Venice is a city in northern Italy known both for tourism and for industry, and is the capital of the region Veneto, with a population of about 270,660 (census estimate 30 April 2009). Together with Padua and Treviso, the city is included in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area (PATREVE) (population 1,600,000).
The name is derived from the ancient people of Veneti that inhabited the region as of 10th century B.C. The city historically was the capital of the Venetian Republic. Venice has been known as the "La Dominante", "Serenissima", "Queen of the Adriatic", "City of Water", "City of Masks", "City of Bridges", "The Floating City", and "City of Canals". Luigi Barzini, writing in The New York Times, described it as "undoubtedly the most beautiful city built by man". Venice has also been described by the Times Online as being one of Europe's most romantic cities.
The city stretches across 117 small islands in the marshy Venetian Lagoon along the Adriatic Sea in northeast Italy. The saltwater lagoon stretches along the shoreline between the mouths of the Po (south) and the Piave (north) Rivers. The population estimate of 272,000 inhabitants includes the population of the whole Comune of Venezia; around 60,000 in the historic city of Venice (Centro storico); 176,000 in Terraferma (the Mainland), mostly in the large frazioni of Mestre and Marghera; and 31,000 live on other islands in the lagoon.
The Republic of Venice was a major maritime power during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and a staging area for the Crusades and the Battle of Lepanto, as well as a very important center of commerce (especially silk, grain and spice trade) and art in the 13th century up to the end of the 17th century. This made Venice a wealthy city throughout most of its history. It is also known for its several important artistic movements, especially the Renaissance period. Venice has played an important role in the history of symphonic and operatic music, and it is the birthplace of Antonio Vivaldi.
A collage of Venice: at the top left is the Piazza San Marco, followed by a view of the city, the Grand Canal, and the interior of La Fenice and finally the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore
Coat of arms
Location of Venice in Italy
Country Italy
Region Veneto
Province Venice (VE)
Government
- Mayor Giorgio Orsoni (Democratic Party)
Area
- Total 414.57 km2 (160.1 sq mi)
Population (2009-04-30)
- Total 270,660
- Density 652.9/km2 (1,690.9/sq mi)
Patron saint St. Mark the Evangelist
Saint day 25 April
Origins
While there are no historical records that deal directly with the obscure and peripheral origins of Venice, tradition and the available evidence have led several historians to agree that the original population of Venice consisted of refugees from Roman cities near Venice such as Padua, Aquileia, Treviso, Altino and Concordia (modern Portogruaro) and from the undefended countryside, who were fleeing successive waves of Germanic invasions and Huns. Some late Roman sources reveal the existence of fishermen on the islands in the original marshy lagoons. They were referred to as incolae lacunae ("lagoon dwellers"). The traditional founding is identified with the dedication of the first church, that of San Giacomo at the islet of Rialto (Rivoalto, "High Shore"), which is said to have been at the stroke of noon on 25 March 421.
The last and most enduring irruption in the north of the Italian peninsula, was that of the Lombards in 568, leaving the Eastern Roman Empire a small strip of coast in the current Veneto, and the main administrative and religious entities were therefore transferred to this remaining dominion, centered upon the Exarchate of Ravenna, the local representative of the Emperor in the East. The Venetian tradition of the islanders' aid to Belisarius was reported in early histories to explain the largely theoretical link to Ravenna, and to the Eastern Emperor. New ports were built, including those at Malamocco and Torcello in the Venetian lagoon. The tribuni maiores, the earliest central standing governing committee of the islands in the Lagoon, dated from c. 568.
The Venetians offered asylum to the Exarch Paul, who was in flight from the Lombard Liutprand. Byzantine domination of central and northern Italy was subsequently largely eliminated by the conquest of the Exarchate of Ravenna in 751 by Aistulf. During this period, the seat of the local Byzantine governor (the "duke/dux", later "doge") was situated in Malamocco. Settlement on the islands in the lagoon probably increased in correspondence with the Lombard conquest of the Byzantine territories.
Sometime in the first decades of the eighth century, the people of the lagoon elected their first leader Ursus, who was confirmed by Byzantium and given the titles of hypatus and dux. He was the first historical Doge of Venice.
In 775-76, the bishopric seat of Olivolo (Helipolis) was created. During the reign of duke Agnello Particiaco (811-827) the ducal seat was moved from Malamocco to the highly protected Rialto, the current location of Venice. The monastery of St. Zachary and the first ducal palace and basilica of St. Mark, as well as a walled defense (civitatis murus) between Olivolo and Rialto were subsequently built here. Winged lions, which may be seen throughout Venice, are a symbol for St. Mark.
In 810, an agreement between Charlemagne and Nicephorus recognized Venice as Byzantine territory and recognized the city's trading rights along the Adriatic coast, where Charlemagne had previously ordered the pope to expel the Venetians from the Pentapolis. In 828, the new city's prestige was raised by the acquisition of the claimed relics of St. Mark the Evangelist from Alexandria, which were placed in the new basilica. The patriarchal seat was also moved to Rialto. As the community continued to develop and as Byzantine power waned, it led to the growth of autonomy and eventual independence.
Expansion
From the ninth to the twelfth century Venice developed into a city state (an Italian thalassocracy or Repubblica Marinara, the other three being Genoa, Pisa, and Amalfi). Its strategic position at the head of the Adriatic made Venetian naval and commercial power almost invulnerable. With the elimination of pirates along the Dalmatian coast, the city became a flourishing trade center between Western Europe and the rest of the world (especially the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic world). In the 12th century the foundations of Venice's power were laid: the Venetian Arsenal was under construction in 1104; the last autocratic doge, Vital II Michele, died in 1172.
The Republic of Venice seized a number of places on the eastern shores of the Adriatic before 1200, mostly for commercial reasons, because pirates based there were a menace to trade. The Doge already carried the titles of Duke of Dalmatia and Duke of Istria. Later mainland possessions, which extended across Lake Garda as far west as the Adda River, were known as the "Terraferma", and were acquired partly as a buffer against belligerent neighbours, partly to guarantee Alpine trade routes, and partly to ensure the supply of mainland wheat, on which the city depended. In building its maritime commercial empire, the Republic dominated the trade in salt, acquired control of most of the islands in the Aegean, including Cyprus and Crete, and became a major power-broker in the Near East. By the standards of the time, Venice's stewardship of its mainland territories was relatively enlightened and the citizens of such towns as Bergamo, Brescia and Verona rallied to the defence of Venetian sovereignty when it was threatened by invaders.
Though Venice was famous for its navy, its army was equally effective. In the 13th century, most Italian city states already were hiring mercenaries, but Venetian troops were still recruited from the lagoon, plus feudal levies from Dalmatia (the very famous Schiavoni or Oltremarini) and Istria. In times of emergency, all males between seventeen and sixty years were registered and their weapons were surveyed, with those called to actually fight being organized into companies of twelve. The register of 1338 estimated that 30,000 Venetian men were capable of bearing arms; many of these were skilled crossbowmen. As in other Italian cities, aristocrats and other wealthy men were cavalrymen while the city's conscripts fought as infantry.
