The capital of northern Italy’s Veneto region, Venice is one of the oldest tourist attractions. The “city of canals has more to offer than you ever thought of.
Here are 8 amazing facts about Venice that will blow your mind.
1. The first stone of the San Giacomo di Rialto church
Venice was founded on March 25th 421, with the laying of the first stone of the San Giacomo di Rialto San Giacometto Church. These origins are reported in the Chronicon Altinate. It is a Latin chronicle that recounts the legends of the city’s founding, and later by Venetian historian Marin Sanudo, who reported the massive fire on the Rialto bridge in 1514:
2. The lagoon city is built on wood
Those breathtaking piazzas and opulent buildings are all the more impressive when you look around and notice that it’s all rising from the water.
How was the city built on such fluid foundations? Before Venice became what we know it is today, the area was a muddy, marshy lagoon with all the islands spread across its swampy plains.
To transform it into the floating city that it’s now known as early settlers had to drain the lagoon and dig the canals. They installed wooden stakes, or logs, to line them and create a barrier, which also lay on hard clay beneath. They then built wooden platforms on top of the stakes and put stones on top of those. Venice’s buildings are built on these foundations.
How has the wood endured the years? You might think the material would have decayed, leaving the whole city to crumble into the canals. In fact, the water around Venice is low in oxygen and so the conditions aren’t viable for microorganisms that may break down the wood.
What’s more, the saltwater has meant that salt and other minerals have been absorbed, hardening the wood into a stone-strength material.
3. Canals with a depth of 17 metres
It’s hard to gauge just how far down Venice’s waterways go, as the water is usually not transparent. The canals all vary in depth, but they’re mostly around 1.5 to 2 metres deep, depending on the tides and whether work is being carried out.
The Grand Canal, the main one that runs right through the centre of Venice and is known as the Canalazzo to locals, is deeper – at 5 metres. It stretches for two and a half miles and has over 170 buildings perched along its length.
S-shape is thought to be ancient and it existed back in Roman times when people lived in stilt houses along its banks.
There are canals deeper still in Venice. The Canale Della Giudecca – the waterway that separates Venice from the island of Giudecca – is 12-17 metres deep.
4. The world’s narrowest streets
You’re guaranteed a great view no matter where you walk in Venice.
While you’re wandering along its 150 canals and 400 footbridges, you can find one of the world’s narrowest streets. Calletta Varisco measures just 53cm – or 21 inches – across. This is definitely not a route for strolling hand in hand with your partner
5. Venice ruled itself for 1,100 years
The city of canals was an independent empire for more than a millennium. Known as La Serenissima from 697, its autonomy was ultimately brought to an end when Napoleon took control in 1797. France and Austria fought for ruling power until eventually, the city became part of the Kingdom of Italy in 1866 under King Vittorio Emanuele II.
Before that time, Venice ruled most of the Mediterranean and traded with western Asia, hitting its peak of power in the 14th century. Islands such as Crete and Cyprus were under Venice’s rule and it also had a lot of clout in the city of Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul).
Because of its topography, Venice became a plucky empire, needing to survive with good trade links and shipbuilding. It couldn’t rely on much else, such as agriculture, so with good business acumen, Venice became one of the wealthiest cities.
6. Gondoliers are disappearing
As no motor transport is allowed in Venice’s historic centre, you get around on foot or by the famously romantic mode of transport, the gondola.
But both the boats and the professionals who steer them are disappearing. You need a professional licence to become a gondolier and only about three or four are granted each year. It’s no wonder when you consider that it takes 400 hours of training to get one – as well as the requirement to pass an exam on Venetian history and architecture.
7. Only one official woman gondolier
As the gondolier profession was historically passed from father to son, women never had the chance to pursue this as a career.
After almost a thousand years of being an exclusively male business, Giorgia Boscolo, the daughter of a gondolier, became Venice’s first licensed gondoliera around 2010.
But that’s not to say that there aren’t other women rowing or even building boats in Venice.
8. Venetians invented quarantine
Sounds weird yet surprising, but it’s true. Venice built an empire by trading widely by sea, it followed that ships docking in the city would also bring diseases with them and outbreaks could follow.
To prevent this from happening, ships would be required to sit offshore for 40 days – which is where we get the word ‘quarantine’ from (40 in Italian is quaranta).
The Venetian government created a quarantine in 1348, after which people and goods arriving in the city would be taken to an isolated island. If Venetians had been exposed to the plague, they and their families would also be sent there. If it turned out they were infected, they’d be sent to another, a separate island full of infected people.
If after 40 days, the signs of infection had passed, they were free to go.
