Italy off the beaten path: the historic lagoon town of Grado
Grado, Island of the Sun Grado is a small lagoon town in Friuli Venezia Giulia in the province of Gorizia. Connected to the mainland by a thin strip of land, it is a famous tourist and spa resort also known as the Island of the Sun. It is seen as a miniature Venice, full of narrow streets and houses close to each other; one of those towns to calmly explore in a day. Founded in Roman times as a merchant port of Aquileia , Grado owes its name to the typical Roman steps that facilitated the disembarkation of passengers and goods from ships. Always a center of large commercial activities, its castrum was built in the 4th century, where the inland populations who escaped the onslaught of the barbarians found refuge. The Patriarch himself moved its headquarters from Venice to the lagoon city which he embellished with buildings of worship and with the construction of the Duomo. The return of the Patriarchate to Venice in 1451 meant the beginning of difficult years for the island...