- published: 03 Sep 2013
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Mestre is the center and the most populated urban area of the mainland of Venice, part of the territory of the city of Venice, in Veneto, northern Italy.
Administratively speaking, Mestre forms (together with the nearby urban area of Carpenedo) the Municipalità di Mestre-Carpenedo, one of the six boroughs of the commune (Comune) of Venice. Sometimes considered as frazione, it is the most populated one of Italy, counting around 170,000 inhabitants.
The mainland of Venice is the territory of the city based on normal land (instead of natural or artificial islands like the most well-known parts of Venice) connected to the historical center by a long rail and road bridge over the Venetian lagoon, called Ponte della Libertà (Freedom Bridge).
Since the end of World War II, Mestre had a quick and disordered urban growth, after which Mestre constitutes a vast human settlement together with the other urban centers of the Venetian mainland (Carpenedo, Marghera, Favaro Veneto, Chirignago, Zelarino, Tessera). Being Mestre the center and the most populated area of the mainland, very often in common language the toponym Mestre it's used, incorrectly, to define the whole Venetian mainland.