TITOLO: Once upon a time…… a coast rich of history

SOTTOTITOLO: 1956 – 2006: the second largest beach of Italy celebrates its 50th birthday. We tell you its extraordinary and ancient story.

The land surrounding Bibione is born from the sea and to the sea it owes all of its nowadays fortune.
This land once inhabited by fishermen went under the control of the Romans during the first centuries b.C. They brought to these lowlands culture, language and began the first reclamation works as well as the construction of a street network: i.e. the whole knowledge heritage of the Roman Empire
Around the year thousand the control over the lands around the island of Bibione was taken over by the archbishops of the nearby city of Concordia. This was a tangible sign of the time changing: Christianity had arrived and was slowly taking the place of the meanwhile declining Roman Empire. In 996 the famous diploma of Otto III., Kaiser of Germany, confirms this development that later on - almost a century after - was confirmed by the Papal bull of Urban III.
With the foundation of the Republic of Venice the lands and water around the lagoon fell under its domain and Bibione experienced centuries of oblivion and being not involved in all important events that unfold on the political scene. In this way the lowlands became once again the home of fishermen and wild animals.
Their history and destiny was than linked to France, than to Austria - with the invasion of this area in the year 1798 - only for being conquered back in 1805 by Napoleon. Bibione was afterwards part of the Lombard -Venetian Reign founded by Austria with the treaty of Vienna. Finally, in the year 1866, it became part of the Italian Reign.
This young new reign continued the works begun by the Romans: the main goal was the reclamation of the marshes in order to turn this malarial, marshy and almost forgotten land into a healthy place to live.
In the beginning of the XX Century the newly founded consortium undertook the impressive river works aimed to the canalization and embankment of the river Tagliamento. The works were finished in the 30s with the complete reclamation of 10.000 hectares of land. The reclamation works also allowed the development of the road network as well as the introduction of electricity to create in this area the conditions for work and production.
The pinewood thicket, the marsh and the lagoon are replaced by the maritime pines and the golden sand of one of the most beautiful beaches in Italy. During the 50s the tourism development began in Bibione with the construction of the first accommodation facilities, starting a process that soon speeded up and forged the image of the sea resort. The historic place name was brought back from the past, when ”Insulae Bibioni” – according to archaeological proofs - was the name given to the islands of this area located in the see but attached to the lagoon by a small strip of land.
In 1960 the name was officially registered and almost at same time Bibione received the qualification of sea resort. Already in 1961 Bibione was quoted in the year book of the Touring Club and, just after a few decades, it had become one of the most important beach resorts and sea side tourism centres in Europe.
Only 50 years have past from its first baby steps towards this grand development, years that forged Bibione to the nowadays aspect. All this represents an important stage along its successful path but not the end of the road.