AMUSEMENT PARKS

Zoo
The Punta Verde Zoo offers the opportunity to closely look bears, lions, panthers, snakes, monkeys, but also a real farm with hens, turkeys, bunnies, geese, horses, donkeys and cows.
Few kilometres from Bibione, a 10.000 mq green area welcomes more than 1000 animals and organizes guided tours and workshops for children to discover the peculiarities of the zoo's guests.
The Punta Verde Zoo offers also a café, a restaurant and different picnic areas.
From April to September, the zoo is open every day from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
For information: www.parcozoopuntaverde.it

Aquasplash and Gulliverlandia
Big slides, breathtaking waves and water games: this is Aquasplash, the playground on the water at the entrance of Lignano, few minutes from Bibione. For adults and children, the park offers slides of all types and sizes, from the baby elephant in shallow pools for babies to the Kamikaze slide for youth and adults. And then a pool with artificial waves, Jacuzzis to relax, snack areas, american trampolines and big gardens to sunbathe.
Behind Aquasplash there is the theme park Gulliverlandia, a real amusement park for children. With canoes and panoramic small trains you can visit the dinosaurs' valley, the Maya ruins, a medieval feud and the most important monuments of the world. But the real surprise is the Aquarium: here you can walk in a transparent tunnel below the water level with sharks, rays and moray eels swimming above your heads. A great thrill!
For information: www.aquasplash.it - www.gulliverlandia.it

THE CITIES

Portogruaro
20 minutes away from Bibione, you can visit Portogruaro, ancient port on the river Lemene.
At the time, Ippolito Nievo said about Portogruaro “only the water lacked to complete the likeness to Venice...” and in fact the houses of the small town were inspired by the buildings of Venice. To this day it is possible to see the ancient palaces on the two banks of the Lemene with the double entrance: on the street and on the river. Like all ancient cities, also Portogruaro was enclosed by walls and the access was allowed by five gates, three of which are still existent.

Portogruaro is knows also as the “town of the porticoes” and it is just walking under these porticoes that you can reach Piazza della Repubblica (Republic Square), characterized by a tall column with the Saint Mark lion and by the Palazzo Municipale (Town Palace), a beautiful example of Gothic style dating back to 1300. The Pozzetto delle Gru (Small Well of Cranes) in the square, together with the City Hall and the water mills of the XII century, is the symbol of the city.
Continuing the visit, you will find the Saint Andrew's Cathedral with very important works of art and the Leaning Bell Tower (Campanile Pendente). You can not miss a walk through Corso dei Martiri (Martyrs Main Street), where you can admire spectacular buildings of the fifteenth century in Venetian Gothic style.
A few more steps and you will see the imposing Villa Comunale (Town Palace), that today houses the Library and the Palaeontological Museum “M. Gortani” and close to it, the National Museum of Concordia, in which are preserved many archaeological finds of Roman age coming especially from Concordia Sagittaria.
Past the neoclassical colonnade of the Marconi College, you will reach the wide Piazza Cavour (Cavour Square) with a double line of porticoes and buildings in Gothic-Renaissance style.

Before leaving for the beach of Bibione, stop in one of the inns in Portogruaro: here you will taste fine D.O.C. wines from the renowned Lison-Pramaggiore area and also typical dishes of the local tradition.

• Portogruaro is about 30 km far from Bibione.
To reach the city of porticoes, continue along the SP74 (Via S. Falcomer) direction Latisana. After about 20 km, you reach a crossroad: turn left and continue along SS14, that leads to Portogruaro.
Otherwise, take the motorway in Latisana direction Venice and exit in Portogruaro.

Concordia Sagittaria
If you want to make a jump back in time, go to Concordia Sagittaria. Here you can breathe the air of ancient Rome and live a day in a town rich in monuments, buildings, squares and Roman ruins.
Concordia Sagittaria is an ancient Roman colony with more than 2000 years of history. The Roman and early Christian finds continue to appear to this day from several excavations and you can see them both in the Archaeological Museum and along the street of the town among the Roman buildings.

