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{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox Italian comune
| name                = Adria
| official_name       = Città di Adria
| native_name         =
| image_skyline       = Casefiumeadria.JPG
| imagesize           =
| image_alt           =
| image_caption       = Canal Bianco
| image_shield        =Adria-Stemma.svg
| shield_alt          =
| image_map           =
| map_alt             =
| map_caption         =
| pushpin_label_position =
| pushpin_map_alt     =
| coordinates         = {{coord|45|03|N|12|03|E|display=inline}}
| coordinates_footnotes =
| region              = [[Veneto]]
| province            = [[Province of Rovigo|Rovigo]] (RO)
| frazioni            = Baricetta, Bellombra, Bottrighe, Ca' Emo, Campelli, Canareggio, Canton, Canton Basso, Capitello, Case Beviacqua, Case Matte, Ca'Tron, Cavanella Po, Cavedon, Chiavica Pignatta, Corcrevà, Curicchi, Fasana Polesine, Fienile Santissimo, Forcarigoli, Isolella, Mazzorno Sinistro, Montefalche, Palazzon, Passetto, Piantamelon, Sabbioni, San Pietro Basso, Tiro A Segno, Valliera, Voltascirocco
| mayor_party         =
| mayor               = Omar Barbierato
| area_footnotes      =
| area_total_km2      = 113.5
| population_footnotes =
| population_total    =  19543
| population_as_of    = 30 April 2017
| pop_density_footnotes =
| population_demonym  = Adriesi
| elevation_footnotes =
| elevation_m         = 4
| twin1               =
| twin1_country       =
| saint               = Saints Peter and Paul
| day                 = 29 June
| postal_code         = 45011
| area_code           = 0426
| website             = {{Official website|http://www.comune.adria.ro.it}}
| footnotes           =
}}

'''Adria''' is a town and ''[[comune]]'' in the [[province of Rovigo]] in the [[Veneto]] region of northern Italy, situated between the mouths of the rivers [[Adige]] and [[Po River|Po]]. The remains of the [[Etruria|Etruscan]]<ref>''The Archaeology of Etruscan Society'' by Vedia Izzet, 2008, p. 13: "the Latin ''atrium ''is derived from the Etruscan town of Atria (modern Adria), ascribing the form to the houses of the town".</ref> city of '''Atria''' or '''Hatria''' are to be found below the modern city, three to four metres below the current level. Adria and [[Spina]] were the Etruscan [[port]]s and depots for [[Bologna#History|Felsina]] (now Bologna). Adria may have given its name during an early period to the [[Adriatic Sea]], to which it was connected by channels.<ref>The ''Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites'' quoting [[Strabo]] (5.1.8) considers that Adria derived its name from the Adriatic Sea; [[Hecataeus of Miletus|Hecataeus]] asserts that both Adria and the Adriatic sea derived their names from the [[Adria (river)|Adria]] river.</ref>

==History==

===Ancient era===
The first [[Human settlement|settlements]] built in the area are of [[Adriatic Veneti|Venetic]] origin, during the twelfth to ninth centuries BC, consisting of stilt houses in the wetlands, that were then still close to the sea. At that time the main stream of the Po, the [[Adria (river)|Adria]] channel, flowed into the sea in this area. The [[Villanovan]] culture, named for an archaeological site at the village of Villanova, near Bologna (Etruscan ''Felsina''), flourished in this area from the tenth until as late as the sixth century BC. The foundations of classical Atria are dated from 530 to 520 BC.<ref>''The Oxford Illustrated History of Prehistoric Europe ''by Barry Cunliffe, 2001, table 4.</ref>

The Etruscans built the port and settlement of Adria after the channel gradually started to run dry. During the later period of the sixth century BC the port continued to flourish. The Etruscan-controlled area of the Po Valley was generally known as [[Padanian Etruria]],<ref>The adjective [[Padan plain|''Padanian'']] refers to the [[Po River]]; cf. Celtic ''*dānu'' 'river'.</ref> as opposed to their main concentration along the [[Tyrrhenian Sea|Tyrrhenian]] coast south of the [[Arno River|Arno]].

