Chioggia

Chioggia is a coastal town and comune of the province of Venice in the Veneto region of northern Italy, 45°13N 12°17E, situated on a small island at the southern entrance to the Lagoon of Venice about 25 km south of Venice (50 km by road); causeways connect it to the mainland and to its frazione of Sottomarina. The population of the comune was 51,800 according to 2002 census figures, with the town proper accounting for about half of that and Sottomarina for most of the rest.

History

Chioggia and Sottomarina were not prominent in Antiquity, although they are first mentioned in Pliny (NH III.xvi.121) as the fossa Clodia. Local legend attributes this name to its founding by a Clodius, but the antiquity of this belief is not known.

Chioggia was destroyed by the King Pippin of Italy in the 9th century, but rebuilt around a new industry based on salt pans. In the Middle Ages, Chioggia proper was known as Clugia major, whereas Clugia minor was a sand bar about 600 m further into the Adriatic: it was abandoned in the 1370s and rebuilt much later as Sottomarina.

The town suffered in the 14th century in battles with Venice, was conquered by Genoa in 1378 and finally by Venice in June 1380, giving its name to the War of Chioggia which was the final major contest between the two maritime republics. Although the town remained largely autonomous, it was always thereafter subordinate to Venice.

Main sights

Chioggia is a miniature version of Venice, with a few canals, chief among them the Canale Vena, and the characteristic narrow streets known as calli. Chioggia has several medieval churches, much reworked in the period of its greatest prosperity in the 16th and 17th centuries. The church of S. Maria, founded in the eleventh century, became a cathedral in 1110, then was rebuilt from 1623 by Baldassare Longhena.

Culture

Until the nineteenth century, women in Chioggia wore an outfit based on an apron which could be raised to serve as a veil. Chioggia is also known for lacemaking; like Pellestrina, but unlike Burano, this lace is made using bobbins.

Chioggia served Carlo Goldoni as the setting of his play Le baruffe chiozzotte, one of the classics of Italian literature: a baruffa was a kind of local boat, and chiozzotto (today more frequently chioggiotto) is the adjective meaning "from Chioggia". Goldoni took his setting seriously: the play is replete with lacemaking, fishermen, and other local color.

Notable people

Notable people from the town include John Cabot and Rosalba Carriera.

Economy

Fishing is historically the livelihood of the port, and remains a significant economic sector. Other important modern industries include textiles, brick-making and steel; and Sottomarina, with 60 hotels and 17 campgrounds, is almost entirely given over to seafront tourism.

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