Cittanova (Eraclea)

 village, archaeological site, historic ruins

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The rural settlement of Cittanova in Italy is divided administratively between the towns of Eraclea and San Donà di Piave. In the early Middle Ages, the locality was the site of Melidissa, renamed Heraclea (Eraclea in modern Italian) in the early 7th century, in the 8th century serving as the first administrative center of the future polity of Venice. The town was destroyed in the period 804-810 in the context of the Franco-Byzantine conflict over the area. The town was refounded soon after 811 by the doge of Venice, under the name Civita Nova Heracliana ("New City of Heraclea"), which name survives as Cittanova. The name Eraclea was assumed by the modern town of Grisolera, a little farther to the south, in 1950. The ruins of Early Medieval Heraclea and Medieval Cittanova lie under modern agriculture in the area of Cittanova, between the settlements of Fiorentina, Fossa, Staffolo, and Stretti.