General Informations

(Text written by the Author mentioned beneath only for the site mes3.altervista.org, all rights reserved, forbidden reproduction with every mean and most of all in other web-sites)

Mestre is in Veneto, that's a region of North-eastern Italy (Europe). Mestre is situated 28 km at east of Padova, 21 km at south of Treviso and 8 km at north of Venice.

In Mestre there are one of the most important railway stations of Northern Italy and the third airport of Italy for the amount of the air traffic (Airport of Venice, at Tessera, Mestre east).

From the administrative point of view, Mestre is part of the commune of Venice and represents its mainland. Till 1926 as a matter of fact Mestre was formed by various autonomous communes (Mestre, Chirignago, Zelarino and Favaro Veneto), all united in the district of Mestre, that was also a seat of a mandamento (a justice local unit). In 1923 Mestre was nominated "city" by the King of Italy. In 1926 Mestre was merged to the commune of Venice for the will of Benito Mussolini's fascist regime.

éIn the photo the Town Hall of Mestre

The origines of Mestre aren't clear, but surely it's very ancient. Mestre in the Middle Ages had two castles: "Castelvecchio", built in the XI century, and the new Castle, that dates back to the XIV century: one of the 15 or 17 towers of the second castle is still existing: today it's called "Tower of the Clock" (look at it) because of the clock built in it by Austrians. Before that, Mestre probably was a village in the Neolithic and a mutatio (place for changing of horses) and a castrum (castle) of the Romans, as several escaves demonstrated. To know more, look at the page of history.

To see a map of Veneto, click here

As far as the demography is concerned, Mestre developed most of all in the 20th century, as a consequence of the creation of the industries of Porto Marghera in the southern part of it, from 1917.

Mestre reached the top of its increase in population in 1975-'76, with more than 210,000 inhabitants.

But the absence of an autonomous administration (Mestre is still in the commune of Venice) made the development become disorderly and chaotic, without a proper town-planning scheme for years and destructive of historical and environmental pre-existences. In this context it was impossible to create any identification, love comprehension and respect towards the city and the history of Mestre by the large majority of its new inhabitants, coming from Venice and from every part of Italy.

Nowadays the crisis of the chemical industries and a lot of other causes make its population decrease vertically. But, with its 176,000 inhabitants, Mestre is still the 18th italian city and the 3rd city of Veneto as reguards the number of inhabitants (look here). This is the demographic trend:

Population of Mestre

1766: 8,478 inhabitants

1807: 9,144

1822: 9,542

1846: 11,652

1853: 12,775

1862: 13,972

1871: 16,443

1881: 17,045

1901: 20,597

1911: 28,580

1921: 37,419

1931: 53,937

1936: 65,658

1951: 96,966

1952: 100,124

1953: 103,018

1954: 110,232

1955: 115,777

1956: 122,015

1957: 129,629

1958: 137,469

1959: 145,282

1960: 152,675

1961: 161,035

1962: 168,201

1963: 176,094

1964: 183,045

1965: 188,907

1966: 193,314

1967: 196,720

1968: 200,445

1969: 202,902

1970: 205,249

1971: 205,829

1972: 207,685

1973: 209,640

1974: 209,911

1975: 210,674

1976: 210,512

1977: 209,995

1978: 209,435

1979: 208,953

1980: 207,811

1981: 206,707

1982: 204,817

1983: 203,115

1984: 201,429

1985: 200,084

1986: 198,557

1987: 196,851

1988: 195,498

1989: 193,894

1990: 192,270

1991: 190,136

1992: 187,783

1993: 184,884

1994: 183,294

1995: 182,072

1996: 180,899

1999: 178,099

2002: 176,209

Today Mestre is divided into four districts of municipal decentralization: the previous quarters have been enlarged and called municipalities, that we list from south to north:

Marghera: Malcontenta, Fusina, Ca' Sabbioni, Porto Marghera, Rana, Marghera, Ca' Emiliani, Cita, Villabona, Catene.

Chirignago-Zelarino: Chirignago, Asseggiano, Cipressina, Gazzera, Miranese, Perlan, Zelarino, Trivignano, Santa Lucia Tarù.

Mestre centro: Piave 1866, Piraghetto, Altobello, San Lorenzo, Villaggio San Marco, XXV Aprile, Quartiere San Paolo, Quattro Cantoni, Terraglio, Marocco, Barche, San Giuliano, Quartiere Pertini, Bissuola, Carpenedo.

Favaro: Campalto, Villaggio Laguna, Ca' Noghera, Tessera, Bazzera, Favaro Veneto, Dese.

(Text written by the Author mentioned beneath only for the site mes3.altervista.org, all rights reserved, forbidden reproduction with every mean and most of all in other web-sites)