Chioggia Laguna Live Cam

Early Geological Formation and Etruscan Settlement

The Chioggia Laguna, part of the greater Venice lagoon system (Laguna Veneta), owes its existence to continuous sedimentation from the Po and Adige rivers. Over millennia, fluvial deposits combined with tidal action to shape a mosaic of sandbanks, salt marshes, and tidal flats. This dynamic environment provided rich fishing grounds long before urban development. Archaeological digs on nearby Pellestrina Island have unearthed Etruscan pottery fragments and rudimentary fish traps, indicating that Etruscan settlers exploited the lagoon’s resources as early as the 6th century BCE. These early inhabitants constructed crude palafitte—wooden stilts anchored into the soft substrate—forming the prototype of the later Venetian houseboats and stilt-supported structures.