CHIOGGIA, a town and episcopal see of Venetia, Italy, in the province of Venice, from which it is 18 1m. S. by sea. Pop. (192I), 22,225 (town); 36,104 (commune). Chioggia is inhab ited mostly by fishermen, and is situated upon an island at the south end of the lagoons. It is traversed by one main canal, La Vena, and has some picturesque and interesting mediaeval buildings. The peculiar dialect and customs of the inhabitants still survive to some extent. It is probably the Roman Portus Aedro, though its name is derived from the Roman Fossa Claudia, a canalized estuary which with the two mouths of the Meduacus (Brenta) went to form the harbour. In A.D. 672 it entered the league of the cities of the lagoons, and recognized the authority of the doge. In 809 it was almost destroyed by Pippin, but in was made a city, remaining subject to Venice. Chioggia is connected by rail with Rovigo, 35m. to the south-west. (X.) The Naval War of Chioggia (1378-1380).—The naval war of 1378-8o, carried on by the Genoese and their allies against Venice, is of exceptional interest as one in which a superior naval power, having suffered disaster in home waters, was yet able to win by holding out till its squadrons in distant seas could be re called for its defence.
Venice was mainly concerned for the safety of her trading sta tions in the Levant and the Black sea. The more powerful of her two fleets was sent to the eastern Mediterranean under Carlo Zeno, and the smaller to operate against the Genoese in the western Med iterranean, under Vettor Pisani. The possessions of Venice on the mainland were assailed by the lord of Carrara and the Hungarians, but this danger seemed trifling so long as Venice could keep the sea open to her trade.
At first she was entirely successful. While Carlo Zeno harassed the Genoese stations in the Levant, Pisani brought one of their squadrons to action in May, 1378, to the south of the Tiber, and defeated it. If Pisani had sailed direct to Genoa itself, which was thrown into a panic, he might have dictated peace, but he thought his squadron too weak, and followed the Genoese galleys which had fled to Famagusta in Cyprus. During the summer of 1378 he was employed partly off Cyprus, but mainly in taking and capturing the Istrian and Dalmatian towns which supported the Hungarians. He was ordered to winter on the coast of Istria, where his crews suffered from exposure and disease. Genoa now decided to attack Venice at home while the best of her ships were absent with Carlo Zeno, and sent a strong fleet under Luciano Doria. Pisani had been reinforced early in the spring of 137g, but when he was sighted by the Genoese fleet off Pola on May 7, he was slightly out-numbered, and his crews were still weak. He would have preferred to avoid action and to threaten the Genoese fleet from his base on the Istrian coast, but he was forced into battle by the Senate, and was defeated with great loss. On the other hand Luciano Doria himself was killed, and the Genoese, who had suffered severely, did not at once follow up their success. On the arrival of Pietro Doria, with reinforcements, they appeared off the Lido, the outer barrier of the lagoon of Venice, and in July began combined operations against Chioggia, co-operating with the Carrarese and the Hungari ans. The Venetians had closed the passages through the outer banks except at the southern end, at the island of Brondolo, and the town of Chioggia. The barrier here approaches close to the mainland, and the position facilitated the co-operation of the allies; but Chioggia is some distance from Venice, which could only be reached across the lagoon, where the Venetians had taken up the buoys and had a light squadron. The allies, after occupying the island of Brondolo, attacked, and took the town of Chioggia on Aug. 13.
There was nothing now to prevent them from advancing on Venice itself except the difficult navigation of the lagoon. The Senate applied for peace, but the Genoese offered impossible terms. Pisani, who had been imprisoned of ter the defeat at Pola, was released and named commander-in-chief. The heavy Genoese vessels were much hampered by the intricate passages through the lagoon, and by using his own local knowledge, Pisani com pletely turned the tables on the invaders by a succession of night attacks, during which he sank vessels in the canals leading through the lagoon to Venice, and in the fairways leading from Chioggia to the open sea. The Genoese were thus blockaded, Pisani having stationed his galleys in the open sea outside Brondolo. The Vene tians themselves were in great distress ; Carlo Zeno had long since been ordered home, but he was delayed by the difficulty of com munication under 14th century conditions, and the besiegers of Chioggia were at the end of their strength when his fleet reached Brondolo on Jan. 1, 1380. The Genoese held out in the hope of relief from home, but it was not until May, 138o, that Matteo Maruffo arrived with reinforcements. By this time the Venetians had recovered the island, and their fleet occupied a fortified an chorage so that Maruffo could do nothing, and on June 24, 1380, the Genoese defenders of Chioggia surrendered. Venice, being now safe at home, recovered the command of the sea, and before the close of the year was able to make peace as a conqueror.