COMACCHIO  , a

town of Emilia, Italy, in the province of Ferrara, 30 M . E.S.E. by road from the town of Ferrara, on the level of the sea, in the centre of the lagoon of Valli di Comacchio, just N. of the present mouth of the Reno . Pop . (1901) 7944 (town), 10,745 (commune) . It is built on no less than thirteen different islets, joined by bridges, and its industries are the fishery, which belongs to the commune, and the salt-works . The seaport of Magnavacca lies 4 M. to the east . Comacchio appears as a city in the 6th century, and, owing to its position in the centre of the lagoons, was an important fortress . It was included in the " donation of Pippin "; it was taken by the Venetians in 854, but afterwards came under the government of the archbishops of Ravenna; in 1299 it came under the dominion of the house of Este . In 1508 it became Venetian, but in 1597 was claimed by Clement VIII. as a vacant fief .