La Banda di Mira (Memoria Veneta Vol. 9) (Italian Edition)

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Giorgio in Alga, S. Angelo di Concordia, S.

Pré-publication

Settore del Brenta con Fusina, S. Archivio Storico di Venezia. The plain is characterised by the presence of alluvial megafan, which results from the tectonic setting and from the different phases of deposition which occurred since Upper Pleistocene. The evolution of these very large landforms has been mainly controlled by climatic change and eustasy Fontana et al.

The springs fed a number of shallow and constant groundwater-fed river that crosses the low plain forming a dense network Fontana et al. BP; Fontana et al. Between Lateglacial and early Holocene, large incisions formed even in the distal part of the plain whereas the interfluves were not affected by sedimentation and pedogenesis took place Fontana et al. Starting from Middle Holocene, a new phase of deposition affected the coastal areas, probably related to the marine highstand.

Lagoon and delta formation started about ka cal. BP but, in the megafans, an erosive trend is still recognisable up to ka cal. BP, when widespread aggradation started once more and pre-existing incisions almost completely filled up. Adige Alluvial Plain; B: Tagliamento megafan after Fontana et al. The delta systems of Po, Adige and Brenta rivers limit the lagoon to the south, whilst Sile and Piave rivers to the north.

The lagoon is closed by two barrier islands: The central stretch of the Venetian Plain is made up of three alluvial megafans. The westernmost one was created by the Brenta River and stretches approximately in a NW-SE direction from the outlet of the valley of the Brenta as far as the area around the Venetian Lagoon.

To the east, this structure borders on the pre-LGM megafan of the Piave River the Montebelluna megafan , which formed when the river reached the plain to the west of the hill of Montello, and not to the east as it did since LGM when it led to the formation of the so-called Nervesa megafan Mozzi, ; Carton et al. The stretch of plain bordering the western sector of the Venetian Lagoon represents the terminal part of the Holocene depositional system of the Brenta River; this system borders to the north on the late-Pleistocene system of the Brenta River, and to the south with the Holocene system of the Adige River.

The morphogenic activity of the Bacchiglione River is confined within the inter-fan depression between Adige and Brenta rivers Bondesan and Meneghel, The coastal plain south of the Venice Lagoon and of Bacchiglione River is completely below the sea level and is characterised by the presence of Holocene fluvial ridges, palaeoriver beds and coastal ridges, old swampy and lagoonal areas, now reclaimed. The system of fluvial ridges and palaeochannels was originated by repeated Brenta natural avulsions after 6 ka BP and progressive turning of the Brenta mouth to the south by human intervention starting from the 15th c.

Serandrei Barbero identified the inner coastline position, reached during the Flandrian transgression, ka cal. BP; here marine-lagoon deposits were buried by fluvial sediment supplies which caused a rapid eastward coastline progradation.

Outcropping evidence of beach ridges is recognisable inland, where the coastline dates back about 5. BP and remained here for a longer time than in the inner position Favero and Serandrei Barbero, During the last 4 ka, several fluvial depositional events of the Brenta, Bacchiglione, Adige and Po rivers filled up the back barrier lagoon and the surrounding swamps, with a consequent eastward coastal migration. The different depositional environments are responsible for the various lithologies and geological features. Sandy and silty sediments characterise the remnants of ancient fluvial and beach ridges, whereas clayey silt, often rich in organic matter, fill the inter-distributary lowlands; swamps with peaty layers occur in the reclaimed marshy areas fig.

In recent times, natural and man-induced subsidence, eustacy and impact of human activities, have noticeably accelerated the geomorphodynamic processes to the point that urgent measures had to be taken in order to reduce the negative effects, mainly erosion of littorals and surface reduction of the salt marshes, which play an important role in regulating the lagoon hydrodynamics Carbognin and Tosi, The oldest Holocene outcropping palaeochannel dates back to the 4th-2nd millennium BC; it starts from the area upstream of Pontevigodarzere, NE of Padova, and reaches the wide alluvial ridge that cross Noventa Padovana and Saonara nr 1, fig.

