The Venetian Plain, or Venetian-Friulian Plain (Italian: Pianura Veneta or Pianura Veneto-friulana) is a major geographical feature of Italy. It extends approximately from the River Adige to the River Isonzo, in a southwest-to-northeast direction, including almost all the flatlands of Veneto and Friuli. The plain is divided into high and low plains with the high plain located between Brenta and Piave rivers. It is not properly related to the Po River basin, but it is often considered as part of the Po Valley since the flatlands of Veneto and Friuli do not drain into the Po, but they effectively combine into an unbroken plain. Sometimes, instead of the River Adige, the Euganei Hills and Berici Hills are considered to be its western border.
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Venetian Plain in the context of Po Valley
The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain (Italian: Pianura Padana, pronounced [pjaˈnuːra paˈdaːna], or Val Padana) is a major geographical feature of northern Italy. It extends approximately 650 km (400 mi) in an east-west direction, with an area of 46,000 km (18,000 square miles) including its Venetic extension not actually related to the Po basin; it runs from the Western Alps to the Adriatic Sea. The flatlands of Veneto and Friuli are often considered apart since they do not drain into the Po, but they effectively combine into an unbroken plain, making it the largest in Southern Europe. It has a population of 17 million, or a third of Italy's total population.
The plain is the surface of an in-filled system of ancient canyons (the "Apennine Foredeep") extending from the Apennines in the south to the Alps in the north, including the northern Adriatic. In addition to the Po and its affluents, the contemporary surface may be considered to include the Savio, Lamone and Reno to the south, and the Adige, Brenta, Piave and Tagliamento of the Venetian Plain to the north, among the many streams that empty into the north Adriatic from the west and north.
Venetian Plain in the context of Padua
Padua (/ˈpædjuə/ PAD-ew-ə) is a city and comune (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of Venice and 29 km (18 miles) southeast of Vicenza. With a population of 207,694 as of 2025, Padua is the third-largest city in Veneto. It is also the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area (PATREVE) which has a population of around 2,600,000.
Besides the Bacchiglione, the Brenta River, which once ran through the city, still touches the northern districts. Its agricultural setting is the Venetian Plain. To the city's south west lies the Euganaean Hills, which feature in poems by Lucan, Martial, Petrarch, Ugo Foscolo, and Percy Bysshe Shelley.