The Museums of Chioggia

The Southern Lagoon City Museum is an archaeological and ethnographic Museum focusing on the lagoon environment. It is located in the former Convent of “San Francesco fuori le mura” (St. Francis Convent outside the walls). The first building dates back to 1315 and it was destroyed during the war fought between Venice and Genoa (1378-1381). The second one, instead, dates back to 1434. In 1806 the convent was deconsecrated and from that time on it was used for several purposes (warehouse, homeless refuge, bus garage…).

The ground floor hall hosts archaeological records dating back to a period from the Bronze Age up to the VI century A.D.; some educational panels show the evolution of the coastline in the Northern coast and in the Southern coast of Chioggia. Some scale models and photographic panels document the oldest archaeological records found in the surroundings.

The ground floor hosts also a section dedicated to the “Bebe’s Tower” and the war of Chioggia.

The visit of the medieval tank had been added to the museum itinerary since the 11^th June 2014. The medieval site, which had remained intact for centuries, was open to the public after a maintenance period.

On the first floor there is a room dedicated to Cristoforo Sabbadino, a famous hydraulic engineer who worked for the Serenissima and who lived between the 16^th and the 17^th century. In this room there are a lot of findings dating back to the Middle Ages, to the Renaissance and to the Modern Age and discovered on the spot.

The second floor hosts several private collections of some Chioggia citizens and it is dedicated to the shipbuilding industry and to the local shipping. The room hosts pieces from the 18^th century to the present day, such as a “marota”, some shipbuilding industry instruments and some models which show exactly the different stages of construction of the “Bragozzo”, a typical local boat of the 19^th century. The same floor hosts also a local paintings collection and a section dedicated to the deep-sea fishing.