Early in the 15th century, as new mainland territories were expanded, the first standing army was organized, consisting of condottieri on contract. In its alliance with Florence in 1426, Venice agreed to supply 8,000 cavalry and 3,000 infantry in time of war, and 3,000 and 1,000 in peacetime. Later in that century, uniforms were adopted that featured red-and-white stripes, and a system of honors and pensions developed. Throughout the 15th century, Venetian land forces were almost always on the offensive and were regarded as the most effective in Italy, largely because of the tradition of all classes carrying arms in defense of the city and official encouragement of general military training.
The command structure in the army was different from that of the fleet. By ancient law, no nobleman could command more than twenty-five men (to prevent the possibility of sedition by private armies), and while the position of Captain General was introduced in the mid-14th century, he still had to answer to a civilian panel of twenty Savi or "wise men". Not only was efficiency not degraded, this policy saved Venice from the military takeovers that other Italian city states so often experienced. A civilian commissioner (not unlike a commissar) accompanied each army to keep an eye on things, especially the mercenaries. The Venetian military tradition also was notably cautious; they were more interested in achieving success with a minimum expense of lives and money than in the pursuit of glory.
Venice, by Bolognino Zaltieri, 1565.
Modern age
After 1100 years, the Republic lost independence when Napoleon Bonaparte conquered Venice on 12 May 1797 during the First Coalition. The French conqueror brought to an end the most fascinating century of its history: during the 18th century Venice became perhaps the most elegant and refined city in Europe, greatly influencing art, architecture and literature. Napoleon was seen as something of a liberator by the city's Jewish population, although it can be argued they had lived with fewer restrictions in Venice. He removed the gates of the Ghetto and ended the restrictions on when and where Jews could live and travel in the city.
A map of the sestiere of San Marco
Venice became Austrian territory when Napoleon signed the Treaty of Campo Formio on 12 October 1797. The Austrians took control of the city on 18 January 1798. It was taken from Austria by the Treaty of Pressburg in 1805 and became part of Napoleon's Kingdom of Italy, but was returned to Austria following Napoleon's defeat in 1814, when it became part of the Austrian-held Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia. In 1848-1849 a revolt briefly reestablished the Venetian Republic under Daniele Manin. In 1866, following the Third Italian War of Independence, Venice, along with the rest of the Veneto, became part of the newly created Kingdom of Italy.
During the Second World War, the historic city was largely free from attack, the only aggressive effort of note being Operation Bowler, a precision strike on the German naval operations there in 1945. However the industrial areas in Mestre and Marghera and the railway lines to Padua, Trieste and Trento were repeatedly bombed. On 29 April 1945 New Zealand troops under Freyberg reached Venice and relieved the city and the mainland, which were already in partisan hands.
Geography
Aerial view of Venice
The city is divided into six areas or "sestiere". These are Cannaregio, San Polo, Dorsoduro (including the Giudecca and Isola Sacca Fisola), Santa Croce, San Marco (including San Giorgio Maggiore) and Castello (including San Pietro di Castello and Sant'Elena). Each sestiere was administered by a procurator and his staff.
These districts consist of parishes — initially seventy in 1033, but reduced under Napoleon and now numbering just thirty-eight. These parishes predate the sestieri, which were created in about 1170.
Other islands of the Venetian Lagoon do not form part of any of the sestieri, having historically enjoyed a considerable degree of autonomy.
Each sestiere has its own house numbering system. Each house has a unique number in the district, from one to several thousand, generally numbered from one corner of the area to another, but not usually in a readily understandable manner.
At the front of the Gondolas that work in the city there is a large piece of metal intended as a likeness of the Doge's hat. On this sit six notches pointing forwards and one pointing backwards. Each of these represent one of the Sestieri (the one that points backward represents the Giudecca)
Sinking of Venice
Acqua Alta or high water in Venice.
The buildings of Venice are constructed on closely spaced wood piles, which were imported from the mainland. (Under water, in the absence of oxygen, wood does not decay. It is petrified as a result of the constant flow of mineral-rich water around and through it, so that it becomes a stone-like structure.) The piles penetrate a softer layer of sand and mud until they reach the much harder layer of compressed clay. Wood for piles was cut in the most western part of today's Slovenia, resulting in the barren land in a region today called Kras, in two regions of Croatia, Lika and Gorski kotar (resulting in the barren slopes of Velebit) and south of Montenegro. Most of these piles are still intact after centuries of submersion. The foundations rest on the piles, and buildings of brick or stone sit above these footings. The buildings are often threatened by flood tides pushing in from the Adriatic between autumn and early spring.
Six hundred years ago, Venetians protected themselves from land-based attacks by diverting all the major rivers flowing into the lagoon and thus preventing sediment from filling the area around the city. This created an ever-deeper lagoon environment.
During the 20th century, when many artesian wells were sunk into the periphery of the lagoon to draw water for local industry, Venice began to subside. It was realised that extraction of water from the aquifer was the cause. The sinking has slowed markedly since artesian wells were banned in the 1960s. However, the city is still threatened by more frequent low-level floods (called Acqua alta, "high water") that creep to a height of several centimetres over its quays, regularly following certain tides. In many old houses the former staircases used to unload goods are now flooded, rendering the former ground floor uninhabitable.
Venice and surroundings in false colour, from Terra. The picture is oriented with North at the top.
Some recent studies have suggested that the city is no longer sinking, but this is not yet certain; therefore, a state of alert has not been revoked. In May 2003 the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi inaugurated the MOSE project (Modulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico), an experimental model for evaluating the performance of inflatable gates; the idea is to lay a series of 79 inflatable pontoons across the sea bed at the three entrances to the lagoon. When tides are predicted to rise above 110 centimetres, the pontoons will be filled with air and block the incoming water from the Adriatic Sea. This engineering work is due to be completed by 2011.
Panorama of the Giudecca Canal and the Saint Mark's Basin
In 1604, to defray the cost of flood relief Venice introduced what could be considered the first example of a 'stamp tax'. When the revenue fell short of expectations in 1608, Venice introduced paper with the superscription 'AQ' and imprinted instructions, which was to be used for 'letters to officials'. At first, this was to be a temporary tax, but it remained in effect until the fall of the Republic in 1797. Shortly after the introduction of the tax, Spain produced similar paper for general taxation purposes, and the practice spread to other countries.
