Venetian Lagoon

{{Short description|Enclosed bay in which the city of Venice is situated}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}} {{Infobox body of water  | name = Venetian Lagoon | other_name = Venice Lagoon<br/>Lagoon of Venice | native_name = {{ubl|{{lang|it|Laguna di Venezia}} / {{native name|it|Laguna veneta}}|{{lang|vec|Łaguna de Venesia}} / {{native name|vec|Łaguna vèneta}}}}  | image = Porto di Lido-San Nicolò.jpg | alt = | caption = Aerial view of the Venetian Lagoon, showing many of the islands including Venice itself, center rear, with the bridge to the mainland | image_bathymetry = | alt_bathymetry = | caption_bathymetry =  | basin_countries = [[Italy]] | location = [[Venice]], [[Veneto]], [[Italy]] | coords = {{coord|45|24|47|N|12|17|50|E|region:IT_type:waterbody|display=title,inline}} | lake_type =  | inflow = | outflow = [[Adriatic Sea]] | date-built =  | date-flooded =  | agency = | designation =  | catchment = | length = | width = | area = {{convert|550|km2}} | depth = {{convert|10.5|m}} | max-depth = {{convert|21.5|m}} | volume = | residence_time = |pushpin_map=Venetian Lagoon | shore = | elevation = {{convert|3|m|ft|abbr=on}} | frozen = | islands = | cities = [[Venice]], [[Campagna Lupia]], [[Cavallino-Treporti]], [[Chioggia]], [[Codevigo]], [[Jesolo]], [[Mira, Veneto|Mira]], [[Musile di Piave]], [[Quarto d'Altino]], [[San Donà di Piave]]  | website = | reference = | embedded = {{Designation list | embed = yes | designation1 = Ramsar | designation1_offname = Laguna di Venezia: Valle Averto | designation1_date = 11 April 1989 | designation1_number = 423<ref>{{Cite web|title=Laguna di Venezia: Valle Averto|website=[[Ramsar Convention|Ramsar]] Sites Information Service|url=https://rsis.ramsar.org/ris/423|access-date=25 April 2018}}</ref>}} }}

The '''Venetian Lagoon''', also '''Venice Lagoon''' or '''Lagoon of Venice''',{{efn|{{langx|it|Laguna di Venezia}} or {{lang|it|Laguna veneta}}; {{langx|vec|Łaguna de Venesia}} or {{lang|vec|Łaguna vèneta}}.}} is an enclosed bay of the [[Adriatic Sea]], in [[northern Italy]], in which the city of [[Venice]] is situated. Its name, from a [[Venetian language|Venetian]] derivative of Latin {{lang|la|lacus}} {{gloss|lake}}, has become the generalized English term for any enclosed, shallow [[embayment]] of salt water{{snd}}a [[lagoon]].

==Location== [[File:Chioggia aerial.jpg|thumb|left|Aerial view of Chioggia and the barrier islands of the Venetian Lagoon]] The Venetian Lagoon stretches from the [[River Sile]] in the north to the [[Brenta (river)|Brenta]] in the south, with a surface area of around {{convert|550|km2|sqmi|0|abbr=off}}. It is around 8% land, including Venice itself and many smaller islands. About 11% is permanently covered by open water, or [[canal]]s, as the network of dredged channels are called, while around 80% consists of [[mud flat]]s, tidal shallows and [[salt marsh]]es. The Lagoon is the largest [[wetland]] in the [[Mediterranean Basin]].<ref>{{cite news |author-link = Sylvia Poggioli |last = Poggioli |first = Sylvia |date = 7 January 2008 |url = https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17855145 |title = MOSE Project Aims to Part Venice Floods |work = Morning Edition |type = Radio program |publisher = [[NPR]] }}</ref>

It is connected to the [[Adriatic Sea]] by three [[inlet]]s: [[Lido di Venezia|Lido]], [[Malamocco]] and [[Chioggia]]. Situated at one end of a largely enclosed sea, the lagoon is subject to large variations in its water level.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://earth.esa.int/web/earth-watching/landsat-25-years/landsat-5-showcase/cities/-/article/venice-italy-1985-2003-|title=Venice, Italy (1985–2003) - 25 Years of Landsat 5 - Landsat 5 showcase - Earth Watching|website=earth.esa.int|access-date=2019-02-01}}</ref> The most extreme are the [[spring tide]]s known as the ''{{lang|it|[[Acqua Alta|acqua alta]]}}'' (Italian for "high water"), which regularly flood much of Venice.

The nearby [[Marano lagoon|Marano-Grado Lagoon]], with a surface area of around {{convert|160|km2|sqmi|0|abbr=off}}, is the northernmost lagoon in the Adriatic Sea and is sometimes called the "twin sister of the Venice lagoon".

