Ancient
The first settlement in the area was of Venetian origin from the 12th to the 9th century BC. They consisted of stacked houses in the wetlands when they were still by the sea. At that time the Adriatic, the main river in the Po, flowed into the sea in the area. The Vilanova culture was named after the archaeological site in the village of Vilanova near Bologna (Etruscan: Felsna) and flourished in the region from the 10th to the 6th century BC. The foundation of the classical atrium dates from 530 to 520 BC.
After the canal dried up, the Etruscans built ports and settlements in Adria. The port continued to thrive in the late sixth century BC. The area controlled by the Etruscans of Pugu is usually called Padan Etruria and is concentrated along the Tyrrhenian River to the south Arno coast.
From the Greeks of Aegina to Dionysius I of Syracuse colonized the city and made it a trading center. The Greeks began trading with the Venetians at least in the 6th century BC. Especially amber, originally from the Baltic Sea.
The Celts frequently invaded the Po Valley, causing friction between Gauls and Etruscans and intermarriage, as evidenced by the epic inscriptions with Etruscan and Celtic names of. The city was settled by Etruscans, Venetians, Greeks and Celts.
The Roman writer and naval commander Pliny (Pliny the Elder) wrote that the Atria canal system was originally established by the Tuscans (ie Etruscans) to divide the river into the seven seas. On the coast of the Atriani Marsh, the famous port of Atria in Tuscany, formerly called Atriatic for the sea, is now called Adriatic. The "seven oceans" are interconnected coastal lagoons. Separated from the open sea by sand pits and barrier islands. The Etruscans extended this natural inland waterway with the new canal, extending Po's tidal navigation capabilities north to Atria. Even during the time of Emperor Vespasian, the Asakusa kitchen could be moved from Ravenna to the heart of the Etruscans. Under Roman occupation, the city was ceded to the former Greek colony of Ravenna as the Great Delta continued to silted up and the coast moved further east. The sea is now about 22 kilometers from the Adriatic Sea.
Carlo Bocchi made the first exploration of ancient Atria and published it as "Importanza di Adria la Veneta". The collections of the Bocchi family were opened to the public at the beginning of the 20th century and form a large part of the antiquities collection of the Civic Museum.
There are some thoughts on the etymology of the ancient place name Adria / Atria. One theory is that it comes from the intent word "water, sea" (Venetian).
Middle Ages and Modernity
When the Western Roman Empire collapsed, the port of Adria had lost most of its importance. After Deacon Paul registered the catastrophic flood, Adria became the territory of the Archdiocese of Ravenna. After the local hydrology had been completely changed, the flood finally receded in 589.
After a period of independent municipalities, it was owned by the Estonians of Ferrara and in the 16th century by the Republic of Venice. At that time Adria was a small village surrounded by malarial swamps. When Polesine was reconquered in the same century, it regained importance. During the Napoleonic Wars it was first under France, then under Austria, and in 1815 was assigned to it as part of Veneto in Lombardy after the Congress of Vienna.
