The harbour and the lagoon of Altinum

The urban harbour of Altinum was discovered for the first time in the 2009 by remote sensing. It is an elle-shape basin oriented with the frame of the insulae of the eastern residential district of the urbs. It is located on the east side of the urbs, close the lagoon. No-disturbance preliminary investigations have permitted to identify the entrance of the basin which had to be intensively used in the 1st century AD. A magnetic investigation with a magnetometer has revealed both the basin and various buildings located all around the harbour. The width and the depth of the entrance suggest the basin was attended by small maritime ships or large flat-bottom riverine barges. Underwater investigations in the northern lagoon of Venice have recognized the presence of two well-cisterns, of a pier and of a tank for oysters of Roman period which are located along a channel used by the ships to reach the urbs from the modern sea entrance of Lido-Treporti.