CHIOGA
 
 
 
Once a Roman port, then in the eleventh and twelfth centuries a major producer of salt, Chioggia secured its place in the annals of Venetian history in 1379, when it became the scene of the most serious threat to Venice since Pepin's invasion, as the Genoese, after copious shedding of blood on both sides, took possession of the town. Venice at this time had two outstanding admirals: the first, Vettor Pisani , was in prison on a charge of military negligence; the second, Carlo Zeno , was somewhere off in the East. So serious was the threat to the city that Pisani was promptly released, and then put in command of the fleet that set out in December - with the doge himself on board - to blockade the enemy. Zeno and his contingent sailed over the horizon on the first day of the new year and there followed months of siege warfare, in the course of which the Venetian navy employed shipboard cannons for the first time. (Casualties from cannonballs were as high on the Venetian side as on the Genoese, and some crews refused to operate these suicidal weapons more than once a day.) In June 1380, with medieval Chioggia in ruins, the enemy surrendered, and from then until the arrival of Napoleon's ships the Venetian lagoon remained impregnable.

Modern Chioggia is the second largest settlement in the lagoon after Venice, and one of Italy's busiest fishing ports. Lorenzetti describes the Chioggiotti as "extremely individual types and among the most expert and intrepid sailors of the Adriatic", but those with insufficient time to plumb the depths of the local character will probably find Chioggia one of the less charming towns of the region. With the exception of a single church, you can see everything worth seeing in an hour's walk along the Corso del Popolo , the principal street in Chioggia's grid-iron layout (probably a Roman inheritance). The exception is the church of San Domenico , which houses Carpaccio 's St Paul , his last known painting, plus a couple of pictures by Leandro Bassano ; you get to it by taking the bridge to the left of the Chioggia landing stage and going straight on until you can't go any further.

The boat sets you down at the Piazzetta Vigo , at the head of the Corso. The locals are reputedly touchy about the excuse for a lion that sits on top of the column here, a beast known to the condescending Venetians as the Cat of St Mark. Only the thirteenth-century campanile of the church of San Andrea (rebuilt in 1743) is likely to catch your eye before the street widens at the Granaio , a grain warehouse built in 1322 but got at by nineteenth-century restorers; the facade relief of the Madonna and Child is by Sansovino. Behind the Granaio is the fish market ; open for business every morning except Monday, it's a treat for gourmet and marine biologist alike - make sure you don't arrive too late to see it.

In the Piazzetta Venti Settembre, immediately after the town hall, there's the church of the Santissima Trinità , radically altered in 1703 by Andrea Tirali and almost perpetually shut - the Oratory, behind the main altar, has an impressive ceiling set with paintings by followers of Tintoretto. San Giacomo Apostolo , a bit further on, has a sub-Tiepolo ceiling by local boy Il Chiozzotto, and a much venerated fifteenth-century Venetian painting known as the Madonna della Navicella . Soon you pass a house once occupied by the family of Rosalba Carriera and later by Goldoni, and then, on the opposite side of the road, just before the duomo, the Tempio di San Martino , built immediately after the war of 1380. It's rarely open except for temporary exhibitions.

The Duomo was the first major commission for Longhena , who was called in to design a new church after the previous cathedral was burned down in 1623; the detached fourteenth-century campanile survived the blaze. The chapel to the left of the chancel contains half a dozen good eighteenth-century paintings, including one attributed to Tiepolo; except in freakish weather conditions they're all but invisible, a drawback that the over-sensitive might regard as a blessing in view of the subjects depicted - The Torture of Boiling Oil , The Torture of the Razors , The Beheading of Two Martyrs , and so on.

Buses run from the duomo to Sottomarina , Chioggia's down-market answer to Venice's Lido. On the beaches of Sottomarina you're a fraction closer to nature than you would be on the Lido, and the resort does have one big plus - after your dip you can go back to the Corso and have a fresh seafood meal that's cheaper than any you'd find in Venice's restaurants and better than most.