Lignano Sabbiadoro (Lignan in Friulian), until 1959 a hamlet of Latisana, is an Italian town of 6 837 inhabitants in the province of Udine in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Located on the Upper Adriatic, on the border with Veneto, it is known for its tourist vocation.
Touristically Lignano is divided into:
Lignano Riviera, the
western part of the peninsula, is mainly residential, with a few shops,
villas and low condominiums set among the pine trees. There's not much
to do here, unless you just want to relax in a beautiful natural
setting. Most of the tourists you will see here are homeowners.
Lignano Pineta, right in the city center, features a modest shopping
center, popular beaches and a myriad of nightclubs. On Saturday evenings
Pineta, like nearby Sabbiadoro, is literally flooded with young people
who come here from all over the region.
Lignano Sabbiadoro, at the
eastern end of the peninsula, is the oldest district of Lignano. It
contains a lively promenade with shops, sky-high condominiums and even
more nightlife and cultural spots than Pineta. Sabbiadoro is also home
to two different tourist ports, and is home to the most important
beaches.
At the end of Lignano Riviera the Tagliamento river
flows into the Adriatic and delimits the border between Friuli-Venezia
Giulia and Veneto. Lignano is a lively town during the summer months,
but most of its establishments close in winter. The tourist season runs
from May to September. Most hotels and restaurants will be closed except
for these months.
The free beach is about 8 km long and the
shallow, warm water is ideal especially for those with children. On the
60 hectares of beach it is possible to rent umbrellas, deckchairs,
sunbeds and cabins. From the road to the shore there are walkways that
facilitate access for disabled people and children's strollers.
Church of Santa Maria del Mare
The church of Santa Maria was built
in the fifteenth century, in the village of Bevazzana in the
municipality of Latisana on the banks of the Tagliamento. In 1965-1966
it was dismantled and rebuilt in the GETUR pine forest to save it from a
river flood. A series of frescoes in praise of the Madonna have been
placed in the apse, originally placed on panels and dating back to
around 1470, by an anonymous author. The stone altar was found during
the moving works and originally belonged to an early Christian or early
medieval oratory that stood on the site where the church was originally
built. There are also a stoup from 1498, a stone sculpture depicting the
Madonna breastfeeding the Child of Pilacorte and a painted wooden
sculpture of the fifteenth-century Madonna and Child. On one of the
external walls there is a fragment of a marble protome depicting the
Medusa dating back to a period between the Trajan age and the 3rd
century, found in 1990 on the original site of the church.
Church
of San Giovanni Bosco
The first parish church of San Giovanni Bosco,
built between 1937 and 1938, was demolished during the war. The new
church was built in 1945, then renovated and enlarged in 1989. The
larger upper church was dedicated to the Madonna of the Adriatic, while
the Crypt maintained the dedication to San Giovanni Bosco. The
architectural concept of the upper church is modern, the interior of the
crypt has a single hall.
Sea Terrace
The symbol of the
locality is the Terrazza Mare by the famous architect Aldo Bernardis,
inaugurated in 1972, which takes up the forms and idea of the Sydney
Opera House in Australia. True symbol of Lignano beach, the historic
Terrace has won numerous awards over the years for the architectural
beauty of the structure. It is included in the atlas of contemporary
architecture.
Lignano 2023 events
Wine Festival. In June. Celebration of the
wines of Friuli-Venezia Giulia.
Emoz Boat Rent, ☎ +39 351 7009652. boat rental without a license
Visit by motorboat (to the Foci dello Stella Regional Nature Reserve).
Parks
Aquasplash, Viale Europa, ☎ +39 0431 428826. Water park.
Gulliverlandia, Via San Giuliano 13, ☎ +39 0431 423133. Theme amusement
park.
Lunapark Strabilia, Viale Europa.
Junior Park, Viale Europa.
Children playground.
I Gommosi (Raggio dei Canestrei, Parco del mare,
Lignano Pineta). Children playground.
Bathing facilities. Free Wi-Fi.
