Venice lagoon was once dry land stretching 30 miles inland, study finds

Researchers led by Samuele Ongaro of the University of Southampton combined seismic data and sediment cores from northern Italy, Slovenia and Croatia to reconstruct 10,000 years of Adriatic coastline change. Published in Quaternary Science Reviews, the study shows today's Venice lagoon was dry land and Trieste had hills above swamps. Seas rose in bursts of up to 25mm a year before stabilising 6,000 years ago.