The island of Grado separates the top part of the Adriatic Sea from the lagoon of the same name which, due to the rise in sea level, now covers part of what was the outskirts of Aquileia in Roman times. In fact, in the lagoon the passage of goods took place from the larger ships to the flat-bottomed ones which could more easily reach the urban port or travel the internal routes that connected the entire region.
Until recently there was only a few evidence of ships passing through this area, but this changed in 2022 with the discovery of two new shipwrecks. So, in the summer of 2023 the research continued and not only on the wrecks, but it was decided to conduct an extensive survey to better understand the area and the relationship between the two sites. But specially to investigate the St. Gotthard site, a submerged monumental structure first observed exactly 90 years earlier.
The presentation will be an overview about the relationship between the sea and Grado lagoon in Roman era, but mostly I would like to illustrate the last two years of research and in particular the news on the San Gottardo structure.