Greeks from [[Aegina]]<ref>''An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis: An Investigation Conducted by The Copenhagen Polis Centre for the Danish National Research Foundation'' by Mogens Herman, 2004 ({{ISBN|0-19-814099-1}}): "As a long-distance trading community, Aigina was not an active coloniser, but colonised Kydonia (no. 968) in 519, Adria (no. 75) c. 661, and Damastion in Illyria after 431 (Strabo 8.6.16).”</ref> and later from [[Syracuse, Sicily|Syracuse]] by [[Dionysius I of Syracuse|Dionysius I]] colonised the city making it into an [[Emporium (antiquity)|emporion]]. Greeks had been trading with the Veneti from the sixth century BC at least,<ref>''The Ancient Mediterranean ''by Michael Grant, 1988, p. 171: "On the north side of the Delta, sixth century objects have been found at Adria where Greeks traded with the Eneti who inhabited the present Venezia".</ref> especially the [[amber]], originally coming from the Baltic sea.

Mass [[Celt]]ic incursions into the Po valley resulted in friction between the [[Gauls]] and Etruscans and intermarriage, attested by [[epigraphy|epigraphic inscriptions]] on which Etruscan and Celtic names appear together. The city was populated<ref>''A Companion to the Classical Greek World ''by Konrad H. Kinzl, 2007, p. 178: "Adria appears to have been a Greek (possibly Aiginetan) emporion, but it also had a substantial Etruscan population, and possibly also Venetic and Celtic elements (Fogolari and Scarfi 1970).”</ref> by Etruscans, Veneti, Greeks and Celts.

[[Pliny the Elder]], a Roman author and fleet commander, wrote about a system of channels in Atria that was, "first made by the Tuscans [i.e. Etruscans], thus discharging the flow of the river across the marshes of the Atriani called the Seven Seas, with the famous harbor of the Tuscan town of Atria which formerly gave the name of Atriatic to the sea now called the Adriatic". Those "Seven Seas" were interlinked coastal lagoons, separated from the open sea by sand spits and [[barrier island]]s.<ref>Two bands of sand dunes east of the city mark the former sea front in Etruscan-Greek times, and in Roman times. (''Princeton Encyclopedia'').</ref> The Etruscans extended this natural inland waterway with new canals to extend the navigation possibilities of the tidal reaches of the Po all the way north to Atria.  As late as the time of the emperor Vespasian, shallow draft galleys could still be rowed from [[Ravenna]] into the heart of Etruria. Under Roman occupation the town ceded importance to [[Ravenna]] as the continued [[siltation]] of the Po delta carried the seafront further to the east. The sea is now about {{convert|22|km|0|abbr=off}} from Adria.

{|align=right
|[[File:Chiesa di S. Maria Assunta (detta la Tomba), Adria.jpg|thumb|upright|The former cathedral ''Santa Maria Assunta della Tomba'']]
|}

The first exploration of ancient Atria was carried out by [[Carlo Bocchi]] and published as ''Importanza di Adria la Veneta''. The collections of the Bocchi family were given to the public at the beginning of the 20th century and comprise a major part of the city museum collection of antiquities.

There are several ideas concerning the etymology of the ancient [[toponym]] ''Adria/Atria''. One theory is that it derives from the [[Illyrian languages|Illyrian]] ([[Venetic language]]) word  ''adur'' "water, sea".<ref>Adrian Room, ''Brewer's Dictionary of Names'', p. 7. ({{ISBN|1-85986-323-X}})</ref>

===Medieval and modern age===
At the time of the fall of the [[Western Roman Empire]], the port of Adria had lost most of its importance. It finally declined after the total change of the local hydrography in 589, following the catastrophic flood documented by [[Paul the Deacon]],<ref>Paolo Mozzi ''et al.'', "Long-term drivers and impacts of abrupt river changes in managed lowlands of the Adige river and northern Po delta (Northern Italy)", ''Quaternary International '', October 2018.</ref> and Adria became a fief of the [[archdiocese of Ravenna]].