Archaeological and geomorphological data indicate that the ridge of Boion nr 2, fig. BC to the 1st c. The texts of the two geographers and the archaeological findings converge: Livius refers about the existence of the Medoacus as a deep river, with its mouth and its course inside the lagoon; Strabon cites a great harbour, Medoacos , and a river having the same name through which it was possible to reach Padua from the lagoon.

Many archaeological findings along the ridge of Boion, from Padua to Lova Capuis, , and the presence of a sanctuary in this latter place Bonomi, confirm the assertions of Livius and Strabon. A river was surely active during Roman antiquity when it flowed from Noventa to Camin, where a Roman bridge was discovered Pesavento Mattioli, , while in Saonara a river was active between the 10th c. BC and the 12th c. AD Castiglioni et al. Beyond Saonara the river passed through Legnaro and Brugine, crossed the fluvial ridge of Arzergrande and outlet into the lagoon. Close to Vallonga it split in two branches: The presence of the Brenta along this direction in that period is confirmed by archeological data Rosada, and by radiocarbon dating cal.

BC of peats underlining the Fogolana fluvial ridge Bondesan et al. So, available data are not sufficient to confirm the abandon of the river course in the 3rd c. Upstream, next to Saonara, we have clues of the existence of an active fluvial branch still in the 4th c. The famous Tabula Peutingeriana , a road map which is a copy made in the 12thth c.

AD of the original map drawn in the second half of the 4th-5th c. AD Bosio, , indicates another course, the Brintesia Fluvius , south of the Bacchiglione course, having its mouth in Brondolo, close to Chioggia Brintesia coincides with Brenton, see fig. Mediaeval documents mention in a still active Brenta that crossed the Piove di Sacco area to Bebe and used to debouch at Port of Brondolo Cessi a to c; Bortolami, , still well recognisable in the Brenton depicted in historical maps of the 16th c. It is worth to know that it might also be an abandoned branch fed by effluent rivers.

It is today testified by some palaeochannel traces still preserved and recognisable. Ilario Monastery delta Cessi, a to c; Fersuoch, ; Bortolami, ; fig. The historical map reveals two mouths: It probably is an old Brenta river mouth next to Santa Marta fig. The second branch, which is recalled in the cartography of the 15th c. The opening of the Brenta of Fusina determined a progressive degeneration of the Brenton branch, an older course of the Mediaeval Brenta, that ran from Saonara and debouched at the Port of Brondolo fig.

Internal lagoonal margin and coastline inferred by historical cartography Fig. Punta dei Lovi; B and C: Motte di Volpego; E: Canale Maggiore mouth; F: Canale Montalbano mouth; G: Delta Brenta reclamation; H: Taglio Nuovissimo mouth ; 5: After Furlanetto and Primon, , modified. Marco in Bocca Lama close to D, fig 5 , and iii in , the diversion through the Corbola, inside the Canal Maggiore towards the Port of Malamocco nr 8, fig.

Along the , radical project were approved, aiming at the definitive deviation of Bacchiglione and Brenta outside the lagoon to the Port of Brondolo. In , the excavation of the Brenta Nova , decreed in , was terminated. Its course developed from Dolo to Sambruson, Corte, Conche until the confluence with the Bacchiglione and then, through the Canal of Montalbano, to the Lagoon of Chioggia, where the new inner delta is well depicted in historical maps Imago 81; fig.

In , the Sborador della Mira was completed fig. In the same year, the Senate decided a new displacement of the Brenta mouth through the excavation of a new river bed involving the lower tracts of Brenta and Bacchiglione rivers; both rivers were planned to go into the Toro Canal and, together, to debouch at the Port of Brondolo Imago In , the construction of the artificial embankment Parador di Brondolo started with the aim to separate the lagoons of Venice and Brondolo; it was completed in , totally expelling the water of Brenta and Bacchiglione from the Lagoon of Chioggia Imago 66; Favero et al.

The lagoon of Brondolo fig. It was continuously dredged in order to canalise the fluvial waters that, due to the low gradient of the artificial canal, periodically inundated the surrounding lands Bortolami, All the attempts to prevent the floods were ineffective and the Venetians were forced again to strongly provide; in they started the digging of the Taglio Novissimo fig. The Taglio Novissimo represents the very last intervention of the Republic of Venice on the southern sector of the lagoon; only in , as a consequence of the more and more frequent and violent floods by Brenta and Bacchiglione, the Brenta River was rechanneled again into the artificial canal Brenta vecchia fig.

