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Chioggia (Venezia province)

A town of SE Veneto: 45°13N, 12°17E. Altitude: sea-level. Population in 2003: 51,700.

[image ALT: A view down the middle of a canal about 15 meters wide. The canal is closely edged with three‑ and four‑story buildings, from some of which laundry is hanging to dry. In the canal many small boats are moored. In the distance, about 100 meters away, a bridge crosses the canal; and a bit after that, a church belfry can be seen on the left. It is a view of the Canal Vena, the main residential canal of Chioggia, a town in the Veneto area of Italy.]

The Canal Vena, the main residential canal of Chioggia.

Chioggia proper is a town built on 4 small islands 24 km S of Venice, at the S confines of the famous lagoon; the outlying areas of the township include the large town of Sottomarina, with a population of over 20,000. Both towns are very old, dating back to Roman times at least, since Pliny mentions them as the fossa Clodia (NH III.XVI.121); in the Middle Ages they were known respectively as Clugia maior and Clugia minor.

The busy fishing port of Chioggia has had little time for antiquarianism, though, and constant change — including a disastrous war in the 14c during which it was sacked twice — has erased whatever Roman vestiges it may have had, and given it a feel of indeterminate age; there are several medieval churches, however, and one interesting Roman inscription can be seen on an outer wall of the Duomo. But I spent only a day and a half in Chioggia and Sottomarina, so these pages are just a sampler; I'd love to go back for a bit longer stay.

	[ 6/8/12: 1 page, 9 churches, 9 photos ] The Churches of Chioggia are represented onsite for now by an orientation page, which will continue to develop as I mine my photograph collection and notes.
	The Roman inscription mentioned above is rather fun (for a piece of 2000‑year‑old stone), with mysterious animals and a big glob of abbreviations.
	Partly to help my own development of this site, I assembled a brief bibliography of Chioggia and her surroundings; might as well share it. It currently lists about 150 works.
	A brief capsule of the city's history, with an account of the Chioggia War (1378‑1380), is provided by an Encyclopedia Britannica article (with an added photograph).

In addition to those relatively formal pages, and pending others, you should find it useful to read the rather long entry in my diary for May 19, 2004, which includes 2 more photos. For more complete and detailed information, you should see the websites below, of course; as well as those in the similar navigation bar on my Sottomarina page, since that town has a clear identity of its own, to the point of nearly having succeeded in forming a separate comune, and there are still many who would have it so.

Frazioni

Most of the comuni in Italy include in their territories some smaller towns and hamlets, of a few hundred inhabitants if that, with a certain administrative identity of their own: as elsewhere in Italy, these are referred to as the frazioni of the comune (singular: frazione, literally a "fraction"): a list of them follows, possibly only partial. I've been to Sottomarina, the 800‑pound gorilla as it were, but to none of the others, for which any links will be offsite.

Brondolo • Cà Bianca • Cà Lino • Cavanella d'Adige • Isola Verde • Sant' Anna • Sottomarina

Images with borders lead to more information.
The thicker the border, the more information. (Details here.)

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Official
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Patchwork Chioggiotto

Pro Loco

TuttoChioggia

Port of Chioggia

Catholic Diocese

La Marciliana
(Palio di Chioggia)

APT Chioggia

Museo di Zoologia Adriatica

Catholic
Encyclopedia

Araldica
(Heraldry of Chioggia)

A page or image on this site is in the public domain ONLY if its URL has a total of one *asterisk. If the URL has two **asterisks, the item is copyright someone else, and used by permission or fair use. If the URL has none the item is © Bill Thayer.