Marano-Grado Lagoon

Marano lagoon is a huge lagoon in northeastern Italy. It has a surface area of around 160 square kilometres (62 sq mi).

Marano lagoon stretches from Lignano Sabbiadoro to the east for nearly 90 km. It is considered the twin of the Venice Lagoon, that is located a few km to the west. Sometimes it is called Marano-Grado lagoon, but geographically it is divided in two sections: lagoon of Marano and lagoon of Grado.

The section usually called "Grado Lagoon" is an Italian Lagoon located in the northern Adriatic sea, which extends from the Fossalon island (near Grado) to the island of Anfora, next to the mouth of the small river Aussa.

This lagoon, which covers an area of about 90 square kilometers and has nearly 120 islands, is divided into an eastern sector (called in Italian "Palud de sopra") and a western sector ("Palud de soto").

The origins of this lagoon are relatively recent. Until the fifth century the land covered all the area, as evidenced by several archaeological findings, including a Roman road, now entirely covered by water, which connected Aquileia to its port of Grado.

Characteristic of the Grado lagoon is the presence of houses called casoni, simple homes with roofs of straw used by the fishermen of Grado.

The typical boat of the inhabitants of the lagoon is the batèla, that has a flat bottom and is operated by rowing. The batèla is usually 5 to 10 meters long, and is guided by an oarsman standing in the stern (and may be equipped with a sail).

The lagoon, which is bordered to the west by the section called "Marano Lagoon", is crossed longitudinally by the "Venetian coast waterway", a waterway that connects Venice with the mouth of the Isonzo river.

The Laguna West (Palud de soto) is the largest and has many islands. There are nearly one hundred like the beautiful Martignano island.

It is crossed by numerous canals, which are arranged along the main islands. Among them there it is (close to Grado) the small San Pietro d'Orio island, which for centuries was the seat of a monastery, another island called Ravaiarina (which is now equipped with fishing ponds and facilities) and Gorgo island (formerly called "Saints Cosimo and Damiano"), which previously housed a church and, during World War II, an Italian military area.

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Wikipedia