page_title: Marano Lagoon
section_title: Grado
hierarchical_section_title: Marano Lagoon / Description / Grado
caption_attribution_description: English: Barbana's Sanctuary - Grado - Italy Italiano: Santuario della Madonna di Barbana - Grado (GO) - Italia
context_page_description: Marano Lagoon is a huge lagoon in northeastern Italy. It has a surface area of around 160 square kilometres.
context_section_description: The section usually called "Grado Lagoon" is an Italian lagoon located in the northern Adriatic sea, which extends from the Fossalon island (near Grado) to the island of Anfora, next to the mouth of the small river Aussa.
  This lagoon, which covers an area of about 90 square kilometers and has nearly 120 islands, is divided into an eastern sector (called in Italian "Palud de sopra") and a western sector ("Palud de soto").
  The origins of this lagoon are relatively recent. Until the fifth century the land covered all the area, as evidenced by several archaeological findings, including a Roman road, now entirely covered by water, which connected Aquileia to its port of Grado.
  Characteristic of the Grado lagoon is the presence of houses called casoni, simple homes with roofs of straw used by the fishermen of Grado.
  The typical boat of the inhabitants of the lagoon is the batèla, that has a flat bottom and is operated by rowing. The batèla is usually 5 to 10 meters long, and is guided by an oarsman standing in the stern (and may be equipped with a sail).
  The lagoon, which is bordered to the west by the section called "Marano Lagoon", is crossed longitudinally by the "Venetian coast waterway", a waterway that connects Venice with the mouth of the Isonzo river.
  Laguna West (Palud de soto)
  The Laguna West (Palud de soto) is the largest and has many islands. There are nearly one hundred like the beautiful Martignano island.
  It is crossed by numerous canals, which are arranged along the main islands. Among them there it is (close to Grado) the small San Pietro d'Orio island, which for centuries was the seat of a monastery, another island called Ravaiarina (which is now equipped with fishing ponds and facilities) and Gorgo island (formerly called "Saints Cosimo and Damiano"), which previously housed a church and, during World War II, an Italian military area.
  Going further west from Grado and heading for the Marano Lagoon there are, among other small islands, the island of Morgo, with widespread vegetation and well known in the past for its agricultural production, and the island of Beli, which owes its name to the legendary witch Bela who confused sailors. The westernmost island is Anfora, which acquired strategic importance in 1866, when it marked the boundary between Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Today it houses the small island-town of Porto Buso.
  Laguna East (Palud de sora)
  The Laguna East (Palud de sora) is the most recent and less deep. After the land reclamation of the Fossalon island, realized in the first half of last century, its surface is substantially halved. Inside this land reclamation now is located the Valle Cavanata Nature Reserve.
  Compared to the western lagoon, it is less rich in islands, but they have a lot of huge trees (like the easternmost island called Panera). Anyway, between those islands stands out Barbana, which is home to the 1500 years old Sanctuary of "Mary, mother of Jesus" and is permanently inhabited by a community of Franciscan friars. The island is visited each year during the celebration of the "Perdòn di Barban," a pilgrimage, which runs the first Sunday in July and includes a procession of boats decorated with flags in the lagoon from Grado to Barbana.
  In the eastern lagoon there it is even the island called Schiusa, recently created with fill material, and now entirely urbanized and integrated with Grado.
  Of course, the island-town of Grado (made historically of small islands, like Venice) is the biggest of the Grado Lagoon and is located just 20 km from the mouth of the Isonzo river.
caption: Barbana island, with the Marian sanctuary
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