[Nov. 2024] Walking around the town of Chioggia in the Veneto region of Italy was a great fun.
We covered almost all of the routes 3 and 2 of the four walking routes on the map we received at the hotel.
The reason we chose these two was simply because the starting point was near the hotel.
There aren’t many particular tourist attractions in Chioggia, but every street in the town is a sight that makes you want to take a photo.
It was a windy, sunny day, perfect for doing laundry.
The laundry, which was hanging out to dry, well arranged, knowing that people would see it, and its shadow made wonderful pictures.
The harmony between the colourful houses and the blue sky was also wonderful.
Of course, the reflection on the canal was also beautiful.
We walked according to the map, but sometimes we were instructed to go down a narrow street that couldn’t even be called a road, and we missed it several times.
In Italy, the street name is usually via XXX, but here it is calle XXX.
It’s just like Spain.
I didn’t think this town had any connection to Spain, so I did a little research and found out that calle is a Venetian word that evolved from the Latin calles, which means a small path.
After all, Venice is only 25 kilometres away in a straight line.
I also noticed that the house numbers were often three or four digits.
This is also an urban plan modelled after Venice, and instead of having a number for each street, the houses in a certain district are numbered in order starting from 1.
So, many things are similar to Venice, but this walk was very different from Venice, where tourists flock.
There were hardly any people around.
The only people walking were locals walking their dogs.
Then, we came to the slightly wider Canale San Domenico, where we saw fishermen preparing (cleaning up?) their fishing boats.
Some of them were wearing camouflage clothing, and they all looked tough and scary.
Here’s what my husband told me:
There was a time when Milanese citizens all bought villas near the mouth of the Po River.
The sea in that area wasn’t clean, but there were many friendly people and good services.
But these villas were broken into one after another.
At the worst, even the toilets were stolen, and only the walls remained.
And at that time, people were saying, “They came from Chioggia and stole.”
That’s why my husband had never been to Chioggia before.
Anyway, in general, people in the Veneto are known for being tough and rough.
