Caorle Geography & Climate

The town stands on the north Adriatic coast roughly halfway between the Venetian Lagoon and the mouth of the Tagliamento, on flat, low, sandy ground barely above sea level.

Its shape is a point between two beaches -- Spiaggia di Ponente west and Spiaggia di Levante east -- with the old town on the promontory between them and the Madonna dell'Angelo on the rocks at its tip.

Behind the built-up strip is the Laguna di Caorle, a wetland of channels, fish farms and reed beds that is a remnant of a far larger system drained through the twentieth century. It is a wetland of international importance for migratory birds.

The surrounding farmland is reclaimed land, criss-crossed by drainage channels and pumping stations, and much of it lies below the level of the sea it is separated from.

Summers (June-August) are hot and humid, generally around thirty degrees, with the sea breeze making the beach considerably more bearable than the inland plain.

Winters (December-February) are cool and damp rather than cold, with fog common on the reclaimed land behind the town and frost occasional. Snow is rare.

The sea warms slowly: swimming is comfortable from about mid-June and stays so into September, later than the air temperature suggests.

Autumn brings the heaviest rain, and storms off the Adriatic can be sudden. Mosquitoes are a real feature of the lagoon and reclaimed land from late spring onward.