Golf CLub Lignano, Via della
Bonifica 3, ☎ +39 0431 428025.
Spa centre, Lungomare Riccardo Riva
1/B (Lignano Riviera).
Fra i Pini Wellness Center, Via Giardini 21
(Lignano Pineta), ☎ +39 0431 423015.
By plane
1 Friuli-Venezia Giulia Airport, via Aquileia 60 (in
Ronchi dei Legionari), ☎ +39 0481 773224. is approximately 65 km from
Lignano.
2 Venice Marco Polo Airport, viale Galilei (in Tessera), ☎
+39 041 2609260. is approximately 95 km away.
3 Verona Airport
(Catullo), Caselle di Sommacampagna, ☎ +39 045 8095666,
contacts@aeroportoverona.it.
By car
From the A4 Venice-Trieste
motorway, exit at the Latisana toll booth and continue along the main
road (approximately 20 km) towards Lignano. At the roundabout/entrance
of Lignano turn left for Sabbiadoro, straight for Pineta and right for
Riviera.
On the train
From Mestre take the train towards
Trieste and get off at Latisana station. From here you continue with the
bus to Lignano (approximately 20 km) which leaves approximately every
half hour. The Latisana bus station is attached to the train station.
By bus
Several buses leave from Udine and reach Lignano in about
an hour and a half.
The best ways to get around the center of Lignano are by bike, by car
or on foot.
By public transport
In Lignano there is also an
urban bus network that connects Sabbiadoro with Pineta and Riviera.
By car
The car may only be useful at night for longer journeys,
otherwise it is advisable to leave it in the hotel car park.
The pedestrian area of Sabbiadoro is full of souvenir shops, youth
clothing and designer shops.
Night clubs
Nightclubs
Drago
Club, Viale Centrale 1, Lignano Sabbiadoro, ☎ +39 347 4751379.
Kursaal, Lungomare Riccardo Riva 1, Lignano Sabbiadoro, ☎ +39 0431
428729.
Mr Charlie, Via Tagliamento 2, Lignano Pineta, ☎ +39 335
6899446.
Bar
Tango Cafè, Viale Gorizia 6, ☎ +39 339 8951245.
Tenda Bar, Piazza Marcello D'Olivo 7, Lignano Pineta (Lignano Pineta), ☎
+39 0431 422133.
Terrazza a Mare, Lungomare Trieste 5, Lignano
Sabbiadoro, ☎ +39 0431 71300. Restaurant and events.
Lignano is full of restaurants, pizzerias, takeaways, pubs and pizza by the slice, so you are spoiled for choice. Most of the venues are concentrated in the pedestrian area of Sabbiadoro.
Modest prices
Camping Pino Mare, Via Lungomare Riccardo Riva 15
(Lignano Riviera), ☎ +39 0431 424424.
Camping Sabbiadoro, Via
Sabbiadoro 8, ☎ +39 0431 71455.
Hotel Irene **, Via Tarvisio 32
(Lignano Pineta), ☎ +39 0431 428906.
Average prices
1 Hotel
Acapulco, Via Giardini 36 (Lignano Pineta), ☎ +39 0431 422126, fax: +39
0431 422127.
2 Hotel Capanna d'Oro, Via Lungomare Trieste 124, ☎ +39
0431 71240, fax: +39 0431 73816.
3 Hotel & Wellness Fra i Pini, Via
Giardini 16/21 (Lignano Pineta), ☎ +39 0431 423015, +39 0431 422289,
fax: +39 0431 728973.
4 Hotel La Lampara, Viale Gorizia 1/B, ☎ +39
0431 71200, fax: +39 0431 720313.
5 Hotel Martini, Viale delle Palme
47 (Lignano Pineta), ☎ +39 0431 422666, fax: +39 0431 423758.
6 Hotel
Monaco, Via Gorizia 24, ☎ +39 0431 71523, fax: +39 0431 73802.
