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Population and Economy of Veneto

In contrast with the other regions, Venetia lacks one centre which is distinctly superior to the others as regards population and economical importance. Venice, the capital, has in fact only 333,000 inhabitants, followed by Verona (260,000 inhabitants) and Padua (227,000 inhabitants). The region's population, though mainly in the upper flat areas (Treviso, Padua and Vicenza plains), is scattered. Nearly half of the more than four million inhabitants of Venetia live in communities with a population of less than ten thousand. The population density is higher than the national average, apart from Rovigo and Belluno, which are poorer towns and have been affected by emigration and depopulation of the countryside and mountain areas. A constant in the life of the region, this escalated after the disastrous Po Delta floods in 1951 and in the years that followed, when poles of attraction were Piedmont and Lombardy, protagonists of great economic expansion. Today, there is less tendency to emigrate, and in some parts none at all, as a result of improved general economic conditions in the area, development of the industrial sector and reduced demand for labour in the more industrialized regions.

In Venetia, different dialects are spoken, all deriving from a common Venetian matrix; only the dialects of the mountain regions have been influenced by the Rhaeto-Romanic language. Mention must be made of the presence of small isolated linguistic zones: an ancient Bavarian dialect is spoken at Sappada, Giazza (at the foot of the Lessini), Rotzo and Roana (in the vicinity of Asiago), where `cimbri', a German dialect dating back to the eleventh century is spoken. It must also be remembered that the Venetian dialect was, for centuries, the official language of the Republic of Venice.

Figures regarding income pro capita and other social indicators are slightly higher than the national average. They generally indicate adequate standards of living, but also confirm that this is the least developed region in northern Italy, despite a certain increase in factories and modernization of farming techniques.

The fact that there are no large towns in Venetia has meant that factories are distributed all over the region allowing fairly uniform economical growth, with lower risks of water and atmospheric pollution. This cannot be said, however, of the Porto Marghera area which has a high concentration of industry.

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