Acqua Alta
Acqua alta (plural: acque alte — high waters; in Italian, the term is commonly used in the singular form) is the term used in Veneto for the exceptional tide peaks that occur periodically in the northern Adriatic Sea. The peaks reach their maximum in the Venetian Lagoon, where they cause partial flooding of Venice and Chioggia; flooding also occurs elsewhere around the northern Adriatic, for instance at Grado and Trieste, but much less often and to a lesser degree. The phenomenon occurs mainly between autumn and spring, when the astronomical tides are reinforced by the prevailing seasonal winds which hamper the usual reflux. The main winds involved are the scirocco, which blows northbound along the Adriatic Sea, and the bora, which has a specific local effect due to the shape and location of the Venetian lagoon.
Venice: acqua alta in Piazza San Marco.
Causes
Precise scientific parameters define the phenomenon called acqua alta , the most significant of which (i.e., the deviation in amplitude from a base measurement of "standard" tides) is measured by the hydrographic station located nearby the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute. Supernormal tidal events can be categorized as:
- intense when the measured sea level is between 80 cm. and 109 cm. above the standard sea level (which was defined by averaging the measurements of sea level during the year 1897);
- very intense when the measured sea level is between 110 cm. and 139 cm. above the standard;
- exceptional high waters when the measured sea level reaches or exceeds 140 cm. above the standard.
Generally speaking, tide levels largely depend on three contributing factors:
- An astronomical component, which results from the movement and alignment of celestial bodies, principally the Moon, secondarily the Sun, and marginally other planets (with effects decreasing in logarithmic relation to their distance from the Earth); this component is dependent upon the laws of the astronomical mechanics and can be computed and accurately predicted for the long run (even years or decades)
- A geophysical component, primarily dependent upon the geometric shape of the basin, which amplifies or reduces the astronomical component and, because it is dependent upon the laws of the physical mechanics, can be also computed and accurately predicted for the long run (even years or decades);
- A meteorological component, linked to a large set of variables, such as the direction and strength of winds, the location of barometric pressure fields and their gradients, precipitation, etc. Because of their complex interrelations and quasi-stochastic behavior, these variables cannot be accurately modeled in statistical terms. Consequently, this component can only be forecast for the very short run and is the principal determinant of acqua alta emergencies that catch Venetians unprepared.
Two further contributing natural factors are the subsidence, i.e. the natural sinking of the soil level, to which the lagoon is subject, and eustasy, i.e. the progressive rise of sea levels. While these phenomena would occur independently of human activity, their effects have increased because of inhabitation: the use of lagoonal water by the industries in Porto Marghera (now ceased) speeded up subsidence, while global warming has been linked to increased eustasy. Venice's "Tide Monitoring and Forecast Center" evaluates that the city has lost 23 cm. in its elevation since 1897, the year of reference, 12 of which are attributable to natural causes (9 because of eustasy, 3 because of subsidence), 13 are due to the additional subsidence caused by human activity, while the "elastic recovery" of the soil has allowed the city to "gain back" 2 cm.
Geophysical determinants linked to the Adriatic Sea
The long and narrow rectangular shape of the Adriatic Sea is the source of an oscillating water motion (called seiche) along the basin's minor axis.
The principal oscillation, which has a period of 21 hours and 30 minutes and an amplitude around 0.5 meters at the axis' extremities, supplements the natural tidal cycle, so that the Adriatic sea has much more extreme tidal events than the rest of the Mediterranean. A secondary oscillation is also present, with an average period of 12 hours and 11 minutes.
Because the timeframe of both oscillations is comparable to naturally occurring (yet independent) astronomical tides, the two effects overlap and reinforce each other. The combined effects are more significant at the perigees, which correspond to new moons, full moons and equinoxes.
Should meteorological conditions (such as a strong scirocco wind blowing north along the major axis of the Adriatic basin) hamper the natural outflow of excess tidal water, high waters of greater magnitude can be expected in Venice.
Satellite image of the Adriatic Sea, highlighting the long and narrow rectangular shape which is the source of an oscillating water motion (called seiche) along the minor axis. The oscillation, which has a period of 21 hours and 30 minutes and an amplitude around 0.5 meters at the axis' extremities, supplements the natural tidal cycle, so that the Adriatic sea experiences much more extreme tidal events than the rest of the Mediterranean.
Specific characteristics of the Venetian lagoon
The particular shape of the Venetian lagoon, the subsidence which has been affecting the soil in the coastal area, and the peculiar urban configuration all magnify the impact of the high waters on city dwellers and on the buildings.
Furthermore, the northbound winds called bora and scirocco often blow directly towards the harbors that connect the lagoon to the Adriatic Sea, significantly slowing down (and, at times, completing blocking) the outflow of water from the lagoon toward the sea.
When this occurs, the ebb is factually prevented inside the lagoon, so that the following high tide overlaps with the previous one, in a perverse self-supporting cycle.
Venice: the fondamenta Venier flooded on December 1, 2008.
It should be noted that the creation of the industrial area of Porto Marghera, which lies immediately behind Venice, amplified the effects of high waters for at least two reasons: first, the land upon which the area is built was created by filling large parts of the lagoon where smaller islands just above sea level previously lay. These islands, called barene, acted as natural sponges (or "expansion tanks") when high tides occurred, absorbing a significant portion of the excess water.
Second, a navigable channel was carved through the lagoon to allow oil tankers to reach the piers. This "Oil Channel" factually linked the sea to the coastal line, running through the harbor in Malamocco and crossing the lagoon for its entire width. This direct connection to the sea, which was obviously non-existent at the time of Venice's foundation, has subjected the city to more severe high tides.
Porto Marghera and its facilities are not the only human-made contributors to higher tides. Rather, the municipality of Venice has published a study that suggests the following initiatives may have had an irreversible and catastrophic impact on the city's capacity to withstand acque alte in the future:
- the building of the Railroad Bridge (1841/1846) connecting Venice to the land, because its supporting pillars modify the natural motion of lagoonal water;
- the diversion of the river Brenta outside the Chioggia basin, which drained the 2,63 hectares of the river's delta that functioned as expansion tanks, absorbing extra lagoonal water during high tides;
- the building of offshore dammed piers (Porto di Malamocco, 1820/72; Porto di S. Nicolò, 884/97; Porto di Chioggia, 1911/33), which obviously restrict the natural movement of water;
- the building of the Ponte della Libertà (1931/33), which connects Venice to the land;
- the building of the Riva dei Sette Martiri (1936/41), an extension to the Riva degli Schiavoni;
- the building of the artificial island Tronchetto used as a car and bus terminal (17 hectares, 1957/61):
- the doubling of the Railroad Bridge (1977).
The acqua alta in Venice
Affected portions of the city
The flooding caused by the acqua alta is not uniform throughout the city of Venice because of several factors, such as the varying altitude of each zone with respect to the conventional sea level, its distance from a channel, the relative height of the sidewalks (fondamenta), the presence of full parapets (which act as dams) along the proximate channel, and the layout of the sewer and water drainage network (which acts as a source for the flooding, as it is directly connected with the lagoon).