Part of this territory was lately reclaimed and it was given the name Bonifica Delta Brenta. The southern branch of the Brenta Mouth Brenta Vecchio was connected with the northern branch of the Adige mouth, in correspondence of the Isola Bacucco. A new cut at the end of the 19th c. Here, the very intense LGM sedimentary phase stopped at around BP, showing a good connection between glacial activity and alluvial aggradation Carton et al. The LGM alluvial plain of the low Piave River hosts a characteristic alternation of overbank, crevasse, natural-levee and floodplain deposits with common thin peat intercalations Bondesan et al.

Peat formation in the LGM alluvial plain occurred in poorly drained depressions where organic production prevailed over alluvial minerogenic sediment delivery Bondesan et al. After about 9 ka cal. BP, the Adriatic coastline shifted from the position today occupied by the Po delta to the north, following the post-glacial sea-level rise Correggiari et al.

The lagoons originated when the marine high-stand was reached, about ka cal. About 4 ka cal. BP a new phase of alluvial deposition started in the distal sector of the plain through the formation of alluvial ridges related to meander belts fig. For this reason, the inland sector, south and east of S. Prevailing textures are sands, silty-sands and silt corresponding to overbank, natural-levee and crevasse deposits of the main fluvial ridges.

The thickness of Holocene sediments burying Pleistocene surfaces varies from about 5 m, close to the channel belts, to m over the floodplain sequence Bondesan et al. Holocene alluvial deposit; 7: Pleistocene alluvial deposit; 8: The westernmost branch Piave Vecchia , today rimming the Lagoon of Venice, formed by the Piave River fluvial avulsion occurred in the 6th c. AD after an important period of floods Bondesan et al. There are several palaeochannels formed by the Piave River: To the east, the two central ridges formed when the Piave River was diverted in Taglio da Re and in present Piave River-Taglio di Cortellazzo; fig.

The Roman road Via Annia is partially buried by the sediments forming the ridge Barozzi et al. This branch was active since at least 4th millinium BC Bondesan et al. Margherita is occupied by relics of ancient sandy dune ridges, sequences of spits and beach barriers. The orientation of the coastal dune ridges, now levelled, but still well recognisable through remote sensing, reliably match the position of the ancient coastline.

Three Holocene delta lobes have been recognised. The oldest is a cuspate Piave palaeodelta developed just south east of Torre di Fine and dates between 7 and 5. BP Bondesan et al. The coastline is almost straight and the morphology of the sandy and flat beach is almost unaffected by the scarce sediment input to the sea. At present, the coast is experiencing a severe erosion and the only noticeable exception is evident nearby the west side of the Piave River mouth, where the dispersion plume of the discharged solid transport feds some bars Bondesan et al.

Some minor rivers and canals are mainly organised according to the dense hydraulic network for reclamation and irrigation which is the evidence of the ancient wetlands. All the area was swampy until the end of the 19th c. Reclamation induced rapid and widespread subsidence over large areas. The hydraulic changes interested mostly the lower tract of the Piave River, from S. All the workings were necessarily conditioned by the geomorphological setting of the plain, considering the topographic micro-morphology, slope and geological background.

The very first important interventions date back to the 13th c. In the 15th c. This artefact favoured the widespread human settlement and the industrial above all water mills and agricultural development of the entire area. The hydraulic network is well documented in the historical maps of the period, even though not all contained into the Imago DB Imago It linked the Sile River to the Piave, crossing also some other minor effluent rivers as Meolo and Vallio Pavanello, Since the 16th c.

One of the first documents regarding the low Piave plain dates to 20th May when the Collegio Veneto delle Acque, i. They also approved the opening of the Portesin , Livenzuola and Cortellazzo inlets fig. The testimony of the Cava Zuccherina is today only a trace of the palaeoriver bed, well recognisable by photointerpretation. The is an important year for the Piave River: Since the floods were very destructive, and considering that the embankment could not be enough to face the strength of the water, they decreed to dig a bypass called Taglio da Re on the left bank of the Piave, and a second one close to Jesolo, called Cavetta Canal, which connect since the Piave Vecchia to the Port of Cortellazzo.

