Chioggia
Learn about Chioggia
A concise introduction to Chioggia, its geography, history and culture.
Introduction
Chioggia sits on islands at the southern end of the Venetian Lagoon, 25 km below Venice, and is the working fishing port the lagoon still runs on. It is laid out like Venice in miniature -- a main street with a canal beside it and narrow calli running off at right angles -- but it is a town of fifty thousand people who live and work there rather than a preserved centre.
The comparison is worth making carefully. Chioggia has the bridges, the Istrian stone and the lagoon light, and none of the crowds; it also has a container of fish landed every morning and a 1950s high street that has not been prettified.
Across the lagoon is Sottomarina, its beach half, which is a different town altogether: a long sand strip of hotels and bathing establishments serving an Italian holiday crowd.