==Development== The Lagoon of Venice is the most important survivor of a system of [[Estuary|estuarine]] lagoons that in Roman times extended from [[Ravenna]] north to [[Trieste]]. In the fifth and sixth centuries, the Lagoon gave security to Romanised people fleeing invaders (mostly the [[Huns]] and the [[Lombards]]). Later, it provided naturally protected conditions for the growth of the [[Venetian Republic]] and its [[Thalassocracy|maritime empire]]. It still provides a base for a [[seaport]], the [[Venetian Arsenal]], and for [[fishing]], as well as a limited amount of [[hunting]] and the newer industry of [[fish farming]].

The Lagoon was formed about six to seven thousand years ago, when the [[marine transgression]] following the [[Last Glacial Period|Ice Age]] flooded the upper Adriatic coastal plain.{{#tag:ref|This geological history follows {{harvp|Brambati|Carbognin|Quaia|Teatini|2003}}.<ref>{{cite journal|first1 = Antonio|last1 = Brambati|first2 = Laura|last2 = Carbognin|first3 = Tullio|last3 = Quaia|first4 = Pietro|last4 = Teatini|first5 = Luigi|last5 = Tosi|name-list-style = amp|year = 2003|title = The Lagoon of Venice: Geological Setting, Evolution and Land Subsidence|journal = [[Episodes (journal)|Episodes]]|volume = 26|issue = 3|pages = 264–268|doi = 10.18814/epiiugs/2003/v26i3/020|url = http://www.episodes.co.in/www/backissues/263/19Brambati.pdf|doi-access = free}}</ref> |group=lower-alpha}} Deposition of river sediments compensated for the sinking coastal plain, and coastwise drift from the mouth of the [[Po River|Po]] tended to form sandbars that closed tidal inlets. [[File:2001-NASA-Satellitenaufnahme Venedig.jpg|thumb|Venetian lagoon from above]] The present aspect of the Lagoon is the result of human intervention. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Venetian hydraulic projects designed to prevent the lagoon from turning into a marsh reversed the natural evolution of the Lagoon. Pumping of [[aquifer]]s since the nineteenth century has increased [[subsidence]]. Many of the Lagoon's islands had originally been marshy, but a gradual drainage programme rendered them habitable. Many of the smaller islands are entirely artificial, while some areas around the seaport of the [[Mestre]] are also reclaimed islands. The remaining islands—-including those of the coastal strip ([[Lido di Venezia|Lido]], [[Pellestrina]] and [[Treporti]])—-are essentially [[dune]]s.

Venice Lagoon has been inhabited from the most ancient times, but it was only during and after the [[fall of the Western Roman Empire]] that people coming from the [[Veneto|Venetian mainland]] settled in numbers large enough to found the city of [[Venice]]. Today, the main cities inside the lagoon are Venice (at the centre of it) and [[Chioggia]] (at the southern inlet); [[Lido di Venezia]] and [[Pellestrina]] are inhabited as well, but they are considered part of Venice. However, most of the inhabitants of Venice, as well as its economic core (its airport and harbor), are on the western border of the lagoon, around the former towns of [[Mestre]] and [[Marghera]]. There are also two towns at the northern end of the lagoon: [[Jesolo]] (a famous sea resort) and [[Cavallino-Treporti]].

==Ecosystem== [[File:Food web of the Venice lagoon.png|thumb|upright=1| {{center|[[Food web]] diagram of the Venetian Lagoon<ref>Heymans, J.J., Coll, M., Libralato, S., Morissette, L. and Christensen, V. (2014). "Global patterns in ecological indicators of marine food webs: a modelling approach". ''PLOS ONE'', '''9'''(4). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0095845.</ref><ref>Pranovi, F., Libralato, S., Raicevich, S., Granzotto, A., Pastres, R. and Giovanardi, O. (2003). "Mechanical clam dredging in Venice lagoon: ecosystem effects evaluated with a trophic mass-balance model". ''Marine Biology'', '''143'''(2): 393–403. doi:10.1007/s00227-003-1072-1.</ref>}}]]

[[Bottlenose dolphin]]s occasionally enter the lagoon, possibly for feeding.<ref>{{Cite web| last1 = Ferretti | first1 = Sabrina | last2 = Bearzi | first2 = Giovanni | title = Rare Report of a Bottlenose Dolphin Foraging in the Venice Lagoon, Italy | url = http://www.adriawatch.provincia.rimini.it/documenti/CETACEI/Ferretti_Bearzi.pdf | publisher = [[Tethys Research Institute]] | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150402155709/http://www.adriawatch.provincia.rimini.it/documenti/CETACEI/Ferretti_Bearzi.pdf | archive-date = 2 April 2015 | url-status = dead | access-date = 15 March 2015}}</ref>

