History of Mestre

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

According to the legend the city would have been founded by Mesthle, Pilamene's son, king of Eneti, escaped from the destruction of Troy and got off into the Fetontea forest, that in that time covered the whole Po Plain. The real origin of Mestre is unclear. Recent archaeological excavations demonstrated the presence of Neolithic settlements in the central areas of the city. About in 1000 b.C. the Po Plain was inhabited by the Paleovenetians, that lived peacefully together with the Etruscans, which some historians date back to the foundation of Mestre. Another etymology of the name could bring to the Roman centurion Mestrius who built here a castrum, in the area of the actual civil hospital (to have further informations about the name, click here). In the Roman age Mestre was also a mutatio on the Annia-Popilia road, that linked the important centers of Altinum (Altino) and Patavium (Padua). The maps of that age show in the actual zone of Mestre the places named Ad Nonum and Ad Portum.

The Roman castrum, in the area nowadays occupied by the hospital "Umberto I", became at first a fortress by the name of "Castelvecchio" and then destroyed by Attila, was finally rebuilt about the 1000. For a long time Mestre had two Castles, then the old one was abandoned and ruined. The newer and larger one, built in the XIV century mere at east, had a design with the shape of an escutcheon. The Castelnuovo was built at north of the village of Saint Lawrence and to defend it; along its perimeter, that measured more than a kilometer, were placed between fifteen and seventeen towers, one of which (the Tower of the Clock) came till our age. Besides it, the other two entrances to the Castle were the Altino or Mill Gate at east and Belfredo Tower (destroyed in 1876), where the custom duties were asked for, at west. At the center of the Castle was put a lonely tower, on whose ruins the Provvedaria was built.

The Magnificent Community of Mestre, with a Town Council at the head, was at first part of the possessions of Treviso, which administered it sending to Mestre two Captains and then dividing the territory into Regolas. Mestre was occupied in 1245 by Ezzelino from Romano and in the XIV century by Cangrande della Scala. In the meantime blossomed the Confraternities (whose we still have the "School" of Saint Mary of Battuti, founded in 1302). In 1328 Treviso made a tower to be built at Marghera, not far from the actual San Giuliano, not only to prevent the smuggling but also to control Venice, seen as a danger. Only on 1337 Venice began paying attention to the mainland and Mestre became part of the possessions of the "Most Serene" Republic of Venice and cast in its lot with it till it fall, caused by Napoleon in 1797. During the venetian domination Mestre was Podesteria and Capitaniato with jurisdiction on a large territory and with a podestą as a head chosen by the nobles of Venice. Mestre became a celebrated holiday resort, extolled also in Carlo Goldoni's comedies: the noblest venetian families built a lot of villas in Mestre and along the Riviera of Brenta.

In 1513 Spain and the Empire of Austria, the last two states remaining of the allies that had formed the League of Cambray against Venice, managed to enter Mestre, stormed the Castle and put the town to fire and sword, killing the inhabitants and setting fire to the Castle, that, in spite of the Duke of Venice's will, would never be built totally again.
In 1797 Napoleon made the Most Serene Republic of Venice fall, before giving it to Austria with the Treaty of Campoformio. In 1805 the Veneto came back to France, that controlled it inserting it in the so called "Reign of Italy". On april 23rd 1809 the Austrians entered Mestre again, defeating the French garrison that was resisting in the Fort Marghera (was building had been wanted by Napoleon the same in the first years of 19th century), but then the Veneto was given to France and only after the fall of Napoleone, in 1815, once again to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The railway Mestre-Padua reached Mestre in 1842 and in 1846 also the railway lagoon bridge to Venice was built.

During the Risorgimento, Mestre lived some of the most glorious events of its history, with the capture of Fort Marghera (march 22nd 1848), the Sortie of Marghera (october 27th 1848) and the glorious resistance to defend the Daniele Manin's Republic, till the surrender of Venice, occurred on august 24th 1849. The Commune of Mestre, chief town of a "canton" and then of a district (then seat of a "mandamento") could afterwards confer upon itself, in addition to the official title of city of Italy, also the gold medal for these events. Mestre, together with all the Veneto and Mantua, became part of the Reign of Italy on 22 october 1866, by a plebiscite. The Entrenched Camp of Mestre took shape with the building, in addition to the old Fort Marghera, of the forts Carpenedo, Gazzera and Tron between the 80s and the 90s of 19th century and then, from 1907 to 1912, of forts Bazzera, Rossarol, Cosenz, Pepe, Mezzacapo, Sirtori and Poerio.

