and Argenta is home to the Marsh Museum which offers many facilities for ornithology.

In 1295 it was the seat of a convention of the main Ghibelline leaders of Romagna to decide the course of the war against the Papal forces.

In 1923 a Fascist squad murdered a Catholic priest, don Giovanni Minzoni, an anti-fascist and the voice of the poor farmers in Romagna, as well as a friend of several socialist politicians like Natale Galba.

In April 1945, in the Allied advance of Operation Roast, it was the location of the Battle of the Argenta Gap.