Audio tour Venice: Explore Forgotten Altino and its Sailing Traditions

This itinerary explores the areas lying adjacent to Venice’s North Lagoon between the Sile and Zero rivers, dominated by flat and luminous horizons. Here, in Roman times, at the abundant confluence of both resurgence river water and sea water which allowed for more far reaching navigation, the rich and affluent city of Altinum once flourished. Today as then the horizons are interrupted by the meandering banks of waterways, the straight lines of the reclamation canals, and the silhouettes of sparse houses and small villages.

Due to the constant volume of its waters, for centuries the river Sile was the privileged route for the transportation of agricultural produce from the fertile Marca Trevigiana (March of Treviso) to Venice on large and robust wooden boats called, in local dialect, burci. Mentioned by Dante Alighieri in his Divine Comedy, these boats (burchi in Italian) are the symbol of the tradition of internal river navigation. Testifying to this once abundant traffic, now gone, are the many hydraulic artefacts, among which, notably, the navigation basins of Pontegrandi and Trepalade.

For navigation on the smaller and shallower, natural and artificial waterways of the lagoon, the populations rather used characteristic and versatile flat-bottomed vessels called saltafossi. During this itinerary there will be the opportunity to visit a rowing association and savour the unforgettable experience of navigating on a small, traditional wooden vessel.

A final and compulsory stop on the itinerary is the National Archaeological Museum of Altino, which leads us to the discovery of the millennial history of the area. Positioned between salt and fresh waters, the many relics and monuments housed here tell of the vicissitudes of Altinum, at the very origins of Venice.

Watch the project’s video on traditional boats of Venice and its lagoon.