Pass through Via San Pietro: here you will see the arch of the Roman bridge, the forum and the theatre. Near Via Claudia there are the baths, one of the most important buildings of ancient Romans' life.
The archaeological jewel of Concordia is the square with the ruins of Trichora Martyrium of the mid-fourth century D.C., a building constructed to commemorate the martyrs of the Diocleziano's persecution, and with the St. Stephen Cathedral of tenth century. Under the Cathedral you have the opportunity to visit the ruins of the Basilica of the fourth century with its precious mosaics, built on an earlier Roman house. The beautiful square is completed by the bell tower 28 meters high in Roman style and by the Baptistery of late XI century in Byzantine style, with well-preserved frescoes and a baptismal font.

To conclude the tour of Concordia Sagittaria you can visit the Archaeological Museum, where there is a remarkable collection of ruins from the town's necropolis: steles, inscriptions and funeral urns, flooring's remains and an original sundial.

• To reach Concordia Sagittaria you can follow the same directions for Portogruaro and then the directions for the town, that is only 2 km far from Portogruaro.
Otherwise, take SP74, then the third exit for SP42 at the crossroad, cross the towns of Lugugnana and Sindacale. Immediately after turn right and take SP68, that will lead you in Concordia Sagittaria.

The Road of D.O.C. Wines Lison-Pramaggiore
The Road of Wines Lison-Pramaggiore, also known as the Wine Road of the Doges, goes through all the area between the rivers Tagliamento and Livenza, down to the sea and the beach of Bibione and touching different cities of great historical and cultural interest.

The area Lison-Pramaggiore is known “Zona Classica” (Classical zone) because here the Romans started the local wine production, that expanded in the days of the Serenissima Republic.
The “Zona Classica” winds across cities like Belfiore and Lison, Portogruaro and Concordia Sagittaria and other towns rich in history and culture of ancient times. This tour through the flavours will allow you to go into the wine cellars of the best D.O.C. area wine producers, discovering the varieties of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Friulian Tocai, Sauvignon, Pinot Grigio, Refosco, Verduzzo, Malvasia Istriana, Terrano, Ribolla and Franconia.

From one destination to other you can also enjoy the hospitality of the farms, hotels and restaurants that will introduce you to the wine's culture and to typical local produce of the land, besides the beauty of the landscape and of historic treasures of the area.

A fascinating journey through history, traditions and local flavours, surrounded by nature and peace.
During your tour you will recognize the farms associated to the Consortium for the Wine Protection Lison-Pramaggiore by the sign with the Lion of Saint Mark.
For further information www.lison-pramaggiore.it or www.stradavini.it

Venice
Napoleon called Piazza San Marco “The most elegant drawing room of Europe”. And that is true.
In any season, with any weather, Venice offers unending emotions. Various tours wait for you: every calle and every little stream is a concentration of history, art and architecture that fascinates tourists coming from all over the world.

Surely “The drawing room of Europe”, that is St. Mark's Square, is the most important point of any visit to the magical city on the water. The St. Mark's Basilica with the characteristic five cupolas, the Doge's Palace, ancient government's seat of the Serenissima and at this day museum and the St. Mark's Bell Tower, built in 1173 as lighthouse for sailors and rebuilt in the early 1900, leave tourists breathless. Elegant historic cafés and luxury shops surround Piazza San Marco, completing “The drawing room of Europe”.

All buildings and monuments are worth visiting, but in a classic one day tour can not miss the Rialto Bridge on Canal Grande, the La Fenice theatre, the Bridge of Sighs and the Ghetto of Venice.
A special moment to visit Venice is the Carnival: coloured confetti invade every part of the city and the beautiful and elegant traditional costumes mingle with the thousands of adults and children.
Another very important event for Venice is the International Film Festival, that takes place between late August and early September at the Venice Lido.

By ferry you can visit also the three largest isles: Burano, Murano and Torcello.
Burano fascinates tourists for the art of lace, born in the sixteenth century, and for its typical brightly coloured houses.
Right from the beginning, that is from 1291, Murano is known throughout the world for the manufacture of glass. Here you can visit the Glass Museum and see the glassmakers turn molten glass into beautiful shapes.
Torcello is an isle that has 20 inhabitants, but it attracts a lot of visitors for its priceless archaeological heritage. The most important monument is the Byzantine Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, dated 1008.

• The most comfortable way to reach Venice is by train: from the station of Latisana there is every hour a train for Venice Santa Lucia.
If you want to go by car, you can take the motorway A4 from Latisana or Portogruaro direction Venice East. Once in Venice you can park in Piazzale Roma.

