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Comune di Comacchio
Municipal coat of arms
Country	Italy
Region	Emilia-Romagna
Province	Ferrara (FE)
Mayor	Maria Cristina Cicognani (since April 2005)
Elevation	1 m (3 ft)
Area	283 km² (109 sq mi)
Population (as of December 31, 2004)
- Total	22,385
- Density	79/km² (205/sq mi)
Time zone	CET, UTC+1
Coordinates	43°55′N, 12°09′E
Gentilic	Comacchiesi
Dialing code	0533
Postal code	44022
Frazioni	Lido degli Estensi, Lido degli Scacchi, Lido di Pomposa, Lido di Spina, Porto Garibaldi, San Giuseppe, Lido delle Nazioni, Lido di Volano, Vaccolino, Volania
Patron	San Cassiano
Website: www.comune.comacchio.fe.it

Comacchio is a town of Emilia Romagna, Italy, in the province of Ferrara, 48 km by road from the town of Ferrara, in the centre of the lagoon of Valli di Comacchio, just north of the present mouth of the Reno. It is built on more than thirteen different islets, joined by bridges. Industries and include fishery, which belongs to the commune, and salt-works. The seaport of Porto Garibaldi lies 7 km to the east.

View of Comacchio.

After its early occupation by the Etruscans and the Gauls, Comacchio was annexed by Rome. Under Emperor Augustus, who ruled Rome from 27 BCE to 14 CE, a canal was dug to deepen its lagoon.

Comacchio enjoyed prosperity under the Goths and the Lombards, and became the seat of a duchy. When the Franks descended into northern Italy in 756, their king, Pepin the Short, included Comacchio in his famous donation of land to Pope Stephen II, a grant later confirmed by Pepin's son and successor, Charlemagne. In 854 Comacchio was sacked by the Venetians, who destroyed it in 946. The Holy See later acquired the city and presented it to the archbishopric of Ravenna.

But Emperor Rudolf I conferred it on Obizzo IV d'Este of Ferrara. In 1508 it became Venetian, but in 1597 was claimed by Clement VIII as a vacant fief. In 1598 the Papal States again acquired Comacchio and retained it until 1866 when it became a part of the Kingdom of Italy.

Since then, the zone has been hardly bonified and most of the swamp land has disappeared, leaving ground for the expansion of the agricolture and creating new zone for dwellings. Comacchio had a quite productive factory for sugar refining, that has been closed in 1988.

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

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