Caorle: A Historic Village at a Stone’s Throw from Venice

By Massimo Terracina

Caorle: its historic center is reminiscent of Venice, with “calli” and “campielli” and old houses painted in pastel colors; the sandy coast offers 18 kilometers of equipped beaches, the port with fishing boats recalls the traditions and its past as a seaside city, the hinterland is all to be discovered, even by bicycle. All due to Slow Flow – Veneto Waterways Experience is a network of 24 companies whose aim is to enhance the value of the Veneto area and help to recover tourism after the pandemic.

In the Venice region there is a splendid place known for seaside holidays, especially for Central Europeans, thanks to its splendid and wide coastline. The origins of Caorle date back to Roman times when the current port of Falconera was "Portus Reatinium" for the sailors of the ships that sailed up the course of the Lemene river towards the Roman cities of Julia Concordia and Opitergium. To testify to it, the archaeological discovery of a Roman ship of the first century. A.D., the Caprulae Ferax, in 1992, found completely intact in the sea, with its precious load of amphorae which supplied important finds to the National Museum of Sea Archaeology. With the fall of the Roman Empire, it became one of the most important cities of the coast, so much so that it contributed decisively to the foundation of Venice when the people of the mainland in the remote islands of the lagoons found refuge from the devastation of the barbarian hordes who unleashed loot upon Aquileia, Concordia, Oderzo (Opitergium), Altino and Padua.

Caorle, from the year 876 onwards, became "rich in spirit and power" by supplying ships and sailors to Venice, thus establishing close commercial and social relationships that would last until the fall of the "Serenissima" Republic. Today the beach offers tourists every comfort for a peaceful holiday under the sun. The visit of the small historical center, with the houses with clearly visible colors "to be able to find them and recognize them by the fishermen on their return home even in the thick fog", so it is said, leads us to two points of interest not to be missed: the historic Cathedral of Santo Stefano with the adjacent liturgical museum and the Byzantine bell tower and the Sanctuary of the Madonna dell'Angelo.

Inside the Cathedral of Santo Stefano the "golden shovel", a marvel of Venetian-Byzantine goldsmithing, worked finely with numerous allegorical-religious engravings and a gift from Queen Caterina Cornaro. The bell tower erected around the year 1070 is 44 meters high and remains one of the few circular bell towers in Italy. Curiosity, around the middle of the month of July, if you stick around, you could witness the fire in the bell tower: a show of lights, smoke and fireworks recreates the terrible fire that struck the tower in 1923. 

Continuing towards the sea, you reach the Sanctuary of the “Madonna dell'Angelo”, a splendid little church perched on the rocks built around the 6th century by the inhabitants of Concordia Sagittaria who dedicated the small building to San Michele Arcangelo. However, its name derives from a legend that tells: "it was late at night and some fishermen saw a wooden statue of the Madonna floating in the open sea: they tried to collect it in vain for hours. It was too heavy for them. Only a group of children, with the innocent and delicate touch of their hands, succeeded in doing so".

Still inside the National Museum of Sea Archeology in the rooms on the ground floor, the story of the brigantine (brick) Mercury is beautifully told, a two-masted warship built in the Napoleonic era and sold by the French to the Italian fleet . The vessel was blown up on  February 22, 1812, because it was hit at the Santa Barbara (the place where the ammunition were stored)  during the battle of Grado, fought by the Italo-French against the British. Only three sailors, out of the entire crew made up mainly of Venetians, survived, the others died in the terrible explosion the split the vessel in two parts. The role on board, conserved in the State Archives of Venice, has provided important information on the crew, commanded by Giovanni Palicucchia.

Not Only Beaches

But besides the beach, walks in the historic center among the scents of local delicacies, what else does Caorle offer? Its hinterland, to be explored on foot or by bicycle. The island of fishermen (or huts) for example. A small path that can be traveled on foot or by bike will guide you towards the once marshy island. 

Along the path between extensive cultivated fields on the left and the canal with the lagoon on the right, in the distance in the middle of the lagoon, you can see the old fishermen's houses: the huts made of marsh reeds. At the end of the path, leave your bikes on the rack because from here you can proceed on foot along small wooden bridges and nature trails to discover a wild and timeless world. 

If, on the other hand, it is the rural architecture of the 1800s that attracts your attention, the small village of Cà Corniani, at the time of the self-sufficient large estates, is your destination: the smallest fraction of Caorle which still today preserves the remains of the peasant life of the era, with the manor house, the shops, the sharecropper's lodgings and the farmhouses. Also in the area, the naturalistic oasis of Valle Vecchia is today one of the largest coastal dune systems in the Veneto region and the last non-urbanized stretch of coast in the Upper Adriatic. 

The naturalistic area is bordered by lagoon, sea and river waters and extends for over 900 hectares. It is a wild area with a unique charm where you can admire the flora and fauna typical of sandy coasts. A favorite destination for birdwatchers, it can also be visited by bicycle, on horseback or on foot. A corner of paradise, which the European Union has recognized as a Special Protection Area and Site of Community Importance.

Since 2022, the City of Caorle has launched the Passobarca service which connects Isola dei Pescatori in Caorle (Falconera locality) with the left bank of the Lemene River, in the locality of San Gaetano. Whoever wants to, starting from Caorle, can, without any difficulty, discover the jewels of the hinterland, such as the small rural hamlets of San Gaetano and Marango or reach the nearby towns of Concordia Sagittaria and Portogruaro, renowned for the archaeological finds from the Roman era and for their beauty.