Portogruaro

Portogruaro is a small town with an attractive historic center where palazzi, porticoes, waterways and statues of the Lion of Saint Mark open up breathtaking views, taking visitors back to an atmosphere poised between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

A document from 1140 tells us that early that year the bishop of Concordia, a nearby town that then held the rights over this territory, signed a deed, something like a lease, granting some merchants a plot of land on the Lemene River so they could build a port, houses and warehouses, in return for an annual tribute and for supplying men whenever needed.

At the time, a castle already stood on the right bank of the river: the bishop of Concordia had built it for defense even before the Hungarian raids of the decades leading up to the year 1000. Today nothing remains of that castle except the name of Via Castello, a reminder of roughly where it must have stood.

Picture a medieval town ringed by walls punctuated by towers and five gates, three of which still stand: Sant’Agnese, San Giovanni and San Gottardo. The other way into town was the Lemene, the river around which the town grew thanks to its port, very important at the time.

In 1429 the Most Serene Republic of Venice decreed that all the iron coming from Germany and bound for Venice could be loaded and shipped only through Portogruaro. In 1447, given the volume of trade it had reached, the town built a large fondaco, a warehouse that served as the customs house.

The customs revenue was so substantial that the town could pay not only for public works but also for the salaries of doctors, school rectors, chancellors and officials. This is the period when the handsome palazzi you can still admire today along Via Martiri della Libertà, Via Cavour, Via Seminario and Via Garibaldi were built.

Another key date for Portogruaro is May 12, 1797, when the Republic of Venice ceased to exist after falling to Napoleon. In October of that same year, with the Treaty of Campo Formio, Napoleon ceded the Venetian territory to Austria. Portogruaro shared the same fate, and Austrian rule lasted practically until 1866. In October of that year, Veneto became part of the Kingdom of Italy.

Today Portogruaro is the hub of a district that, together with the area around San Donà, makes up Eastern Veneto (Venezia Orientale), a region between the Tagliamento and Piave rivers whose cultural and social fabric is closely knit and quite distinct from the surrounding areas (the Treviso area, the Pordenone area and the Bassa Friulana).

You can visit Portogruaro on a simple day trip or stay here and use it as a base for exploring the surroundings: the beaches of Bibione and Caorle; the lagoon next to the beaches, where you can go cycling, take boat trips or go bird-watching; the Lison-Pramaggiore DOC wine country; Sesto al Reghena and Cordovado, two of the Most Beautiful Villages in Italy; and much more that this area between Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia has to offer.