Port of Venice

The history of the Port of Venice is a millennia-old tradition.

The Port of Venice is located at the mouth of the Po Valley, not far from the Alpine passes that connect the Mediterranean world with Central Europe. A thin coastal strip interrupted by Lido, Malamocco, and Chioggia inlets protects it from the sea.
For centuries, the main access points were the Lido inlets and the San Nicolò canal. Consequently, the initial places for receiving ships were centered around the island of S. Elena.

From the second half of the 16th century, all the canals, particularly the San Nicolò canal with the Lido harbor mouth, underwent a process of silting, which, in 1726, led to the excavation of the S. Spirito canal to allow ships to reach the Port of Venice, now located at San Marco, from Malamocco.

Maritime trade expanded, evolving into specialized commerce with the East and the Western Mediterranean. The city thus became a major port establishment, with its heart in the San Marco basin, in front of the Doge’s Palace.

The development of the port in its current form

With the end of the Republic and throughout the first half of the 19th century, the situation of the Venetian port became increasingly difficult due to the absence of port facilities, road, railway, and waterway connections with the hinterland. The harbor mouths of Lido were partially or completely silted, and the port structures were inadequate.

In 1846, the trans-lagoon railway bridge was inaugurated. In 1869, the construction of the new Maritime Station in the Santa Marta area began and was completed in 1880, forming the first nucleus of the new port, connected to the mainland via a railway bridge leading to Santa Lucia station (the latter constructed starting from 1860).

The construction of the Maritime Station and adjacent port facilities resulted in the shift of commercial port traffic from the San Marco basin to the western area of the city, marking the beginning of a new economic cycle for Venice and the end of the long stagnation of the 19th century.

The Birth of Porto Marghera

Just two decades after its construction, the Maritime Station became inadequate to handle the greatly increased naval traffic, primarily due to industrial development on the main island and especially on Giudecca.
The area known as Bottenighi (later named Porto Marghera) was identified to accommodate the new port facilities.

The creation of a mainland port basin represented the final stage of the shift of port activities to the west, which began with the construction of the trans-lagoon bridge and continued with the construction of the Maritime Station. Porto Marghera was established in 1917 following an agreement between the State, the Municipality, and the Porto Industriale Company chaired by Giuseppe Volpi.

The development of the commercial port, designed by engineer Coen Cagli in 1917, along with the rest of the first industrial zone, occurred in various phases. According to its promoters, Porto Marghera was not only meant to serve as a port for raw materials (thus relieving the Maritime Station from excessive traffic) but also as a new industrial center.

New Interventions in the 1960s

In the 1960s, the growth of industrial traffic centered around Porto Marghera necessitated another phase of interventions.

In 1966, due to the growth of industrial traffic, the San Leonardo oil port was constructed, and three years later, the excavation of the Malamocco-Marghera canal was completed. This allowed all oil tankers to reach the San Leonardo port and industrial areas through the Malamocco harbor mouth, thus bypassing the San Marco basin and the historic city center.