7
Hotel Croce di Malta, Raggio delle Capelonghe, 2, ☎ +39 0431 42222, fax:
+39 0431 422077.
8 Hotel Bella Venezia Mare, Arco del Grecale 18/a
(Lignano Pineta), ☎ +39 0431 422184, fax: +39 0431 422352.
9 Hotel
Athena, Via Adriatica 52, ☎ +39 0431 71500, fax: +39 0432 875051.
High prices
10 Hotel Greif*****, Arco del Grecale 25, Lignano
Pineta, ☎ +39 0431 422261, fax: +39 0431 427271.
11 Hotel American,
Lungomare Trieste 152, ☎ +39 0431 71696, fax: +39 0431 720263.
12
Hotel Miramare, Lungomare Trieste 49, ☎ +39 0431 71260, fax: +39 0431
720051.
13 Hotel Punta dell'Est, Via Timavo 38, ☎ +39 0431 720290,
fax: +39 0431 720290.
14 Hotel Vittoria, Lungomare Marin 28, ☎ +39
0431 71221, fax: +39 0431 73292.
15 Hotel Pasha, Viale Venezia 90, ☎
+39 0431 720511, fax: +39 0431 724645.
16 Hotel Falcone, Viale Europa
21, ☎ +39 0431 73660, fax: +39 0431 73636, info@hotelfalcone.it.
hospital 4 Emergency Medical Center, Via Tarvisio 5, ☎ +39 0431
71001. 24 hours - from the end of May to 10 September. Connected to the
Latisana Hospital.
hospital Latisana Hospital, Via Sabbionata 45, ☎
+39 0431 529111.
carabinieri 5 Carabinieri, Via Mezzasacca, 214, ☎
+39 0431 720270.
pharmacy 6 Municipal pharmacy, via Udine 87, ☎ +39
0431 71778.
pharmacy 7 Pharmacy, via Tolmezzo 3, ☎ +39 0431 71263.
pharmacy 8 Farmacia, viale Centrale 23/A, ☎ +39 0431 71077.
pharmacy
9 Municipal pharmacy, Raggio dell'Ostro 12 - Lignano Pineta, ☎ +39 0431
422396.
Located on a green peninsula about fifty kilometers from Udine and equidistant (90 kilometers) from Venice and Trieste, Lignano Sabbiadoro is located between the Marano Lagoon to the east and north, the left bank of the Tagliamento river to the west and the Upper Adriatic. to the south: it is the southernmost municipality of its province of belonging, a small appendage of the lower Veneto-Friuli plain and the lower Friuli area.
Lignano was already inhabited at the
time of the Romans who had built a military garrison to control the
lagoon, a situation that was also confirmed in the Middle Ages. The
name was Lignanum. It is not known where the name comes from, but it
is thought of as wolves as it is an area frequented by wolves. Until
the arrival of the Republic of Venice, the town had 8 inhabitants
settled on the tip. It was not possible to access with carts, but
only on foot along what became the new state road (which in Lignano
continues with the name of via Tarvisio-via Latisana). The ancient
Roman Via Crescenzia instead entered on what will become Corso
Alisei - viale Centrale. To access with carts it was necessary to
reach the village with rafts crossing the entire lagoon. The access
road built by the Romans was never suitable for vehicles or even
paved, it always remained as a path. Connected to the hinterland by
the regional road 354, Lignano developed its tourist vocation in the
thirties of the twentieth century. However, the first hotel
settlements date back to the early 1900s when the peninsula was not
reachable by land, but only by boat through the Marano Lagoon,
representing one of the oldest seaside resorts in Italy. At the time
the Lignano peninsula was almost entirely covered by a pine forest
and the only rural settlements were located along the coast of the
lagoon.
In 1903 the first modest bathing establishment was
built, thanks to the Venetian financiers Bregant, Poletti, Vighy and
the impresario Alessandro Toffano, and the first hotel, under the
initiative of Angelo Marin, Mario Piani and Luigi Piani. However,
due to malaria, widespread in the marshes adjacent to the peninsula,
the development of Lignano took place only after the reclamation
works of the unhealthy territories, carried out during the twenties.
