Corso del Popolo Historical Timeline

Origins

The street follows the island's central axis, which is the line the settlement grew along. Chioggia's plan -- one spine, one canal, and a fine grid of parallel lanes running down to the water on both sides -- is medieval and has barely changed.

Turning points

Under Venice, Chioggia was the Republic's principal fishing port and a substantial town in its own right, and the Corso was widened and rebuilt as its civic centre.

Influential people

Carlo Goldoni served here as a young court official and used the town's speech and street life directly in Le baruffe chiozzotte of 1762 -- a comedy written in Chioggia's own dialect, and set among exactly the people who worked this street.

Cultural evolution

The arcades, the palaces along it and the churches that punctuate it accumulated through the Venetian centuries, giving the street a Venetian character at a smaller and plainer scale.

Present-day significance

It remains the town's only main street and the place where the resident population and the summer visitors from Sottomarina meet.