Grado and the archeology on the seabed of the Upper Adriatic

In collaboration with MONDOSOMMERSO
EDITORIALE OLIMPIA

Finding and recovering shipwrecks, analyze, date and protect it to try to reconstruct the landscape of the past, what, albeit in pieces, now is guarded at the bottom of our seas. If only in the Mediterranean, modern technology and advanced research shows that the number of wrecks of some historical and archaeological importance are than even the 15 thousand units. How to consider it, therefore, a great discovery that undermines economic and operational, or a resource, even for a different and advanced type of tourism in our country? It's just what happened in Grado. Colorful town rich in history and ancient traditions, emerged and submerged, known for its beaches, thermal baths, but especially its lagoon, the most fascinating of the Adriatic basin, dotted with small islands with the typical 'huts' straw, valleys and channels that are now the ideal habitat for many species of waterfowl, permanent and transient guests.

Here the list of underwater treasures is very long: from the wreck of a ship of the third century BC, called Grado II, to the famous Roman ship 'Julia Felix' which in the late 90s was launched, media-speaking, as a great scientific discovery and an opportunity for local tourism, which has invested almost two million and is now lying in the warehouses of the city, waiting to be exhibited in the Museum of the Sea. And yet, by a German landing craft sank in 1945 in the middle of the Grado fairway, to the brig of the Italy Kingdom, the 'Mercury', one of the most important underwater archaeological sites in Europe.

Accidentally discovered some years ago by a local vessel thanks to the recovery from the sea bottom of a large piece of metal encrusted, broken in two and sank like the Titanic, although for the effect of an enemy attack and not an iceberg , laid by more than two hundred years to 18 meters deep in the waters of Grado, the nineteenth-century shipwreck preserves, then, really huge potential for many points of view.

As another initiative has great potential, in the same territory: Tursub project, undertaken under the INTERREG III Italy-Slovenia Project. To promote their marine environment, three towns of Grado, Caorle and Koper have identified in front of the coast four diving routes with varying degrees of difficulty, usable by both experienced beginners and tourists experts, creating a sort of cross-border network submarine .

Finally, offshore, about 15 km from the coast and 15 meters deep, this is yet another Grado wreck that deserves protection and enhancement: a B-24 crashed at sea in '44, leading American aircraft during the Second War world. When visibility is good from up, you can even glimpse the outline of the wings. Many of his remains, in fact, were preyed upon, while others have been recovered and exposed to memory. One of the propellers, in fact, today is the memorial to the fallen in the square opposite the town. What remains of the plates at sea, however, has become lair for bream, croaker and congers.

(Extract from article in full, complete with photos and interview with the Superintendent of Friuli, published in Mondosommerso of July 2010, next month on newsstands).