The reference hydrographic station at Punta della Salute.
Monitoring, alerting and control
The Tide Monitoring and Forecast Centre of the City of Venice is fed information via a network of hydrographic stations, located in both the lagoon and the Adriatic Sea (on a scientific platform belonging to the Italian National Research Committee, CNR). The centre's unique expertise on the phenomenon enables it to produce forecasts of remarkable accuracy, usually for the following 48 hours (longer forecasts are also issued, but tend to be less reliable, as discussed above), by analysing the meteorological and hydrographic data available.
Forecasts are then announced to the population via the centre's website and dedicated phone lines, through local newspapers, on electronic displays, and at some stops of the vaporetti (public transport).
When an acqua alta event is forecast, owners of commercial and residential property that is likely to be affected are contacted by phone (a free service provided by the municipality) or SMS.
"Very intense" events warrant alerting the whole population, which is accomplished by sounding a dedicated system of sirens located throughout the city.
While not radically innovative, the new system communicates in greater detail the extent of the expected flooding to the population. The previous system, still used in the rest of the Venetian lagoon, only provides three levels of warning: the signal is sounded once for a tide above 110 cm., twice for tidal forecasts above 140 cm. and thrice for those above 160 cm. The new system was first used on March 24, 2008, communicating an accurately forecast tide level above 110 cm.
Countermeasures
The MOSE project (which stands for Modulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico, i.e. "Experimental Electromechanical Module") has been in the works for several years, partly because of budget constraints, and partly because of the sheer complexity of the undertaking. The project should significantly reduce the effects of "exceptional high waters" (but not those of lesser, yet detrimental, tidal events) by completing the installation of 79 separate 300-ton flaps hinged on the seabed between the lagoon and the Adriatic sea. While normally fully submerged and invisible, the flaps can be raised preemptively to create a temporary barrier, which is expected to protect the city from exceptional acque alte.
Statistics
Regular scientific record-keeping of lagoonal water levels is considered to have begun in 1872, although some researchers suggest pushing this date to 1867, when an exceptional event (153 cm above sea level) was measured. However, because the first modern marigraph for regular tide monitoring was installed in Venice only in 1871, most documentation on the subject adopts the following year as the golden standard.
The Venetian Institute for Science, Literature and Arts was appointed to the task by the newly formed Italian Kingdom, thus replacing the Magistrato alle Acque in 1866 upon annexion of the city. The Institute ceased to exercise its monitoring and record-keeping functions in 1908, when the task, along with records and instruments, was passed to the Hydrographic Office of Venice.
Tide Monitoring and Forecast Center.
After the unprecedented acqua alta of 1966, the city set up a dedicated service to analyse data, monitor fluctuations, and forecast high tides, which is also charged with continuously keeping the population informed. Renamed Tide Monitoring and Forecast Center in 1980, the service has absorbed the record-keeping functions of the Hydrographic Office.
Historical records
Early records
The first record of a large flood in the Venetian lagoon dates back to the so-called Rotta della Cucca, reported by Paul the Deacon as having occurred on October 17, 589. According to Paul, all rivers with mouths in the northern Adriatic, from the Tagliamento to the Po, overflowed at the same time, completely modifying the hydro-geologic equilibrium of the lagoon.
Middle Ages
The first documented description of acqua alta in Venice concerns the year 782 and is followed by other documented events in 840, 885, and 1102.
In 1110 the water, following a violent sea storm (or, possibly, a seaquake and its subsequent tsunami), completely destroyed Metamauco (ancient name for Malamocco), Venice's political centre before the Doge's residence was moved to Rialto.
Local chroniclers report that in 1240 "the water (that) flooded the streets (was) higher than a man". Other events are recorded to have occurred in 1268, 1280, 1282, and on December 20, 1283, which was probably an abnormally significant event, since a chronicle reported that Venice was "saved by a miracle".
Chroniclers report that high tides occurred in 1286, 1297, and 1314; on February 15, 1340; on February 25, 1341; on January 18, 1386; and on May 31 and August 10, 1410.
In the 15th century, high tides were recorded in 1419 and 1423, on May 11, 1428 and on October 10, 1430, as well as in 1444 and 1445. On November 10, 1442 the water is reported to have risen "four feet above the usual".
The year 1600 was characterized by a high frequency of events, with floods on December 8 as well as December 18 and 19. The latter event was probably remarkable, since there are also records of very violent sea storms that, having "broken indeed the shores in several places, entered the towns of Lido Maggiore, Tre Porti, Malamocco, Chiozza, et cetera".
Another noteworthy acqua alta took place on November 5, 1686. Several chronicles of the time, among them one written by a scientist, concur in reporting that "the waters reached the outdoor floor of ... [Sansovino's] Lodge", which is the monumental entrance to the Campanile di San Marco. A similar level was reached during the exceptional flood of November 4, 1966, which allowed scholars in the late 1960s to recreate a likely scenario for the 1686 flood. After accounting for the rebuilding of the Lodge after the 1902 fall of the Campanile and for subsidence, estimates concluded that the tide may have been as high as 254 cm. above today's standard sea level.
In the 18th century, records became more abundant and precise, reporting acque alte on December 21, 1727; New Year's Eve, 1738; October 7, 1729; November 5 and 28, 1742; October 31, 1746; November 4, 1748; October 31, 1749; October 9, 1750; Christmas Eve, 1792; and on Christmas Day, 1794.
Finally, in the decades before the installation of the marigraphs, high waters are recorded to have occurred on December 5, 1839, as well as in 1848 (140 cm) and 1867 (153 cm).
Exceptional high waters since 1923
According to the records of the Tide Monitoring and Forecast Centre of Venice, these are the maximal documented levels (in decreasing, not chronological, order):
194 cm on November 4, 1966
166 cm on December 22, 1979
158 cm on February 1, 1986
156 cm on December 1, 2008
151 cm on November 12, 1951
147 cm on April 16, 1936
147 cm on November 16, 2002
145 cm on December 25, 2009
145 cm on October 15, 1960
144 cm on December 23, 2009
144 cm on November 3, 1968
144 cm on November 6, 2000
142 cm on December 8, 1992
140 cm on February 17, 1979
Maximum high tide level: 1.94 m recorded on November 4, 1966
Minimum ebb tide level: -1.21 m, recorded on February 14, 1934
Maximum difference between a high tide and the following ebb tide: 1.63 m, recorded on January 28, 1948 and on December 28, 1970
Maximum difference between an ebb tide and the following high tide: 1.46 m, recorded on February 23 and 24, 1928, as well as on January 25, 1966
Tourism has been a major sector of Venetian industry since the 18th century, when it was a major center for the grand tour, due to its beautiful cityscape, uniqueness, and rich musical and artistic cultural heritage. In the 19th century, it became a fashionable centre for the rich and famous, often staying or dining at luxury establishments such as the Danieli Hotel and the Caffè Florian. It continued being a fashionable city in vogue right into the early 20th century. In the 1980s, the Carnival of Venice was revived and the city has become a major centre of international conferences and festivals, such as the prestigious Venice Biennale and the Venice Film Festival, which attract visitors from all over the world for their theatrical, cultural, cinematic, artistic, and musical productions.