After a period as an independent commune, it was a possession of the [[House of Este|Este]] of [[Ferrara]] and, in the 16th century, of the [[Republic of Venice]]. At that time Adria was a small village surrounded by [[malaria]]-plagued marshes. It recovered its importance when [[Polesine]] was reclaimed in the same century.

During the [[Napoleonic Wars]] it was first under France, then under [[Austria]], to which it was assigned in 1815 after the [[Congress of Vienna]], as part of [[Lombardy-Venetia]].

{|align=right
|[[File:Duomoadria.jpg|thumb|upright|The New Cathedral]]
|}

==Notable people==
* [[Guido Barbujani]], population geneticist and evolutionary biologist, born in Adria in 1955
* [[Giovanni Marinelli]] (1879-1944), [[Fascist]] politician, member of the [[Grand Council of Fascism]] and [[Undersecretary (Italy)|Undersecretary of State]] for Communications of the [[Kingdom of Italy]] from 1941 to 1943

==Main sights==
*Church of ''Santa Maria Assunta della Tomba'' (formerly the cathedral), of medieval origin but rebuilt in 1718. It houses an octagonal [[baptismal font]] from the 7th or 8th century, with the carved name of the 3rd bishop of Adria, Bono. Other artworks include several 15th and 16th century paintings, and, in the chapel, a terracotta relief depicting a ''[[Dormitio Virginis]]'', attributed to [[Michele da Firenze]].
*[[Adria Cathedral]], the New Cathedral (''Cattedrale Nuova dei Santi Petro i Paulo''), dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul
* [[Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Adria]]

==Twin towns – sister cities==
{{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in Italy}}
Adria is [[Sister city|twinned]] with:<ref>{{cite web|title=Niente festa del gemellaggio ad Adria, tutto rimandato a fine legislatura|url=https://www.rovigooggi.it/n/96605/2020-02-20/niente-festa-del-gemellaggio-ad-adria-tutto-rimandato-a-fine-legislatura|website=rovigooggi.it|publisher=Rovigo Oggi|language=it|date=2020-02-20|access-date=2020-05-22|archive-date=7 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201007114819/https://www.rovigooggi.it/n/96605/2020-02-20/niente-festa-del-gemellaggio-ad-adria-tutto-rimandato-a-fine-legislatura/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
*{{flagicon|FRA}} [[Ermont]], France
*{{flagicon|DEU}} [[Lampertheim]], Germany
*{{flagicon|BEL}} [[Maldegem]], Belgium
*{{flagicon|CRO}} [[Rovinj]], Croatia, since 1982

==See also==
* [[Bishopric of Adria]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{Catholic|wstitle=Adria}}
*{{EBD|title=Adria}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{EB1911 poster|Adria}}
* [http://www.mysteriousetruscans.com/northern.html Northern Etruria]
* [http://www.mysteriousetruscans.com/eng.html Etruscan Engineering and Agriculture]
* [http://bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Def.show/RTD/ISBE/Topic/Adria ''International Standard Bible Encyclopedia'']: "Adria"
* [http://icarus.umkc.edu/sandbox/perseus/pecs/page.51.a.php Richard Stillwell, ed. ''Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites'', 1976:] "Adria (Atria), Veneto, Italy
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070429220706/http://www.archeologia.beniculturali.it/pages/atlante/S38.html Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Adria]

{{Province of Rovigo}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Etruscan cities]]
[[Category:Cities and towns in Veneto]]
[[Category:Syracusian colonies]]
[[Category:Villanovan culture]]
[[Category:Adria| ]]