History and project

The Litoranea Veneta and the POSEIDONE Project

The Litoranea Veneta is a historic waterway crossing the coastal landscape of the Northern Adriatic, extending for approximately 127 kilometres from the Venice Lagoon to the mouth of the Isonzo River, of which around 68.5 kilometres are located in the Veneto Region and 58.5 kilometres in Friuli Venezia Giulia. Its route consists of a complex network of canals, rivers, lagoons and navigable stretches connecting the Venice Lagoon with the lagoons of Caorle, Marano and Grado. Navigation along this route has ancient origins and was already practised in the Middle Ages, but it was especially during the First World War that the Litoranea Veneta acquired strategic importance, as it was upgraded to ensure connections and logistical transport along the Northern Adriatic front.

Over time, the role of the Litoranea Veneta has changed significantly. Its traditional function as a communication and transport route has gradually been complemented by new needs related to hydraulic safety, ecosystem protection and tourism development. Today, the Litoranea Veneta is much more than a simple navigable route: it crosses lagoon environments, wetlands, reclaimed agricultural areas and numerous sites of high natural value, connecting some of the most distinctive landscapes along the coasts of Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia. For this reason, it can be regarded as a true blue infrastructure and an ecological corridor capable of connecting territories, habitats and communities. At the same time, slow navigation, cycling routes and the integration of waterways with land-based routes provide new opportunities for more sustainable forms of tourism, increasingly focused on discovering and understanding the landscapes through which they pass.

This vision has been further developed within the strategic project POSEIDONE – Promotion of green and blue infrastructures dedicated to a new environment, funded by the Interreg Italy–Slovenia Programme 2021–2027. The project covers the entire coastal arc of the Northern Adriatic, from Chioggia to the Slovenian coast, and aims to combine biodiversity protection, climate change adaptation, the development of green and blue infrastructure, and the promotion of sustainable forms of tourism. POSEIDONE involves a broad cross-border partnership and has been developed with an overall budget of EUR 4.375 million; the Consorzio di Bonifica Veneto Orientale participates in the project with a budget of approximately EUR 437,500.

Within the POSEIDONE project, the Consorzio di Bonifica Veneto Orientale has focused a significant part of its activities on the Litoranea Veneta, developing, in cooperation with Infrastrutture Venete, an overall planning framework aimed at improving its management, maintenance and accessibility. The approach adopted considers the different functions of the waterway simultaneously: navigability, hydraulic safety and functionality, its role as an ecological corridor, habitat conservation, and the potential for developing slow mobility and river tourism.

The study made it possible to identify the interventions required for the gradual restoration of navigability along the Litoranea Veneta, including works for the improvement of canals and related infrastructure. Particular attention was also given to the Commesera Sud and Revedoli sections, in continuity with the interventions already completed at Orologio and Commesera Nord. One of the key elements of the strategy concerns the management of sediments resulting from dredging operations: approximately 633,000 m³ of material could be reused directly within the area, thereby reducing, as far as possible, the need for off-site disposal and allowing the material to be used for the reconstruction and reinforcement of morphological and environmental features. This approach considers the maintenance of the waterway not merely as an infrastructure intervention, but also as an opportunity to contribute simultaneously to ecological restoration and to the resilience of coastal and lagoon systems.

The project therefore considers the Litoranea Veneta as an integrated system in which water, landscape, biodiversity, infrastructure and communities are closely interconnected. Restoring its full functionality means not only re-establishing continuity along a historic Northern Adriatic navigation route, but also creating an itinerary capable of connecting coastal towns, lagoons, natural areas, reclaimed landscapes and historical heritage. From this perspective, POSEIDONE contributes to transforming the Litoranea Veneta into a tangible laboratory for sustainable development, where tourism enhancement and the use and enjoyment of the territory go hand in hand with ecosystem protection and the rediscovery of the identity of water landscapes.