Many years ago, in 421, at the very same day, March 25, the Great
City of Venice was founded. The city was built by people who were escaping Attila’s invasion, so the
city’s unique landscape would make it harder for invaders to infiltrate. The
Venice Republic was the biggest power of the Mediterranean during
1300's-1500's. Its territories embraced
a big area in the east Mediterranean sea, encompassing the terra firma, that is
the current Veneto and Friuli, and the today's Croatian Histria and Dalmatia
with their islands, plus part of the Greek islands. The fall of the Republic of
Venice occurred in 1797, when the Serenissima yielded to the military campaigns
of Napoleon in Italy. With the Campoformio Treaty Venice and the Veneto, plus
Histria and Dalmatia, were relinquished to the Austrian Empire, which ruled
over them for about 60 years.
Even those, who never visited the city, know for sure that
it is beautiful. Venice captured the impression of a magical floating city by
setting wood pilings on the 118 submerged islands in the Northern end of the
Adriatic Sea. 400 foot bridges
and 170 boat canals connect the
city to make it easily accessible to the local populace.
In this post, we would like to present some less-known interesting facts about Venice.
1.
Is Venice sinking?
It is sad, but quite obvious fact that Venice is slowly
sinking. Reports say that the city has sunk by about seven centimeters a
century for the past 1000 years, and has subsided over 24 centimeters in the
past century alone. The debate about how to save Venice has been fierce for a
long time. An ambitious project called MOSE is underway to secure the future of
Venice, by building a series of movable dams (inflatable gates). Then again, it
is said that it's only a temporary measure which could protect the city for
just 100 years.
2. How Venice was built?
When we mentioned earlier more than one hundreds islands,
you may assume that the city was built on these pieces of ground. But that
assumption would not be correct. The city was not actually built on the islets.
Instead, its structures are supported by a series of wooden platforms. These
platforms are secured by additional structures placed in the sea. Why did the
Venetians do this? The lands themselves were not strong enough to support a
regular building. As such, there are millions of “piles” underneath the
Venetian lagoon. As you understand, this process was not easy. One of the
region’s most famous churches took over two years to build. An astounding
1,106,657 piles were needed to complete its construction. These piles were 11.2
feet long.
3. Venice sewer system
Actually, Venice has no sewer system at all. Household waste
flows into the canals and is washed out into the sea twice a day with the
tides.
4. Want to be a Gondolier?
If your dream job is to become a Gondola driver in Venice,
think twice, as it is not that easy to get a “driver license” there. Only 3 to
4 Gondolier licenses are
issued annually. To qualify, applicants must be able to finish an extensive
training after passing a rigorous exam. There are only 400 licensed Gondolas
operating in Venice today.
5. Venice population is shrinking
It is hard to imagine, but depopulation
is one of the most serious issues facing Venetian society. Nowadays, Venice has
less than 60,000 inhabitants when they
were at 140,000 in the golden days. Some experts believe that Venice may become
a ghost town as early as 2030. It would only get traffic from visitors (Each
year the town receives 18 million tourists, which is an average of 50,000 tourists per day). Among the
main of why Venice suffers with depopulation there are two seemingly
controversial reasons: frequent floods and high cost of real estate purchase
and maintenance. In 1966 there was a
flood which promoted a mass escape. Sixteen apartments were simply abandoned.
And at the same time the increasing cost of Venetian real estate limits the
ability of the average citizen to buy a home there. Instead, rich foreigners or
corporations are taking residence.
6.
Dying
in Venice
Isola di San Michele, a former prison,
is Venice’s cemetery. Because space is so limited on San Michele bodies
are buried in tight rows of graves and are allowed to decompose for a mere
twelve years before being dug up and the remains either moved into an urn or
put with countless others in a nearby bone yard.
Sources and Additional
Information:
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