Caorle Discovery Guide

Caorle offers a combination that is rarer than it sounds: a genuinely old fishing town and a serious family beach, in the same place. The historic centre was not built for tourism -- the painted houses were colour-coded so fishermen could pick out their own from the sea -- and it survives more or less whole behind the seafront.

The Duomo of 1038 with its cylindrical campanile is the real thing, one of the older Romanesque churches on this coast, and the Madonna dell'Angelo stands on the rocks at the water's edge where the two beaches meet.

The beaches themselves are the reason most people come: shallow, sandy and gently shelving, which is why this is one of the north Adriatic's most family-oriented resorts.

And there is the Scogliera Viva -- the breakwater where sculptors have been carving the boulders since 1993, so the sea defence doubles as an open-air gallery.

If you travel slowly: Caorle rewards a week the way a beach town does -- but give at least one day to the lagoon and one to the old centre before or after the beach.

If you want the essentials: the Duomo and its round campanile, Rio Terrà through the painted centre, and the walk along the Scogliera Viva to the Madonna dell'Angelo. Half a day.

If you're after local character: the fish market and the early-morning quay, which is what remains of the working town, before the beach wakes up.

If you want to go past the obvious: the lagoon. Boat trips run from the town into a landscape of channels, fish farms and reed huts that has more in common with the Po Delta than with the seafront a kilometre away.

Caorle is a seasonal town in the strongest sense: its population multiplies several times over between June and September and much of it closes for the winter. The infrastructure -- water, waste, traffic -- is sized for the peak, and coming in June or September rather than August reduces the load and improves the experience at once.

The Caorle lagoon behind the town is the sensitive part, not the beach. It is a wetland of international importance for birds, and the traditional reed casoni in it are a fragile vernacular that survives in small numbers. Visit by boat or on foot with a guide rather than by taking a motorboat into the channels.

Beach concessions occupy most of the sand, and free public stretches are limited -- worth knowing before arriving with the expectation of an open beach.

The town's fishing fleet has shrunk drastically as tourism grew. What is landed locally is worth asking for by name; most of what is served in August is not.

June and September are the best months: the sea is warm, the town is open, and it is not full.

July and August are the peak -- hot, busy and expensive, with the Austrian and German holiday weeks adding to the Italian ones. Book far ahead or avoid.

May and early October are pleasant and quiet, though the sea is cool and some hotels have not opened or have closed.

Winter is largely shut. The old town and the Duomo are still there, and the lagoon is at its best for birds, but expect a resort out of season rather than a working town.

What a visitor actually spends in Caorle

Prices here swing more by season than by standard: the same room can double between June and mid-August, and drop below half in May.