Malamocco

Malamocco (Venetian: Małamoco) was the first, and for a long time, the only, settlement on the Lido of Venice barrier island of the Lagoon of Venice. It is located just south of the island's center and it is part of the Lido-Pellestrina borough of the municipality of Venice.

Malamocco is sometimes misidentified as Metamaucum. This was one of the earliest settlements in the Lagoon of Venice. Its origins dated back to the Roman days. It was said to have acted as the port of Padua, to which it was connected by the River Medoacus Maior (today's Brenta). The name Metamaucus was derived from the Medoacus Maior. It is likely that its port received ships from Ravenna and that the via Popilia facilitated links with mainland towns.

Metamaucum became the second ducal seat of the duchy of Venice when Teodato Ipato (742–55), the second doge, transferred it from Heraclea to 811, when the doge Agnello Participazio (811–27) moved it to Rivoalto after the exile of the doge Obelerio. It was temporarily occupied by Pepin when he tried to invade the duchy in 810. It was destroyed by the doge Giovanni I Participazio (829–836) when he suppressed a rebellion by Obelerio, who returned from exile and had the support of Metamaucum. The settlement continued to be inhabited, but it was a shadow of its former self. This decline reached its peak when the priory was moved to the island of Murano in 1108, the S.S. Leone e Basso nuns moved to the island of San Servolo in 1109 and the seat of its diocese was moved to Chioggia between 1107 and 1110. In 1116 it was submerged as a result of an exceptional storm surge.

According to the tradition, Metamauco was on the seashore of the Lido island, rather than on its lagoon shore. Lanfranchi doubts that it faced the sea because at that time it was difficult to obtain the stones necessary to build effective sea defences such as dams and banks. He also notes that John the Deacon wrote that Metamaucus was "surrounded by a beautiful Lido", which implies that the town itself was not on the coast. There are still local rumours according to which it is possible to spot the ruins of the town when the sea is calm. The location of the town had not been found.

A new settlement was built on the lagoon shore of Lido, close to where Metamaucum had been. The existence of a Metamaucum Nova, which corresponds to today's Malamocco, was first attested in 1107. It retained numerous privileges due to its connection with the former ducal town, but it became more and more peripheral. It was administered, together with the nearby island of Poveglia, by a podestà who represented the doge locally and was elected for a sixteen-month term. He was the head of a council of selected families which had the right to nominate local officials from 1339 to the fall of the Republic of Venice. It was one of nine districts of the Republic.

Between 1379 and 1381, Malamocco was involved in Venice's defensive works during the War of Chioggia.

From 1816 Malamocco was a municipality which covered the whole of the Lido island and it was its most populated centre. In 1933 the town was incorporated into the municipality of Venice. In the second half of the 19th century, the northern part of the island was developed for tourism and became the island's largest and most important centre.

With the creation of the Metropolitan Municipality of Venice in 2015, the Lido island became one of its seven boroughs. It is the borough of Lido-Pellestrina, also called Venezia Litorale.