The Island of the Sun sits between lagoon and open sea: Grado sheltered the people of Aquileia fleeing the invasions, and the basilica of Sant'Eufemia, with sixth-century mosaics and its field of sarcophagi, keeps that early-Christian aura. The old town is a Venetian tangle in miniature, all lanes and beach sandals.
The south-facing beach takes sun all day long — hence the nickname. On July's first Sunday, the Perdon di Barbana carries the Madonna in a procession of boats to the sanctuary island in the lagoon: faith and seamanship in a single photograph.
Near Grado
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
