Venice: Why was this floating Italian city built on a lagoon?
Known for its Gondola rides, beautiful historical churches, cafes and scrumptious Italian pizzas and pasta, Venice is on the bucket list for most of us. It’s a place you must see to believe—a city literally floating in a lagoon of water, reeds and marshland! But how was this exotic place born and what is keeping it alive? Let us find out.
How was Venice born?
This beautiful city is built on 118 islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges, in the middle of the shallow Venetian Lagoon at the head of the Adriatic Sea in Northern Italy. That’s how it gets its name, the floating city.
But what led to such a formation? After all, why would anyone want to live on a muddy waterlogged island, that too in the middle of a lagoon? Well, fear can make you do anything! Most historians believe that the original population of Venice consisted of refugees who fled from nearby Roman cities to find shelter from successive waves of Germanic and Hun invasions ravaging Italy in the 5th century AD. They found refuge in the marshy lagoon among the poor fishermen living there. With invasions continuing in Italy, more and more refugees joined the first settlers and the need to build a new city grew.
But building the entire city on a marshland wasn’t easy. So, hundreds of canals were dug and wood pilings were used to shore up the banks so close together that they were touching. For their own buildings too, similar wood pilings were used as foundations. And voila, Venice was born in 421 AD. But doesn’t the wood rot? No, because the wood was underwater, it didn’t rot. It is extremely astonishing, but there are many buildings in Venice today that are still standing on 1000-year-old piles of wood!
From a sovereign region to a unique Italian city
The city remained the capital of the Republic of Venice for over a millennium, from 697 to 1797. It was also a major financial and maritime power as well as an important centre of commerce for silk, grain, and spice, and of art. However, the sovereignty of Venice came to an end in 1797, at the hands of the French military leader Napoleon. Subsequently, in 1866, the city became part of the Kingdom of Italy.
Venice: The sinking city
Actually, Venice began sinking the moment it was built as it was built on dirt and mud. From the beginning, the weight of the city pushed down on the dirt and mud, squeezing out water and compacting the soil. This phenomenon, together with the natural movement of high tides causes periodic flooding in the city, creating a sinking sensation.
But there is more to it. The city always was in a dearth of drinking water since it was built on a lagoon and surrounded by the salty Mediterranean Sea. So, in the 1960s, a series of artisan wells were opened across the city and to service these wells, deep holes were drilled, past the piles and into the hard clay the piles were standing on. This weakened the structural integrity of the wood and the city began to sink at an increased rate. As soon as the city realised the error of its actions, it stopped but it was too late. Over the past 100 years, the city has already sunk nine inches. Today, it is banned to drill into the ground across the city.
The erosion is also increasing caused by motorised vehicles in the canals which have doubled over the last 10 years. These motorised vehicles create more disruption and turbulence in the water than their rowed counterparts damaging the buildings lining the Grand Canal.
Bonus fact: Venice has earned many monikers for itself because of its uniqueness. It is known as the "City of Masks", "City of Bridges", “City of Water", "The Floating City", and "City of Canals".