The connection with the Lagoon of Venice through the Caligo Canal was regulated by mean of a flood-gate being very often interested by sedimentation that was threating the northern lagoon. Lac de la Piave. In the Cavallino Canal was terminated and in it became the only entering gate to the lagoon, after the closure of the Caligo Canal.

Contemporarily, all the rivers debouching into the northern lagoon were planned to be diverted into the old Piave riverbed the present Piave Vecchia , in order to bring the solid discharge outside the lagoon; they were Zero, Dese, Marzenego, Sile, Vallio and Meolo rivers Casti Moreschi, The Sile and the other rivers were forming large fluvial deltas inside the lagoon, depositing their sediments deep inside the lagoon up to Torcello Island Imago 88; Favero and Serandrei Barbero, The original maps of Sabbadino Imago 10, 40, 42, 52, 78, , one of the most important Venetian hydraulic engineers, show the different phases of the debate on the projects of the new Sile riverbed to preserve the northern lagoon from silting up; as a matter of fact, several projects were made with different solutions concerning the planimetric position of the new canal.

The Taglio da Re remained incomplete and was never brought to reach the sea, being the works irregular and in delay. When the diversion of the Brenta River ended in with the excavation of the Taglio Nuovissimo, the Republic of Venice started again to manage the lower Piave tract, also because the sediment fluxes of the Piave were silting up the lagoon inlets, due to down drift coastal sediment transport. The Venetian hydraulic engineers understood that littoral and lagoonal inlets were filling up by the sand transported by the Piave, Livenza and even Tagliamento rivers, shifted southwestward by littoral transport.

As a matter of fact, the problem in the 16th c. The project, coordinated by Bonotti Imago 16, 17, 53 , regarded a series of new organic measures fig. Marcon reports about the Piave Lake: In that way, a great lake formed …. This event, repeated in the following years, induced the Senate of the Republic to depress the level of the lake and to enforce the defenses workings around the Piave Lake Imago 74, This huge hydraulic project changed the natural environment characterised by a complex hydrographic network, with very low slopes around 0.

Version abrégée en français

It would have been simpler to let the Piave flow to Port of Cortellazzo, but the aim was to avert as much as they can the river mouth from Venice. The sediments entering the Piave Lake were silting up the flowing paths, endangering the fishing activity. Because of the protest by the fishers of Caorle, they opened again the Port of Livenzuola , facilitating the water flow and the navigation. The silting and the development of swampy vegetation kept on being an obstacle to the way to the Port of S.

In , following a bank collapse at Landrona, the Piave river flowed spontaneously toward Cortellazzo, conformably to its present course. The location of this latter, however, may have reflected a local favourable geomorphologic context, as it corresponds also to that of the palaeo Piave River.

From now on, the Republic of Venice decided to let the river flow, concluding the century-long struggle to direct the Piave far from the lagoon. Starting from the low Brenta plain we can identify the following geomorphological consequences due to specific human action; i the southward migration of the Brenta mouths avoided at first the silting up of the lagoon between Venice and the mainland, in particular the Fusina and Giudecca canals. When the mouth moved to Malamocco, the inlet was poorly navigable by ships.

Again, moving the mouth outside the lagoon set the openings free from sand. As a consequence, the reduced solid discharge dramatically lowered the sedimentary budget triggering erosive processes by tidal currents, so that the southern lagoon suffered a reduction of emerged land, reducing the salt marshes in Valle Millecampi and eroding the fluvial ridges present inside the lagoon Imago 71, 81 at compared with 94, at Where the Taglio di Cortellazzo entered the lake a large fluvial ridge generated, because of the lowering of fluvial current see Eraclea, fig.

The closure of the coastal inlets determined the burying of the Porto of Livenzuola and of part of the coastal lakes. Then, the turning of the Livenza to Port of S. Margherita moved the centre of sedimentation, closing the Lagoon of Caorle. Part of the former wetlands were thus buried and hydraulically separated; iv with the turning of the Piave mouth from Port of Piave Vecchia to Port of Cortellazzo, the fluvial sedimentation was diverted from the Lido inlet of the Lagoon of Venice.