The level of pollution in the lagoon has long been a concern.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Grancini | first1 = Gianfranco | last2 = Cescon | first2 = Bruno | name-list-style = amp | year = 1971 | title = Observations of Dispersal Processes of Pollutants in Venice Lagoon and in the Po River Coastal Area | journal = Liège Colloquium on Ocean Hydrodynamics | volume = 2 | pages = 99–110 | publisher = Société Royale des Sciences de Liège }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | editor1-last = Lasserre | editor1-first = Pierre | editor2-last = Marzollo | editor2-first = Angelo | year = 2000 | title = The Venice Lagoon Ecosystem: Inputs and Interactions Between Land and Sea | series = Man and the Biosphere Series | volume = 25 | location = Paris | publisher = Parthenon | isbn = 978-92-3-103595-1 }}</ref> The large [[phytoplankton]] and [[macroalgae]] blooms in the late 1980s proved particularly devastating.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Sfriso | first1 = A. | last2 = Pavoni | first2 = B. | last3 = Marcomini | first3 = A. | last4 = Orio | first4 = A. A. | name-list-style = amp | year = 1992 | title = Macroalgae, Nutrient Cycles, and Pollutants in the Lagoon of Venice | journal = Estuaries | volume = 15 | issue = 4 | pages = 517–528 | jstor = 1352394 | doi = 10.2307/1352394 | s2cid = 84000695 }}</ref><ref name="Pranovi">{{Cite journal | last1 = Pranovi | first1 = Fabio | last2 = Da Ponte | first2 = Filippo | last3 = Torricelli | first3 = Patrizia | name-list-style = amp | year = 2007 | title = Application of Biotic Indices and Relationship with Structural and Functional Features of Macrobenthic Community in the Lagoon of Venice: An Example over a Long Time Series of Data | journal = Marine Pollution Bulletin | volume = 54 | issue = 10 | pages = 1607–1618 | doi = 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2007.06.010 | pmid = 17698152 | bibcode = 2007MarPB..54.1607P | url = https://arca.unive.it/retrieve/handle/10278/3815/19079/Pranovi%20et%20al_07_MPB.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151225024059/https://arca.unive.it/retrieve/handle/10278/3815/19079/Pranovi%20et%20al_07_MPB.pdf | archive-date = 25 December 2015 | url-status = live }}</ref> Researchers have identified the lagoon as one of the primary areas where non-indigenous species are introduced into the [[Mediterranean Sea]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1 = Occhipinti-Ambrogi|first1 = Anna|last2 = Savini|first2 = Dario|name-list-style = amp|year = 2003|title = Biological Invasions as a Component of Global Change in Stressed Marine Ecosystems|journal = Marine Pollution Bulletin|volume = 46|issue = 5|pages = 542–551|doi = 10.1016/S0025-326X(02)00363-6|pmid = 12735951|bibcode = 2003MarPB..46..542O|url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/10769699}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1 = Marchini|first1 = Agnese|last2 = Ferrario|first2 = Jasmine|last3 = Sfriso|first3 = Adriano|last4 = Occhipinti-Ambrogi|first4 = Anna|name-list-style = amp|year = 2015|title = Current Status and Trends of Biological Invasions in the Lagoon of Venice, a Hotspot of Marine NIS Introductions in the Mediterranean Sea|journal = Biological Invasions|volume = 17|issue = 10|pages = 2943–2962|doi = 10.1007/s10530-015-0922-3|bibcode = 2015BiInv..17.2943M|hdl = 10278/3661477|s2cid = 17434132|url = https://iris.unive.it/bitstream/10278/3661477/3/Biological%20Invasions.pdf|hdl-access = free}}</ref>

[[File:2020-10-20 Lazzaretto Nuovo05.jpg|thumb|alt=Orange-brown grasses bend in the wind on Lazzaretto Nuovo. |Grasses on Lazzaretto Nuovo]] Cruise ships crossing the Venetian Lagoon have contributed to air pollution, surface-water pollution, decreased water quality, erosion, and loss of landscape.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ejatlas.org/conflict/cruise-ships-in-venetian-lagoon|title=Cruise Ships impacting Venetian Lagoon, Italy {{!}} EJAtlas|last=EJOLT|website=[[Environmental Justice Atlas]]|language=en|access-date=2020-04-20}}</ref>

From 1987 to 2003, the Venice Lagoon was harmed by a reduction in nutrient inputs and by macroalgal biomasses caused by [[global climate change|climate change]], and by changes in the concentration and distribution of [[nitrogen]], organic [[phosphorus]] and [[organic carbon]] in the upper sediments. At the same time, however, the [[seagrass]]es started a natural process of recolonization, helping to partially restore the pristine conditions of the marine ecosystem.<ref>{{cite journal | title = Natural Recovery and Planned Intervention in Coastal Wetlands: Venice Lagoon (Northern Adriatic Sea, Italy) as a Case Study | doi = 10.1155/2014/968618 | journal = The Scientific World Journal | year = 2014 | volume = 2014 | issue = Article ID 968618 | author = Sonia Ceoldo |author2= Nicola Pellegrino | author3 =Adriano Sfriso | pages = 1–15 | pmid = 25126611 | pmc = 4122138 | oclc = 8255474034 |issn = 1537-744X | doi-access = free }}</ref>

