Marano Lagunare

Territory of the Venetian Republic for centuries

There, its tower stands down there. "Millenaria" is what the locals call it, more to emphasize its importance than to give it a precise age. You can already see it when sailing from afar, peeping out in this suspended place, which immediately appears to be a world of its own; beginning with its position gathered between the last coastal point of Lignano and the Grado Lagoon, and protected from the open sea by a series of islands and islets, such as those of Martignano and Sant'Andrea, also known as the Island of the Shells.

Around here, everything was covered by walls up until the end of the nineteenth century; not even the Turks, in the 16th century, managed to break through. And the Republic of Venice, which ruled these lands from the fifteenth to the late eighteenth century, tried in every way to hold on to it. People are still grateful to this day; the Serenissima Republic of Venice respected local autonomy, and the Maranites still proudly say today that they are the only Friulian town where Venetian is spoken. In addition to creating linguistic and cultural patterns, Venice left a strong architectural impression on Marano.

The old town is a succession of alleys and squares, toward which the houses converge, resulting in shared social and outdoor workspaces. The buildings are adorned with trinkets telling an ancient story: bas-reliefs, stone faces, and coats of arms.

Here in the lagoon, not reachable by land, is the Mouth of the Stella River Regional Nature Reserve. The delta of the Stella River can only be reached by water and can be traced back to the towns of Precenicco and Palazzolo dello Stella. After leaving your boat at a marina, you can visit the area with special tourist motorboats. This way, you will enter an exceptional microcosm, a birdwatching paradise; swamp harriers, royal swans, red kites, grey herons, and little egrets live among the reeds that border the riverbed.

From one of the most picturesque branches of the river’s delta, on an itinerary repeated for nearly forty years by a motorboat taking tourists to discover the lagoon, you enter the far mouth. A spectacle of rare beauty opens in front of your eyes: a village of rural houses. Made out of cane and wood, they kept a fireplace in the centre and were furnished only with survival necessities. All the shacks face west because it is the side best sheltered from the Bora and Tramontane winds. A wooden dock now allows mooring.

Every year, on the Sunday after June 15, the San Vito festival with an ancient procession at sea is a not-to-be-missed event.