How Was Caorle Built

The old centre is a tight grid of low houses along narrow lanes, plastered and painted, built for shelter from the sea wind rather than for display. Rio Terrà, the main street, is a filled-in canal, which is why it is wider and straighter than everything around it.

The Duomo di Santo Stefano, consecrated in 1038, is a plain Romanesque basilica in brick and stone; its detached cylindrical campanile is the unusual element and the landmark visible from the sea.

The Madonna dell'Angelo stands on the rocks where the promontory meets the water -- a small church rebuilt several times because of exactly where it is.

The modern town is post-1960s hotel building behind the two beaches: functional, dense, and not pretending otherwise.