Visiting Chioggia, Which is Not Little Venice

I really don’t like comparing lesser-known places to well-known ones and giving them the “little brother/sister” label. To me, it suggests that the latter is simply a poorer/worse version of the famous one.

Chioggia, located just 40 km from Italy’s most popular city, has earned the nickname Little Venice (by the way, there are plenty of so-called Little Venices around the world). Well, both places have things in common, but after visiting Chioggia I can tall you – it isn’t Little Venice; it’s a separate entity.

Visiting Chioggia. Row of narrow, multi-story buildings in shades of orange, yellow, pink, and faded plaster lined along a calm canal in Chioggia, Italy. The buildings feature window shutters, satellite dishes, and chimneys, with their colorful facades and wooden mooring poles clearly reflected in the still water below under an overcast sky.

Venice in December: Crowds, Chaos and Disneyland Vibes

I remember visiting the neighbouring region Friuli Venezia Giulia and Venice just before Christmas a few years ago, naively believing it wouldn’t be crowded in winter. And I felt like I was in Disneyland – people everywhere, stalls selling ‘authentic’ Venetian souvenirs made in China, some crazy tourists climbing into someone’s house through the low windows to take a selfie. And coffee/cappuccino at absurd prices.

Visiting Chioggia, more or less at the same time, in December on my way to Slovenia, we saw it almost empty. No overtourism there, hallelujah, at least not that day.

What Chioggia Really Looks Like – Beyond the Venice Comparison

Chioggia, built on a group of small islands, is a part of the Venetian lagoon.

The town has a wide entrance to the sea, three canals with colourful boats, beautiful pastel-painted houses, small bridges, its own cathedral, a towering campanile, a copy of the Rialto Bridge, and its own lion – Marcian – much smaller than the Venetian one, called caressingly “the cat of Chioggia”. The town is lovely.

A traditional, brightly painted wooden boat named "Paradiso" moored in a canal in Chioggia, Italy. In the background, weathered multi-story buildings with arched loggias, peeling yellow and peach plaster, and dark window shutters are reflected in the calm water under a grey sky.

Surprising Details: Fewer Palladian Windows Than You’d Expect

And surprisingly, even if the buildings are Venetian-like, there are no Palladian windows – i.e. there are, but not so many. I was walking around trying to find them, and I saw just a few houses with them in the strict centre. Maybe more Venetian windows are hiding somewhere in the side streets.

However, looking for the windows, just by chance I noticed that some old houses have really cool/interesting old chimneys.

Visitong Chioggia. A close-up view of traditional Venetian-style chimneys on roofs in Chioggia, Italy. The foreground features weathered brick chimneys, including two distinct inverted cone-shaped (bell-shaped) designs, rising from a terracotta tiled roof on a stained, grey plaster building. A single bird flies in the overcast grey sky above, with multi-story peach and orange residential buildings visible in the background.

Visiting Chioggia Fish Market – One of Italy’s Most Important Ports

There is also a fish market – it was still open, so we took a look at it. No wonder Chioggia is one of the most important fishing ports in Italy – with such a variety of fish and all kinds of frutti di mare, it’s hard not to be one.

A long row of outdoor fish market stalls with bright red canvas awnings sitting directly over a canal in Chioggia, Italy. Several seagulls are perched along the top edge of the red awnings and on top of wooden mooring poles rising from a wooden floating dock. In the background, multi-story terracotta and yellow buildings line the canal alongside a white church with a tiled roof under a cloudy sky.

And judging by the size of the seagulls perched on wooden stilts in the canal, waiting for leftovers from the market, it’s not just the Italian economy that’s growing thanks to the port of Chioggia.

Besides that, Chioggia has plenty of fancy and normal shops, restaurants with seafood, cafés, and bars where fishermen enjoy beer after a hard-working day.

