Pellestrina Historical Timeline

Origins

The lidi -- the barrier islands closing the lagoon -- were Venice's outer defence against the sea, and keeping them intact was a permanent state responsibility. A breach here would have let the Adriatic into the lagoon.

Turning points

Between 1744 and 1782 the Republic built the murazzi along the seaward edge, to a design by Bernardino Zendrini, its chief hydraulic engineer: massive stepped walls of Istrian stone laid in lime mortar, running for kilometres.

Influential people

A plaque set into the wall records the work in Latin -- Ausu Romano Aere Veneto, "with Roman daring, at Venetian expense" -- which is an unusually candid piece of state self-description, and fair.

Cultural evolution

The villages lived by fishing and by lace, the same craft that made Burano's name, worked here for the same reason: a trade for women in a community whose men were at sea.

Present-day significance

The flood of November 1966 overtopped and broke the murazzi and devastated the island. They were rebuilt and reinforced afterwards, and the MOSE barrier at the Chioggia inlet now protects the lagoon behind them.