Venetian (not the planet or California beach)
Secrets
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Thursday, April 14, 2011
What makes Venice Work?
10 comments:
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JMcD said...
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Although they are attractive and interesting cities, I have never understood why Venice and New Orleans were built where they were.The many problems and dangers and constant deterioration have never seemed to make it a good choice.
It'd be a shame if they weren't there, but it sure looks like a tough row to hoe. -
4/14/11, 2:16 PM
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Anonymous said...
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People keep saying how beautiful that city is and it's plain to see that it once was; but it just looks like a slum to me, little different from Detroit. The same can be said for the most of the rest of Europe.
GrinfilledCelt -
4/14/11, 2:32 PM
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Anonymous said...
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Venice was founded in a marshy area near the city of Aquileia (one of the top ten Roman cities), when Aquileia was destroyed by Attila ~400AD. The marshy area made it impossible to besiege the city due to the presence of disease in the swamp. Venice is a wonder, I highly recommend a visit, even with the absurd amount of tourist shops. And in Italy the food is always good.
Luigi Palmieri -
4/14/11, 3:03 PM
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Scott Milner said...
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That was easily the best 15 minutes that I've spent online in quite some time.
Thanks, Rodge! -
4/14/11, 3:15 PM
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Anonymous said...
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What Luigi said. The location was chosen as a retreat from the Hun invasion ~400-500 AD. Some stayed, trade by sea grew, and all went well until the 1500's when the government decided that cleaning canal bottoms every few years cost too much and diverted two rivers that flushed the lagoon and also brought silt that slowed the settling of the buildings. Settling accelerated from then until the 1950 -60's post war boom, when growth on the nearby mainland took off, and the new growth of industry and population started pulling down the acquifer under Venice and really accelerated the settling of the islands. I don't know if the various parties with diverging interests - mainlanders, Venice, industry and farmers - have agreed on a plan to remedy the problem or not.
I haven't been there in more than thirty years, but while working in Italy, I went numerous times in off seasons and found the place to be a delight for the senses; a multitude of colors and textures in the buildings, real eye candy if you like architecture with contrasts and depth of features, the sea breezes carrying aromas of a fruit stand yet unseen around the corner, fish markets, cooking smells, all unpolluted by diesel and other automotive smells, and the quiet of a city without the roar of trucks and car tires, where the buzz of conversation and the clink of china and silverware can be heard while walking down the street.
Thanks Rodger, I enjoyed that.
Lt. Col. Gen. Tailgunner dick -
4/14/11, 3:38 PM
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toadold said...
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Big cities tend to be built at natural port locations on or near the see or at a confluence of inland water ways. Often these areas are subject to inconveniences inherit with the locations. Soft, swampy land, flooding, disease, tsunami's, and etc. New York City is technically a port city for instance as is Los Angeles. St.Louis is an example of an inland river port city.
In Austria and Switzerland you will find cities that are on the edges of lakes that originally had habitation built on on pilings and islands in the lakes for security. -
4/14/11, 4:55 PM
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SFAOV Sgsaur said...
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I took my daughter to Europe two years ago, and Venice was her favorite place. The food is amazing, the people are friendly and the views are breathtaking. If I ever lose my mind and decide to jump the broom again, Venice is where I'm spending my honeymoon.
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4/14/11, 7:22 PM
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Anonymous said...
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were it not for the corps of engineers new orleans would not be a port city today not many people would live there katrina would have been a non issue
george
wv:domel yes the dome was hell -
4/14/11, 11:02 PM
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Anonymous said...
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"That was easily the best 15 minutes that I've spent online in quite some time."
You get out too much, Scott.
GrinfilledCelt -
4/15/11, 12:37 AM
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BlogDog said...
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That would be "Venusian" for the planet anyway.
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4/15/11, 8:24 AM
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