Verona
It takes only a couple of hours to reach the fascinating Verona and discover the city of Romeo and Juliet.
Verona is an UNESCO world heritage for its urban structure and its architecture that reflects the different historical periods. Walking through the streets you can see the medieval centre, the Renaissance palaces, the buildings of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth, the villas in Baroque-style and the more modern areas. In addition, you can see the five perimeter fences built in different ages.

The most important monument in Verona is the Arena, the third Roman amphitheatre for size after the Colosseum and the Capua amphitheatre, but the best preserved. For this reason, it is still used today to host great concerts, but especially the famous opera festival.
The Arena was built around the first century d.C. outside the city walls for the contests of the gladiators and for public spectacles: this choice allowed a greater stream of inhabitants from the city and also from other towns.
During the Middle Age and until the first half of the eighteenth century, the Arena was used for jousts and tournaments, while in the nineteenth century it housed prose's spectacles.
In 1913, for the first time was suggested the Aida, in honour of the centenary of the birth of Verdi. Thanks to this performance, Arena understood to be a great theatre for the opera, becoming the first real and most important open-air opera theatre in the world.

Piazza delle Erbe is the most ancient square in Verona and it is located on the ancient Roman forum, nerve centre of the political and social life of the city.
On this beautiful square there are the city hall, the Palazzo Maffei in Baroque-style and the statues of Jupiter, Hercules, Minerva, Venus, Mercury and Apollo. In many houses you can see the remains of old painting and in their basements, paths of roads, sewer systems and a basilica.

A must for your visit in Verona is the home of Juliet with its famous balcony. The tragedy wrote by William Shakespeare had a key role in making known all over the world the city and not everything was the result of imagination. In Verona lived both Capuleti and Montecchi, but there is no trace of conflicts between the two families.

In Verona you can breathe a magic air made of different culture and ages. You will love Verona immediately, a city with more than two millennia of history.

• To reach Verona you can take the motorway A4 from Latisana or Portogruaro direction Venice and exit in Verona South.
Otherwise you can take the train from Latisana or Portogruaro station to Venice Mestre and from there take the train to Verona.

Treviso
Treviso is a very attractive city, rich in history and crossed by different branches of the river Botteniga, that form many canals.

Built in Roman age, Treviso offers at this day great treasures, like palaces, monuments and squares. From Piazza dei Signori (Lords' Square) starts the visit of this enchanting city: the most important place, the political and social centre in the ancient times. Here you can see different St. Mark's lions, sign of the Serenissima's domination. On the square there is the Palazzo dei Trecento or Palazzo della Ragione, because here in the Middle Age, the members of the Great Council and podestà administered the justice.
Continuing the tour you can admire the Cathedral of Treviso named after St. Peter and built around fourth century in a very central area, where there were also a temple, a theatre and probably the thermae. Today the Dom shows a neoclassical style, characterized by seven cupolas and many paintings and frescoes of important artists of the time, like the Annuncation by Titian.

Reach the Church of St. Nicolò, the biggest church of the city, built around the early fourteenth century in Italian Gothic style: the forms are simple and massive, but very elegant and slender upwards.
A short walk leads you in the three section of the Museum: the archaeological section with finds from the second millennium BC to the High Middle Ages, the picture gallery with paintings from Bellini, Lorenzo Lotto, Tiziano and Tiepolo, and the modern art gallery with works from the late nineteenth century onwards.
Go along the Buranelli Canal, one of the most picturesque branches of the river Botteniga. The canal's name comes from a building of the sixteenth century inhabited by trader coming from Burano.
The Church of St. Francis was built during the 1200 and, after different hardship, in the Napoleonic period it was used for military purposes and as stable. The Church of St. Francis shows today a transition style between Romanesque and early Gothic. Inside there are the ancient frescoes from 1200 and 1300 and the tombs of Pietro Alighieri, son of Dante Alighieri, and of Francesca Petrarca, daughter of Francesco Petrarca.

In Treviso you can stop in the typical inns to drink a good prosecco or a white wine and to taste the local dishes, like risotto and red radicchio pie, the regional specialities.

• You can reach Treviso y motorway A4 from Latisana or Portogruaro direction Venice. Then follow the direction for Treviso-Belluno.
Otherwise take the train from Latisana or Portogruaro station to Venice Mestre and then take the train to Treviso.