==Islands== [[File:Venice. The Lagoon and the Mainland. The smaller islands 2007 - Touring Club Italiano GR Venezia@0668.tif|thumb|The Venetian Lagoon Islands]] [[File:San Lazzaro degli Armeni, Venice aerial photo 2013.jpg|thumb|[[San Lazzaro degli Armeni]], has been an important center of Armenian culture for around 300 years.]]

The Venice Lagoon is mostly included in the [[Metropolitan City of Venice]], but the south-western area is part of the [[Province of Padua]].

The largest islands or archipelagos by area, excluding coastal reclaimed land and the coastal [[barrier beach]]es: *[[Venice]] 5.17 km{{sup|2}} *[[Sant'Erasmo]] 3.26 km{{sup|2}} *[[Murano]] 1.17 km{{sup|2}} *[[Chioggia]] 0.67 km{{sup|2}} *[[Giudecca]] 0.59 km{{sup|2}} *[[Mazzorbo]] 0.52 km{{sup|2}} *[[Torcello]] 0.44 km{{sup|2}} *[[Sant'Elena (island)|Sant'Elena]] 0.34 km{{sup|2}} *[[La Certosa]] 0.24 km{{sup|2}} *[[Burano]] 0.21 km{{sup|2}} *[[Tronchetto]] 0.18 km{{sup|2}} *[[Sacca Fisola]] 0.18 km{{sup|2}} *[[Isola di San Michele|San Michele]] 0.16 km{{sup|2}} *[[Sacca Sessola]] 0.16 km{{sup|2}} *[[Ammiana#The surviving islands|Santa Cristina]] 0.13 km{{sup|2}}

Other inhabited islands include: *[[Cavallino (Venice)|Cavallino]] *[[Lazzaretto Nuovo]] *[[Lazzaretto Vecchio]] *[[Lido di Venezia|Lido]] *[[Pellestrina]] *[[Poveglia]] *[[San Clemente (VN)|San Clemente]] *[[San Francesco del Deserto]] *[[San Giorgio in Alga]] *[[San Giorgio Maggiore]] *[[San Lazzaro degli Armeni]] *[[Santa Maria della Grazia]] *[[San Pietro di Castello (island)|San Pietro di Castello]] *[[San Servolo]] *[[Santo Spirito (island)|Santo Spirito]] *[[Sottomarina]] *[[Vignole]]

==See also== * [[List of islands of Italy]] * [[Magistrato alle Acque]] * [[MOSE Project]]

==Notes== {{Reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== *{{cite book |author-link = Horatio Brown |first = Horatio |last = Brown |title= Life on the Lagoons |year= 1884|title-link = Life on the Lagoons }} Additional editions printed in 1900, 1904, & 1909; paperback in 2008.

==External links== {{Commons|Laguna veneziana|Venetian Lagoon}} *[http://atlante.silvenezia.it/en/ Atlas of the Lagoon - 103 thematic maps and associated explanations grouped in five sections: Geosphere, Biosphere, Anthroposphere, Protected Environments and Integrated Analysis] *[http://www.silvenezia.it SIL – Sistema Informativo della Laguna di Venezia] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20040820232717/http://www.salve.it/uk/eco/destra/ecobase.htm Lagoon of Venice information] *[https://maps.google.com/maps?q=venice,+italy&ll=45.367584,12.300568&spn=0.384961,1.315063&t=k&hl=en Satellite image from Google Maps] *[http://www.istitutoveneto.it/venezia/milva MILVa – Interactive Map of Venice Lagoon] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100328005621/http://www.istitutoveneto.it/venezia/milva |date=28 March 2010 }} *[http://www.comune.venezia.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/3836 Comune di Venezia, Servizio Mobilità Acquea, Thematic cartography of Venice Lagoon] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071209010511/http://www.comune.venezia.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/3836 |date=9 December 2007 }} *[http://www.photoshelter.com/c/enricomartino/gallery/Venices-lagoon-small-islands-5p-m-to-9-a-m/G0000bxVXDPTr.40/ Photo gallery] by [[Enrico Martino]] about Venice's lagoon small islands, night life

[[Category:Venetian Lagoon| ]] [[Category:Geography of Venice]] [[Category:Chioggia]] [[Category:World Heritage Sites in Italy]] [[Category:Bays of Italy]] [[Category:Bays of the Adriatic Sea]] [[Category:Ramsar sites in Italy]] [[Category:Lagoons of Italy]] [[Category:7 Most Endangered Programme]]