However, Venice's popularity as a major worldwide tourist destination has caused several problems, including the fact that the city can be very overcrowded at some points of the year. It is regarded by some as a tourist trap, and by others as a 'living museum'. The cruise ships that use the Giudecca Canal send a large wake toward the city, that slowly causes the city to sink. Unlike most other places in Western Europe, and the world, Venice has become widely known for its element of elegant decay. The competition for foreigners to buy homes in Venice has made prices rise so highly that numerous inhabitants are forced to move to more affordable areas of Veneto and Italy, the most notable being Mestre.
Transport
Venice is built on an archipelago of 117 islands formed by 177 canals in a shallow lagoon, connected by 409 bridges. In the old centre, the canals serve the function of roads, and almost every form of transport is on water or on foot. In the 19th century a causeway to the mainland brought a railway station to Venice, and an automobile causeway and parking lot was added in the 20th century. Beyond these land entrances at the northern edge of the city, transportation within the city remains, as it was in centuries past, entirely on water or on foot. Venice is Europe's largest urban car-free area, unique in Europe in remaining a sizable functioning city in the 21st century entirely without motorcars or trucks.
Aerial view of Venice including the bridge to the mainland
A gondola and a gondolier
Waterways
The classical Venetian boat is the gondola, although it is now mostly used for tourists, or for weddings, funerals, or other ceremonies. Many gondolas are lushly appointed with crushed velvet seats and Persian rugs. Less well-known is the smaller sandolo. The main transportation means are motorised waterbuses (vaporetti), which ply regular routes along the major canals and between the city's islands, and private boats. The only gondolas still in common use by Venetians are the traghetti, foot passenger ferries crossing the Grand Canal at certain points without bridges.
The Ponte dei Sospiri, the "Bridge of Sighs".
Public transport
Azienda Consorzio Trasporti Veneziano (ACTV) is the name of the public transport system in Venice. It combines both land transportation, with buses, and canal travel, with water buses (vaporetti). In total, there are 25 routes that connect the city.
The Venice People Mover (managed by ASM) is a cable operated public transit system connecting Tronchetto island with Piazzale Roma. Water taxis are also active.
Airports
Venice is served by the Marco Polo International Airport, or Aeroporto di Venezia Marco Polo, named in honor of its famous citizen. The airport is on the mainland and was rebuilt away from the coast; however, the water taxis or Alilaguna waterbuses to Venice are only a seven-minute walk from the terminals.
Some airlines market Treviso Airport in Treviso, 30 km from Venice, as a Venice gateway. Some simply advertise flights to "Venice", while naming the actual airport only in small print. To reach Venice from Treviso airport people can catch a bus from the company BARZI BUS SERVICE, which run after each flight to Venice and back in 40 minutes by highway. Tickets available only at their desk or in their bus.
Venezia Lido, a public airport suitable for smaller aircraft, is found on the NE end of Lido di Venezia. It has a 1000-meter grass runway.
Trains
Venice is serviced by regional and national trains, which can connect the city to Rome in 3.5 hours and to Milan in 2.5 hours. Treviso is thirty-five minutes away. Florence and Padua are two of the stops between Rome and Venice. The St. Lucia station is a few steps away from a vaporetti stop.
The station is the terminus and starting point of the Venice Simplon Orient Express from or to London Victoria and Paris.
Car
The maritime portion of Venice has no roads as such, being composed almost entirely of narrow footpaths, and laid out across islands connected by staired stone footbridges, making transportation impossible by almost anything with wheels. Cars can reach the car/bus terminal via the Ponte della Libertà bridge. It comes in from the West from Mestre. There are two parking lots that serve the city: Tronchetto and Piazzale Roma. A ferry to Lido leaves from the parking lot in Tronchetto, and it is served by vaporetti and buses of the public transportation.
View of Venice from St Mark's Campanile
Demographics
In 2009, there were 270,098 people residing in Venice, of whom 47.4% were male and 52.6% were female. Minors (children ages 18 and younger) totalled 14.36 percent of the population compared to pensioners who number 25.7 percent. This compares with the Italian average of 18.06 percent (minors) and 19.94 percent (pensioners). The average age of Venice residents is 46 compared to the Italian average of 42. In the five years between 2002 and 2007, the population of Venice declined by 0.2 percent, while Italy as a whole grew by 3.85 percent. But the population in the historic old city declines at a significantly faster rate: from about 120,000 in 1980 to about 60,000 in 2009.
As of 2009, 91% of the population was Italian. The largest immigrant group comes from other European nations (Romanians, the largest group: 3%, South Asia: 1.3%, and East Asia: 0.9%). Venice is predominantly Roman Catholic, but because of the long standing relationship with Constantinople there is also a perceptible Orthodox presence, and due to immigration it now has some Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist inhabitants.
There is also a historic Jewish Community in Venice. The Venetian Ghetto was the area of in which Jews were compelled to live under the Venetian Republic. It is from its name, in the Venetian language, that the word "ghetto", used in many languages, is derived. William Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice, writtian ca. 1595 features Shylock, a Venetian Jew and his family. Venice also has an eruv, built for and still used by the Jewish community.
Culture
Cinema and Venice in popular culture and media
Venice has been the setting or chosen location of numerous films, novels, poems and other cultural references. The city was a particularly popular setting for several novels, essays, and other works of fictional or non-fictional literature. Examples of these include Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice and Othello, Ben Jonson's Volpone, Voltaire's Candide, Casanova's autobiographical History of My Life, Anne Rice's Cry to Heaven, and Philippe Sollers' Watteau in Venice, to name but a few. The city has also been a setting for numerous films and music videos, such as the James Bond series From Russia with Love, Moonraker, The Tourist, Casino Royale, Katharine Hepburn in Summertime, Death in Venice, Fellini's Casanova, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, A Little Romance, The Italian Job, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Siouxsie and the Banshees "Dear Prudence" and Madonna's Like a Virgin (song).
Typical masks worn during the Carnival of Venice.
Architecture
Venice has a rich and diverse architectural style, the most famous of which is the Gothic style. Venetian Gothic architecture is a term given to a Venetian building style combining use of the Gothic lancet arch with Byzantine and Arab influences. The style originated in 14th-century Venice, where the confluence of Byzantine style from Constantinople met Arab influence from Moorish Spain. Chief examples of the style are the Doge's Palace and the Ca' d'Oro in the city. The city also has several Renaissance and Baroque buildings, including the Ca' Pesaro and the Ca' Rezzonico.