At the beginning of the 20th century Mestre began assuming its own aspect, with the construction of Garibaldi Avenue and Piave Street, of the bridge on the Marzenego river and of Toniolo Theatre. In the same years Mestre was given an Hospital, built in 1906 on the area of the ancient Castle, but also the electric lighting (1899), the gas (1909) and a new aqueduct (1912). The zone of Canal Salso saw the first industrial installations grow, very small factories indeed, like for example industries of chocolate Taboga or of brooms Krull.
But 1917 already began the construction of the new industrial port of Venice in the mainland: the chosen place was the zone of Bottenigo, expropriated from the commune of Mestre and re-named "Marghera" tranferring the ancient toponym that originally spotted the area of Fort Marghera and of the famous Sortie. In 1926 also the rest of the commune of Mestre was annexed to Venice. The population of Mestre, already growing, continued increasing more and more after the birth of Port Marghera. The second world war caused also in Mestre destructions and bombings, specially on the railway junction, on the main thoroughfares and on the plants of Port Marghera, but also the 10% of dwelling houses was demolished by bombs. In 1945 Mestre recovered only for a brief parenthesis, thanks to the Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale, the communal autonomy. In Roma, on july 14th 1948 an isolated fanatic, Antonio Pallante, shot the secretary of PCI Togliatti while he was going out from the Parliament and wounded him seriously: when the news were known in Italy, grave riots broke out, among which the history books mention, in addition to those in Turin, Rome, Naples, Livorno, Genoa and Abbadia San Salvatore in the Amiata Mountain, also the events of Mestre: the workers created road blocks on the lagoon Bridge of Freedom and kept the chemical and the oil industries; anyhow fortunately the civil war didn't break out.
It was most of all in the post-war period after w.w.II that Mestre, during the re-building of the industries and the recovery of the Italian economy, had a fast and untidy increasing. After the economic growth there was a matchless for Italy rise (to look at the demographic trend of Mestre, click here), but that occurred in a disorderly way, leaving Mestre in the power of a fierce building speculation, that aimed at occupying every space could be exploited to build houses. To this proper sack of Mestre contributed the absence of its own communal administration, erased by fascism in 1926, and the delay of the town-planning schemes, at first quite absent, during the years of the greatest building increase, then inadequate for a new and not interily understood situation. The apex of the demographic run came in 1975-'76 with over 210,000 inhabitants, while Port Marghera in 1970 had more than a good 31.000 workers. The Phenomenon Mestre created an unlivable city, lacking in sufficient infrastructures and in public parks and gardens, with a lot of too near buildings and with downright slums of public housing.
They were years of great social conflicts, of strikes and complaints by the worksmen of Port Marghera, that had already become the most important pole of chemical industries in Italy and one of the greatest in Europe. Unfortunately Mestre was also one of the scenes of the so called "Leaden Years" of the Italian home terrorism: in Mestre the Red Brigades killed in 1980 the Assistant Manager of the Petrochemical of Marghera Sergio Gori and the officer in the police force Alfredo Albanese and, in 1981, the Manager of  the Petrochemical Giuseppe Taliercio.
Fortunately Mestre was raised to the news also for happier reasons: the Fencing Circle Mestre and the fencers from Mestre conquered the top of the world at the Olympic Games from 1976 to 1984: names such as Fabio Dal Zotto, Andrea Borella and Mauro Numa entered the legend of this sport.
The Petrochemical of Port Marghera is the image of the more general crisis of the great heavy industry: created in the 60s, doubled in the 70s, transformed with a system of pipe-line in an only industrial complex Ravenna - Ferrara - Marghera, it has nowadays less than two thousand employees.
Mestre, already for some times, reversed the situation of city-outskirts of the historical center but is still relegated to the role of hamlet of Venice, though it's having more inhabitants than the chief town since 1960. To amend this distortion there were four referendums, in 1979, 1989, 1994 and 2003, none of which was a success in giving the autonomy to the two communes of Mestre and of Venice but that contributed certainly to get more attention from the venetian ruling class for the city of mainland.

Historical deepenings:

The Name Mestre
Roman Mestre
The Castles of Mestre
The Jews in Mestre
Symbols of Mestre
Mestre in the cadastres
The 1848 in Mestre and the Sortie of Fort Marghera
Port Marghera
The first and the second world war in Mestre
The administrative history of Mestre: 1) till 1926; 2) from 1926 to today
The Architecture of 20th century in Mestre

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

Bibliography and further informations:
(Only the books about the history of Mestre in general are signaled, while the volumes about single themes or historical periods are indicated at the end of each page of the above linked "Historical deepenings")

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