The sedimentary load determined an advance of the littoral. From the beginning of the last century, because of the lack of solid transport, the entire north Adriatic coast is suffering a strong erosion Zunica, ; Fontolan, , ; v the abandon of Caligo Canal determined a reduction into the sedimentation in the northern lagoon in the event of floods; vi as it happened also in the Brenta plain, the land reclamation deeply transformed this area reducing at first lagoons and swamps, that have been completely dried up in the 20th c.

The two areas, lower Brenta and lower Piave are the two main centre of sinking for subsidence Carbognin and Tosi, The case of Venice is particularly effective due to the extraordinary number of maps available. They were considered paramount in administrative procedures for territorial management by the Senate of the Republic and for this reason a very important cartographical school developed in Venice, especially during the 16th and 17th c.

Historical maps are usually considered reliable starting from the 18th c. Of course, the more geometric was the map, the better the georeferentiation. In some cases, to get valuable results, we made separated georeferentiation for single small stretches of the map. The great amount of information coming from historical maps has been filtered and scored according to the consistency of the maps themselves. Then, the results are summarised in very detailed synoptic maps that report the geomorphological setting of the Lagoon of Venice and its mainland over two centuries.

This transformation has been monitored through the last five centuries thanks to the historical maps, helping in reconstructing the cause-effect morphogenetic processes.

This is particularly true for the Brenta sector, where the original environment has been submerged by marine ingression and buried by the extensive landfills realised for the industrial port of Venice. The historical maps constitute the only attestation of the ancient morphology, allowing to precisely reconstruct the lagoonal inner border and the salt marshes extension.

Today the Venetian Plain is a completely artificial system; the only present active process is subsidence so it is not easy to study the short-term geomorphological changes without a diachronic cartographical support. The map analysis allowed a semi-quantitative morphometric approach not illustrated in this paper , where, for example, areal dimension of forms such as wetlands, tidal marshes, tidal flats, lagoons, deltas could be measured and compared in their evolution. The comprehension of the role played by global change and anthropic transformations is the key to plan preservation measures in the lagoon and in the mainland, as the banks upraise, the coastal defenses, the artificial re-nourishments, both along the coast and inside the lagoon, the mobile dams of Mo.

Some cartographical analyses have been conducted in last years over small portion of territory, when it was necessary to asset the impact of infrastructural projects, demonstrating the effectiveness of the method.

The authors thank R. Bertani for providing core data and A. Vitturi for the French translation. They also gratefully thank C. Levorato for the effective help in map and figures editing. Finally, the authors wish to thank the referees Stefano Cremonini and Alessandro Fontana for the valuable comments and suggestions which improved the manuscript.

The following images related to this document are available:

Both the authors contributed equally to the paper. Tipografia Aldo Manuzio, Mantova. Archivio Veneto 14, Marsilio, Venezia, 13 p. Provincia di Venezia, Venezia, p. Atti del Convegno di Studio nel Bicentenario della Conterminazione lagunare: Quaderni di Archeologia del Veneto 4, Geomorfologia della Provincia di Venezia. Esedra, Padova, p. Journal of Coastal Research 11, Risposta dei processi geomorfologici alle variazioni ambientali. Il Quaternario bis, Cierre, Verona, p. Cierre, Verona, 2 sheets, p.

In Orizzonti del Sacro, culti e santuari antichi in Altino e nel Veneto orientale. Note per una storia politico-territoriale. Studi miscellanei di archeologia delle Venezie , Cedam, Padova, Maggioli, Rimini, p. Studi di archeologia della X regio in ricordo di Michele Tombolani. Acta Geodaetica et Geophysica Hungarica 45, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology , La laguna di Venezia. Dalla cartografia ai sistemi digitali. Istituto Geografico militare, Firenze, p.

Rapporti e Studi, 10, Memorie Scienze Geologiche 39, The town of Bassano del Grappa in the province of Vicenza is the site of OperaEstate Festival Veneto , involving performances at many different locations in the town, virtually turning the entire town into one large operatic venue. Get Music of Veneto essential facts below, , or join the Music of Veneto discussion.

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