The town of Grado has Roman origin (Grado comes from gradus, i.e. port of call): it was the chief of its district and where boats sailing along the Natissa stopped on their way to Aquileia. Once a square Roman military encampment surrounded by walls, it became a refuge for people fleeing from Attila´s hordes (452). In 568, the Lombards ´ invasion lead the bishop of Aquileia, Paolino, to move here the Episcopal see. His successor, Elia, completed the building of the cathedral and embellished the small town with several churches, strengthening the patriarch´s position and Grado´s importance, but causing irreconcilable differences with Aquileia. It was infact supported by Lombard Dukes, only in 1180 the conflict between Grado and Aquileia will be sorted out. In the Middle Ages, new walls were added to include early Christian monuments renovated and rebuilt by the bishop Elia. Grado ended up being the religious capital of an area going from the Istrian peninsula to Chioggia, and his economy, trade and arts boomed. However, the suppression of the patriarchate in the 15th century and Venice´s growing power stripped Grado of its old splendour and left it with the only privilege to have a Count and a Council made up of local lords. Grado fell into the hands of the Austrians after the Treaty of Campoformio in 1797 and remained almost uninterruptedly so till 1918, when it was annexed to Italy. Today Grado is a well-equipped seaside and health resort, where fishing thrives: it owes its fame to its superb beaches, its charming landscape, its places of worship and the dialectal poems by the great late Biagio Marin (1891-1985). After a restoring day on the seaside the tourist can discover the other aspect of Grado: a glance at the church tower of the Basilica Sant'Eufemia takes the tourist back to the period of the Roman Empire, when this little village was the port of Aquileia . The link between Grado and Aquileia is very close: when the Huns invaded Italy , the inhabitants of the dry land fled to the Isles of the Lagoon and gave birth to the first historical centre of Grado. The influence and the power of Grado and its Patriarchate have lasted for about 3 centuries and ended when the Dukedom of venice began to grow and the Patrairch was removed (1105). Venetia was not only a political and military protector of its dominions: the little town as allowed to keep on its local habits, its privileges and its family and social traditions. After a long period of fighting between the Patriarchate of Grado and that of Aquileia , Grado was annexed to the County of Gorizia and Gradisca and later to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Its isolation finished at the end of the 19 th century when the Austrian Emperor Franz Josef discovered the curative value of the sand in Grado.