The Haunted House of the Witches – I’d Buy It Anyway

Walking around canals and crossing adorable bridges, we saw a beautiful old building: the plaster was falling off it, showing red bricks, here and there covered with plants, with old wooden shutters, a balcony, and a sculpture of a Madonna in an opening under the roof.

And it was for sale. I groaned… I love such houses, so if I were a millionaire, I would buy it without hesitation, even if, according to the local legend, it’s a haunted house – to be more precise, the house of the witches.

A crumbling, abandoned brick building facade in Chioggia, Italy, heavily overgrown with creeping vines. The top triangular pediment shows peeling plaster, a large vertical structural crack, and a small religious statue in a niche between two weathered wooden windows. Below, an arched wooden door opens onto a small stone balcony with a rusty wrought-iron railing holding a white sign with phone numbers.

Well, husbands might be troublemakers, and their wives might pay for it. In Chioggia, years ago, fishermen after work would drink a lot and, on the way home, would fall into the canal; their bodies, swept out into the lagoon, were never found.

So poor wives not only became widows, but they were also branded witches and sent to this house/prison, where they spent the rest of their lives. A sad story; however, haunted or not, if I could afford it, the house would be mine even with the witches.

Visiting Chioggia and Chatting with Locals

We were told the legend while having coffee and chatting with some locals. We were enjoying the conversation, and the fishermen enjoyed looking at me – actually at my face with wide eyes; from time to time they switched to their dialect, which made me delighted and wide-eyed. I didn’t get even one word, so I just stared at them, making wise faces.

Summer Events in Chioggia: Fish Festival and War Reenactment

We also learnt that there are nice events organised in the town. In the summer, they have a historical reconstruction of the War of Chioggia, and in July, the fish festival. I’m guessing Chioggia might be touristy then, even if the locals said, “eeeee, compared to Venice, we are empty”.

As we were walking, the buzzing streets were getting emptier and emptier – it was lunchtime. We didn’t have time for a restaurant, so we decided to get something on the way to Slovenia.

Chioggia Is Not Venice – And That’s Exactly Why I Loved It

Chioggia is not Venice, and for me, it was a plus. Not to say don’t visit Venice – do it, it’s a beautiful city – but if you also decide to see Chioggia, don’t expect Venice bis.

A stone arch bridge with classic balustrade railings spanning over a canal entry in Chioggia, Italy. Several small motorboats and a larger red-and-white vessel are moored to wooden poles in the foreground water. Through the archway, a harbor with sailboat masts is visible under a heavy, overcast grey sky.

Chioggia has always been considered by its neighbours as poorer and less sophisticated, so maybe that’s why, without trying to become the same as Venetians, the town preserved its authenticity. To me, the town feels real and cool, especially without excited crowds running around with their ‘to see’ lists.

A wide, stone-paved street stretching into the distance under an overcast sky in Chioggia, Italy. The street is lined with multi-story buildings in shades of pink, terracotta, and white, including a brick church facade with a red awning and a hotel on the right. Parked cars, a white van, a scooter, and a few pedestrians are scattered along the sides of the street, with a church tower visible further down on the left.

Chioggia has this unique atmosphere of some (not all, though) fishing ports and coastal places: it’s like you feel that the sea is in the hearts and blood of the locals.

There’s strong coffee, buzzing streets, crazy drivers, stylish elderly ladies walking in high heels, and fishermen in wellingtons sitting in bars. You can see the locals there.

Visisting Chioggia and Wandering around, we met a group of them enjoying pre-Christmas aperitivo outside a bar. They were talking loudly and swearing a lot. Absolutely real – the Veneto region is famous for its blunt speech. You won’t see it in the neighbouring city, as there are mainly tourists.

Chioggia, even if it shares common things with Venice, is a unique world which I liked very much.

If this post made you laugh, made you angry, or simply reminded you of your own trip, let me know in the comments or by email. I love reading about your experiences in similar places. And sign up for the newsletter – a new post once a week (usually Wednesdays at 6:00 PM).

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