Umbrellas where there were vegetable gardens

Sottomarina is the largest beach in Chioggia, built on a narrow strip of land that separates the lagoon from the sea, bordered by the mouth of the Brenta-Bacchiglione rivers and the port of San Felice.

Once, the town was restricted to the area from the port to the current old market that overlooked Lusenzo lagoon. The “marinanti” as the inhabitants are called, were devoted mainly to the famous vegetable gardens gradually moved inland in favor of tourism.
On a small island near the village there was a castle with a high tower, the Good Castle; hence started a bridge, Lusenzo channel, it reached San Domenico island and then Chioggia.

The Battle of Chioggia, J. Grevembroch,
18th century, Museo Correr

During the War of Chioggia (1379-1380), Sottomarina was totally destroyed: for a long time it was uninhabited and free from sea defenses and therefore constantly subject to flooding.
The reconstruction was even prohibited at the time by the Senate, it only took place in the mid-1700s; to defend the city and make it more solid, the “murazzi” (sea walls) were built, which are a massive retaining walls erected along the coast that separate the sea from the lagoon, and continue for over four kilometers after the mouth of the port of Caroman along the Pellestrina strip. At the time, it was a colossal work: the work lasted 38 years (1744-1781) and demanded substantial economic resources.
The building lost its function at the end of 1800, when Brenta river was diverted south of Chioggia, but it still impresses with its grandeur.

It was once known for its sandy soil particularly suitable for its vegetable production, which was then moved inland and counts among its typical productions “red radicchio” from Chioggia.
Today Sottomarina is a modern well-equipped seaside resort on the model of the beaches of the Adriatic. It has a long beach about ten kilometers, which extends south beyond the mouths of Brenta River to those of Adige, on the Isolaverde (green Island). The beach in some places reaches up to 300 meters and that is appreciated all over the coast for the quality of its fine sand, with great presence of augite, quartz, silicates and micaceous elements combined with regular moderate and constant ventilation.
Sottomarina counts forty beaches, alternating with large areas of public beaches, parking areas, sports facilities, swimming pools, parks, water parks. You can organize trips by bike and take part to fishing trips, which is a new way of tourist hospitality: intense days on board vessels, with the opportunity to taste the fish cooked according to old recipes, next to the fishermen that tell visitors the coastal environment and the secrets of the deep sea.