The Baroque Ca' Rezzonico
Music and the performing arts
The city of Venice in Italy has played an important role in the development of the music of Italy. The Venetian state — i.e., the medieval Maritime Republic of Venice — was often popularly called the "Republic of Music", and an anonymous Frenchman of the 17th century is said to have remarked that "In every home, someone is playing a musical instrument or singing. There is music everywhere."
During the 16th century, Venice became one of the most important musical centers of Europe, marked by a characteristic style of composition (the Venetian school) and the development of the Venetian polychoral style under composers such as Adrian Willaert, who worked at St Mark's Basilica. Venice was the early center of music printing; Ottaviano Petrucci began publishing music almost as soon as this technology was available, and his publishing enterprise helped to attract composers from all over Europe, especially from France and Flanders. By the end of the century, Venice was famous for the splendor of its music, as exemplified in the "colossal style" of Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli, which used multiple choruses and instrumental groups. Venice was also the home of many famous composers during the baroque period, such as Antonio Vivaldi, Ippolito Ciera, Giovanni Picchi, and Girolamo Dalla Casa, to name but a few.
La Fenice operahouse in the city
Interior design
It can be argued that Venice produced the most unique and refined Rococo designs. At the time, Venice was in a state of trouble. It had lost most of its maritime power, was lagging behind its rivals in political importance, and society had become decadent, with nobles wasting their money in gambling and partying. But Venice remained Italy's fashion capital, and was a serious contender to Paris in terms of wealth, architecture, luxury, taste, sophistication, trade, decoration, style, and design. Venetian Rococo was well-known for being rich and luxurious, with usually very extravagant designs. Unique Venetian furniture, such as the divani da portego, or long Rococo couches and pozzetti, objects meant to be placed against the wall. Venetian bedrooms were usually sumptuous and grand, with rich damask, velvet, and silk drapery and curtains, a beautifully carved Rococo beds with statues of putti, flowers and angels. Venice was especially famous for its beautiful girandole mirrors, which remained among, if not the, finest in Europe. Chandeliers were usually very colourful, using Murano glass to make them look more vibrant and stand out from others, and precious stones and materials from abroad were used, since Venice still held a vast trade empire. Lacquer was very common, and many items of furniture were covered with it, the most famous being lacca povera (poor lacuqer), in which allegories and images of social life were painted. Lacquerwork and Chinoiserie were particularly common in bureau cabinets.
Fashion and shopping
In the 14th century, many young Venetian men began wearing tight-fitting multicoloured hose, the designs on which indicated the Compagnie della Calza ("Trouser Club") to which they belonged. The Venetian Senate passed sumptuary laws, but these merely resulted in changes in fashion in order to circumvent the law. Dull garments were worn over colourful ones, which then were cut to show the hidden colours resulting in the wide spread of men's "slashed" fashions in the 15th century.
Today, Venice is also a major fashion and shopping centre in Italy, not as important as Milan, Florence, or Rome, but par to Turin, Vicenza, Naples, and Genoa. Roberta di Camerino is the only major Italian fashion brand to be based out of Venice. Founded in 1945, it is renowned for its innovative handbags featuring hardware by Venetian artisans and often covered in locally woven velvet, and has been credited with creating the concept of the easily recognisable status bag. Many of the fashion boutiques and jewelry shops in the city are located in the Rialto Bridge and the Piazza San Marco. At the current time, there are Louis Vuitton and Ermenegildo Zegna flagship stores operating in the city.
Luxury shops and boutiques along the Rialto Bridge.
Cuisine
Venetian cuisine is characterized by seafood, but also includes garden products from the islands of the lagoon, rice from the mainland, game, and polenta. Venice combines local traditions with influences that are distant from millennial business contacts. These include sarde in saor, sardines marinated in order to preserve them for long voyages; risi e bisi, rice and peas; fegato alla veneziana, Venetian-style liver; risotto with cuttlefish, blackened from the ink; cicchetti, refined and delicious tidbits (akin to tapas); antipasti, appetizers; and prosecco, an effervescent, mildly sweet wine.
In addition, Venice is famous for bisàto (marinated eel), for the golden, oval-shaped cookies called baicoli, and for different types of sweets such as: pan del pescatore (bread of the fisherman); cookies with almonds and pistachio nuts; cookies with fried Venetian cream or the bussolai (butter biscuits and shortbread made in the shape of an "S" or ring) from the island of Burano; the crostoli also known as the chatter, lies, or galani; the fregolotta (a crumbly cake with almonds); milk pudding called rosada; and cookies of yellow semolina called zaléti.
Hot chocolate was a fashionable drink in Venice during the 1770s and 1780s.
Veneto wine
Veneto is a wine region in north-eastern Italy, one of a group of three highly productive Italian regions known collectively as the Venezie (after the ancient Venetian Republic) and the biggest DOC producer of the three. Although the Venezie collectively produce more red wine than white, the Veneto region produces more whites under DOC and is home to the famous Soave wines.
The region is protected from the harsh northern European climate by the Alps, the foothills of which form the Veneto's northern extremes. These cooler climes are well-suited to white varieties like Garganega (the main grape for Soave wines) while the warmer Adriatic coastal plains and river valleys are where the renowned Valpolicella, Amarone and Bardolino DOC reds are produced.
Veneto's growers are among the most modernised in Italy. While most of the 'classic' wines from this area are based on native grape varieties like Prosecco and Verduzzo, high demand for Veneto wines in the European and US markets has galvanized the region's producers into experimentation with Cabernets, Chardonnay and Pinot varieties, among others. One of Italy's leading wine schools, Conegliano, is based here and the nation's most important wine fair, Vinitaly, takes place each spring in Verona.
Veneto is the 8th largest region of Italy in land mass, and a population of 4,371,000 ranks it 6th in that regard. It has over 90,000 hectares of vineyards, of which 35,400 being acclaimed DOC. Annual production totals 8,500,000 hectolitres, 1,700,000 or 21% of which is DOC, making it the biggest DOC producer in Italy. White wine accounts for 55% of the DOC production in Veneto.
Venetian cuisine
Venetian cuisine (from Venice or Veneto) has a centuries-long history, and it is significantly different from the other cuisines of North Italy as well as neighbouring Austria and Slavic countries, despite having something in common with all these ones. It may be divided into three main kinds of cuisine, the one in the coastal areas, the one in the plains, and the one in the mountain areas: the second one includes many local cuisines, having each city its own dishes.
The most common dish is polenta, which is cooked in various ways within the local cuisines of Veneto.
Coastal areas serve mainly seafood dishes, and its cuisine is common to Venice's one.
