History of Jesolo from the origins.

A lot of archaelogical remains point to the fact that Jesolum was once a very important Roman site and, between the fall of the Roman Empire and the birth of Venice, it became a very flourishing harbour of the lagoonal Confderation.

The ancient medieval name for Jesolo was Equilium, the isle once inhabited by the Palaevenetian. It seems that the archetypical name comes from the main occupation of these people, well known around the Mediterranean dam: the stud-farm. The Palaevenetian took advantage of the Romans to cope with the invasions of the Gallics, permitting to the Venetians to settle down in the actual region of Veneto. Then, the territory was completely reclaimed, colonized and cultivated; they built roads and bridges and they gave birth to new villages. Around the year 806, Equilium was completely destroyed by hand of Pipino the great, king of the Franks.
However, despite the defeat and the desolation, the city became one of the most important commercial and maritime centres of the lagoon in a very short period of time. Around the year one thousand, Jesolo became also the Episcopal centre of the territory, with 42 churches and several cloisters.

After some centuries, in the XVI century, the city radically changed just as the Republic of Venice started the draining of the land to avoid the interment of the surrounding territories. As a result, the deviation of the rivers Sile and Piave made Jesolo and the small surrounding villages become cultivable lands and, as a consequence, it contributed to the development of independent villages. Going ahead, in 1917, Jesolo started to prevent the German invasions, a danger to be avoided after the Caporetto battle. During the battles, the romanic cathedral of the city was completely destroyed and today we can only have a look at some of its fragments at the museum. 

Between, 1920 and 1930, they started a "great draining" operation that constituted an advantage for the grain, sugar beet cultivations, as well as for the fruit trees and the vineyards. Finally, in the thirties, the inhabitants of Jesolo assisted to the birth of the first solariums, hotels and restaurants. Despite the problems and the poverty brought by the First World War, Jesolo successfully started anew after the peace and today it is the summer resort that the international tourism knows well and choose for a high quality summer vacation.