In 1926 the first municipal road was opened between the locality of
Lignano and Latisana which allowed the birth of a first residential
nucleus (in 1931 there were already a few hundred residents). In
1935, with the establishment of a Tourist and Tourist Company, the
name of Sabbiadoro was added for promotional purposes.
Three
years later (1938) Lignano Sabbiadoro had about one thousand beds
with a tourist movement that can be estimated at over sixty
thousand. The actual development of the town, which began with the
master plan of 1936, was held back by the outbreak of the Second
World War, but resumed at a rapid pace in the 1950s. In 1953 the
architect Marcello D'Olivo created and developed an original urban
plan for the road network of what would become Lignano Pineta.
In those years the famous snail was born which later became one
of the symbols of the Friulian town. In 1951 the fraction of Lignano
Sabbiadoro had about 1,200 inhabitants. By the end of that same
decade, the inhabitants had almost doubled. It became an independent
municipality from that of Latisana in 1959.
Church of Santa Maria del Mare
The church
of Santa Maria was built in the fifteenth century, in the village of
Bevazzana in the municipality of Latisana on the banks of the
Tagliamento. In 1965-1966 it was dismantled and rebuilt in the GETUR
pine forest to save it from a flood of the river. On the apse have
been placed a series of frescoes of praise to the Madonna,
originally placed on panels and dating back to around 1470, by an
anonymous author. The stone altar was found during the relocation
works and originally belonged to an early Christian or early
medieval oratory that stood on the place where the church was
originally built. There are also a stoup from 1498, a stone
sculpture depicting the Madonna nursing the Child by Giovanni
Antonio Pilacorte from Como and a painted wooden sculpture of the
15th-century Madonna with Child. On one of the external walls there
is a fragment of a marble protome depicting the Medusa dating back
to a period between the Trajan age and the third century, found in
1990 on the original site of the church.
Church of San Giovanni Bosco
The first parish church of San
Giovanni Bosco, built between 1937 and 1938, was demolished during
the war. The new church was erected in 1945, then renovated and
enlarged in 1989. The larger upper church was dedicated to the
Madonna of the Adriatic, while the crypt has kept the dedication to
San Giovanni Bosco. The architectural concept of the upper church is
modern, the interior of the crypt has a single room.
Tourism
Lignano boasts a complex of recreational nautical
infrastructures, with approximately 5000 berths and 7 docks. It has a
coastline and a beach divided into three areas (Sabbiadoro, Pineta and
Riviera), which extend for approximately 8 km with accommodation and
recreational infrastructure. The tourist presence is very high with
around 5000000 annual presences. For some years Lignano has been part,
together with the municipalities of Grado and Aquileia, of the Lower
Friulana lagoon tourist area of which it contributes to encouraging the
development, economy and agricultural consumption.
The
municipality has obtained the FEE Blue Flag recognition for many years
as the best European coastal resorts. In Lignano there is the first
water park opened in Italy and the second in Europe called Acquasplash
and the Strabilia amusement park. In 1954 the writer and Nobel Prize
winner for literature Ernest Hemingway described the town as the
"Florida of Italy".
Furthermore, the Alpe Adria arena in Lignano
Sabbiadoro was one of the historic venues of the Festivalbar, hosting
the event for many years consecutively.
In the early 1970s numerous boxing matches were organised, including
some world championships featuring Italian champions such as Franco
Udella and Bruno Arcari
The Beach Soccer Lignano Sabbiadoro
company, founded in 1999, is based in the municipality.
In 2005
Lignano hosted the summer "European Youth Olympic Festival".
The
Marathon SUP takes place in Lignano, a 23km paddle between the islands
and rivers around the peninsula.
Starting from October 2020,
Pordenone Calcio militant in Serie B has played its home matches at the
Guido Teghil Stadium in Lignano, given the non-compliance of the
Pordenone facility for the cadet championship.