In the plains it is very popular to serve grilled meat (often by a barbecue, and in a mix of pork, beef and chicken meat) together with grilled polenta, potatoes or vegetables. A very popular dishes is also risotto, rice cooked with many different kinds of food, from vegetables, mushrooms, pumpkin or radicchio to seafood, pork meat or chicken livers. Bigoli (a typical Venetian fresh pasta, similar to a thicker kind of spaghetti), fettuccine (hand-made noodles), ravioli and the similar tortelli (filled with meat, cheese, vegetables or pumpkin) and gnocchi (potatoes-made fresh pasta), are fresh and often hand-made pasta[1] dishes, served together with meat sauce (ragù) made by beef, horse, chicken or duck, sometime together with mushrooms or peas, or simply with melted butter. Many kinds of meat such beef, pork, chicken, horse, donkey, rabbit, pheasant, duck or goose are very popular too.
Cuisine from the mountain areas is mainly made of pork or game meat, with polenta, as well as mushrooms or cheeses (made by cow milk), and some dish from Austrian or Tyrolese tradition such as canederli or strudel. A typical dish is casunziei, hand-made fresh pasta similar to ravioli.
Among the typical seasoning of Venetian cuisine, you can find butter, olive oil, sunflower oil, vinegar, kren, senape, mostarda, salsa verde.
Here it is just some typical dish; you can also visit the page for Venetian language to learn more about writing and pronouncing dishes' names.
Venice and the lagoon
Food and drink have played an important role in Venetian culture for centuries. This image shows a 16th century fresco in the Villa Caldogno, where some noblemen and noblewomen enjoy merenda, or a mid-afternoon snack, eating bussoli, or typical sweets from Vicenza.
Rixi e bixi: a poor but tasty dish consisting of a simple risotto with pancetta and peas cooked in a broth.
Sardełe in saor: fired sardines, dipped in partially fried onion in the same oil in which they are fried sardines, raisins and pine nuts (traditionally only by winter to increase the calories), other spices and sprinkled with plenty of vinegar. One leaves everything to marinate at least one night.
Mołeche: small green species crabs (Carcinus maenas), when they arrived at the peak of phase changes and then soft, they are fried. The mołeche are very valuable because the process of changing the water brackish lagoons lasts a few hours, the armor back hard and immediately return to be called maxenete.
Rixoto de gò: rice prepared with goby (of the Gobius ophiocephalus species), also known as gò, typical fish of the Venetian Lagoon.
Pasta e faxioi: bean soup with noodles (typically long pasta rough).
Połenta e schie: small shrimp from the lagoon (gray mud, gray-brown from boiled), fried and perched on a bed of white polenta very soft.
Sepe al nero: cuttlefish cooked with their ink lagoon.
Fegato ała venesiana: a high-class Venetian plate of liver, chopped and cooked together with chopped onions.
Bigołi in salsa: bigoli pasta served with an anchovy and onion sauce.
Among the many Venetian desserts, the most well-known are: the fritołe (or frittelle), the baicołi (or baicoli), xałeti (or zaletti), the pinsa (or pinza), the gałani (or galani), and the fugasa (or focaccia).
Different cakes and pastries in a Venetian food shop.
Venetan liver, or fegato alla veneziana in Italian, served with potatoes and sweetcorn.
A bottle and glass of Prosecco, which can be spumante (the more expensive extra frizzy) or frizzante (the cheaper frizzy).
Vicenza
Vicenza, along with Venice, has one of the most unique cuisines in the Veneto, not to mention Italy and Europe. Previously, the Vicentians were often referred to as the magnagati or mangiagatti (meaning "cat eaters") due to the presence of cats in their cuisine, but it is no longer present since the cooking of cats is illegal in Italy. Typical plates of the city and the surrounding area include:
Asiago cheese
Rubbio celery
Serexe de Marostega (Marostica cherries)
Nanto truffles
Bassano del Grappa asparaguses
I bixi de Lumignan and i bixi de Borso
Semi-liquid polenta (sometimes served with tomato sauce or puree)
Torexani de Breganse
Rotzo potatoes
Bacałà ała Visentina
Rixi e bixi
A vineyard near Vicenza. The Veneto is one of the greatest regions in Italy in terms of wine-making.
The rest of the Veneto
Tiramisu: one of the most popular desserts in Italy and Europe, it is made with chocolate, mascarpone, and dark-coffee-dipped savoiardi (a kind of Italian biscuits).
Mandorlato: typical Venetian hard torrone, made in the town of Cologna Veneta.
Pasta e faxioi ała veneta: a soup made by pasta, beans and bacon.
Grigliata mista: mixed grilled meats, as pork ribs, pork sausages, pork chops, chicken breasts, bacon strips, beef ribs, always served together with grilled polenta.
Gran bollito veneto (or bollito misto alla veneta): mixed boiled meats, beef, hen, beef tongue, cotechino, cooked together.
Galletto alla brace: grilled cockerel.
Maiale al latte: braised pork meat, cooked in the milk.
Tripe ała veneta: tripe cooked with vegetables, butter and olive oil, then to be served dressed with grated grana cheese.
Radicchio alla griglia: a Trevisan-based plate of grilled endive leaves.
Porchetta trevigiana: often stuffed inside a panino.
Gallina alla canèvera: a dish from a very old Padua or Vicenza tradition, dating back to the Middle-Age, in which hen meat is boiled together with mixed vegetables inside a pork bladder.
Połenta bianca: a variety of polenta made by biancoperla cornmeal, it is typical of the plain areas but above all of the territories of Padua and Venice, and it has a white and not yellow colour.
Sfilacci di cavallo: frayed dried horse meat, typical of Padua and its province, it can be traditionally used to dress a bigoli dish or eaten alone, but in modern years it is popular also to dress a pizza.
Oca in onto: a goose marinated for some day in salt or herbes and under its own fat, to be cooked later, typical of the area of Padua.
Bigołi al'arna: bigoli pasta served together with a duck meat sauce.
Spezzatino di musso: donkey stew.
Połenta e oxełi: roasted small birds, as quails, served together with polenta - this dish, at the time of the Republic of Venice, was exported to East Lombardy too, and in Bergamo a cake took the same name (polenta e osei).
Casunziei.
Pastìn: a typical food from Belluno, consists of mixed pork and beef meat, cut anyhow. Spices may be added in it, and this food is often eaten along with polenta.
Brasato all'amarone: braised beef meat cooked with Amarone wine, often served together with polenta.
Pastisada de caval: a dish from Veronese cuisine, dating back to the Middle-Age, in which horse meat is prepared with laurel, nutmeg, cloves, salt, pepper, vegetables, flour and beef broth, then served together with polenta.
Lesso con la pearà: typical dish of Verona area, it consists of mixed meats boiled together with vegetables, beef and veal marrow, and broth.
Tortellini di Valeggio: hand-made fresh pasta of tortellini kind, stuffed with a mix of beef and pork meats, and vegetables, usually served with melted butter and sage, they are typical of the town of Valeggio on the river Mincio, southwest of Verona.
Riso Vialone Nano: a variety of rice typical of southern Veronese plain (Bassa Veronese), it is the rice used to prepare risotti across Veneto.
Soppressa: typical Venetian soft salami, it can be garlic-added.
Carpaccio.
Tiramisu, a well-known dessert from the Veneto region.
Drinks and alcoholic beverages
Prosecco: a popular sparkling wine, which is often secco, which is dry, or amabile, which gives it a relatively sweet taste.
Pinot Grigio: one of the most common and prestigious wines of the region.
Bianco di Custoza: also one of the best wines of the region, it is cultivated in the Soave region near lake Garda.
Language
Venetian or the regional form Venetan is a Romance language spoken as native language by over two million people, mostly in Venice, but also the Veneto region of Italy, where of five million inhabitants almost all can understand it. It is sometime spoken and often well understood outside Veneto, in Trentino, Friuli, Venezia Giulia, Istria, and some towns of Dalmatia, an area of six to seven million people. The language enjoyed substantial prestige in the days of the Venetian Republic, when it attained the status of a lingua franca in the Mediterranean
Literature
Venice has long been a source of inspiration for authors, poets and playwrights as well as being at the forefront of the technical developing of printing and publishing.
Two of the most famous Venetian writers were Marco Polo in the Middle Ages and later Giacomo Casanova. Polo (1254–1324) was a merchant who voyaged to the Orient. His series of books, co-written by Rustichello da Pisa, titled Il Milione provided important knowledge of the lands east of Europe, from the Middle East, to China, Japan and Russia. Giacomo Casanova (1725–1798) was a prolific writer and famous adventurer best remembered for his autobiography, Histoire De Ma Vie (Story of My Life), which links his colourful lifestyle to the city of Venice.
Venetian playwrights followed the old Italian theatre tradition of Commedia dell'Arte. Ruzante (1502–1542) and Carlo Goldoni (1707–1793) used the Venetian dialect extensively in their comedies.
Portrait of Giacomo Casanova
Venice has also inspired writers from abroad. Shakespeare set Othello and The Merchant of Venice in the city. Thomas Mann authored the novel Death in Venice, published in 1912. Venice inspired the poetry of Ezra Pound, who wrote his first literary work in the city. Pound died in 1972 and his remains are buried in Venice's cemetery island of St. Michael. The French writer Philippe Sollers spent most of his life in Venice and published A Dictionary For Lovers Of Venice in 2004. Ugo Foscolo (1778–1827) born in Zante, an island that at the time belonged to the Republic of Venice, was also a famous poet and revolutionary who wanted to see a free republic established in Venice following the fall to Napoleon. The city features prominently in Henry James' The Wings of the Dove and is also visited in Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited and Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time.
Venice is also linked to the technical aspects of writing. The city was the location for one of Italy's earliest printing presses, established by Aldus Manutius (1449–1515). From this beginning Venice developed as an important typographic center and even as late as the 18th century was responsible for printing half of Italy's published books.
book printed by Aldus Manutius
Art and printing
Venice, especially during the Middle-Ages, Renaissance and Baroque, was a major centre of art and developed a unique style known as the Venetian School. In the Middle-Ages and the Renaissance, Venice, along with Florence and Rome, became one of the most important centres of art in Europe, and numerous wealthy Venetians became patrons of the arts. Venice at the time was a rich and prosperous Maritime Republic, which controlled a vast sea and trade empire.
By the end of the 15th century, Venice had become the European capital of printing, being one of the first cities in Italy (after Subiaco and Rome) to have a printing press after those established in Germany, having 417 printers by 1500. The most important printing office was the Aldine Press of Aldus Manutius, which in 1499 printed the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, considered the most beautiful book of Renaissance, and established modern punctuation, the page format and italic type, and the first printed work of Aristotle.
In the sixteenth century Venetian painting was developed through influences from the Paduan School and Antonello da Messina, who introduced the oil painting technique of the van Eyck brothers. It is signified by a warm colour scale and a picturesque use of colour. Early masters where the Bellini and Vivarini families, followed by Giorgione and Titian, then Tintoretto and Veronese. In the early 16th century, also, there was rivalry between whether Venetian painting should use disegno or colorito.
Canvases (the common painting surface) originated in Venice during the early renaissance. These early canvases were generally rough.
In the eighteenth century Venetian painting had a renaissance because of Tiepolo's decorative painting and Canaletto's and Guardi's panoramic views.
An 18th century view of Venice by Venetian artist Canaletto.
Glass
Venice is famous for its ornate glass-work, known as Venetian glass. It is world-renowned for being colourful, elaborate, and skilfully made.
Many of the important characteristics of these objects had been developed by the thirteenth century. Toward the end of that century, the center of the Venetian glass industry moved to Murano.
Byzantine craftsmen played an important role in the development of Venetian glass, an art form for which the city is well-known. When Constantinople was sacked by the Fourth Crusade in 1204, some fleeing artisans came to Venice. This happened again when the Ottomans took Constantinople in 1453, supplying Venice with still more glassworkers. By the sixteenth century, Venetian artisans had gained even greater control over the color and transparency of their glass, and had mastered a variety of decorative techniques.
A Venetian glass goblet
Despite efforts to keep Venetian glassmaking techniques within Venice, they became known elsewhere, and Venetian-style glassware was produced in other Italian cities and other countries of Europe.
Some of the most important brands of glass in the world today are still produced in the historical glass factories on Murano. They are : Venini, Barovier & Toso, Pauly, Millevetri, Seguso. Barovier & Toso is considered one of the 100 oldest companies in the world, formed in 1295.
One of the most renowned types of Venetian glasses are made in Murano, known as Murano glass, which has been a famous product of the Venetian island of Murano for centuries. Located off the shore of Venice, Italy, Murano was a commercial port as far back as the 7th century. By the 10th century it had become a well-known city of trade. Today Murano remains a destination for tourists and art and jewellery lovers alike.
An ornate Murano glass chandelier.
Festivals
The Carnival of Venice is held annually in the city, starting around two weeks before Ash Wednesday and ends on Shrove Tuesday. The carnival is closely associated with Venetian masks.
The Venice Biennale is one of the most important events in the arts calendar. During 1893 headed by the mayor of Venice, Riccardo Selvatico, the Venetian City Council passed a resolution on 19 April to set up an Esposizione biennale artistica nazionale (biennial exhibition of Italian art), to be inaugurated on 22 April 1895. Following the outbreak of hostilities during the Second World War, the activities of the Biennale were interrupted in September 1942, but resumed in 1948.
The Venice Film Festival (Italian Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica di Venezia) is the oldest film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the Lido, Venice, Italy. Screenings take place in the historic Palazzo del Cinema on the Lungomare Marconi. It is one of the world's most prestigious film festivals and is part of the Venice Biennale.
