Overview

Venice – The Queen of Adriatic

Venice From Space

Going to Venice is like walking into a dream city where streets turn into canals, buses and cabs into beautiful boats and gondolas, where pretty houses seem to be floating on water and the ornate bridges replace subways. It is a dream but if you look closely, there are so many elements of reality here; Venice is like any other city where people go about their daily business hurriedly. There are commuters rushing to catch the vaporetti, the fisherman in a hurry to get to the market and the garbage guy on about his business.

Look up and between the narrow canal – alleys and you will see a sliver of the beautiful cerulean sky interspersed with the day’s washing hanging out of windows. Look down and you will see the mesmerizing Adriatic supporting your boat. The canals are the life blood of Venice, a part of every important milestone in the city-dwellers’ lives – marriages, funerals, carnivals, regattas.

Once an uninviting marshland, Venice today is the most beautiful city on the planet –romantic and lively; an amalgam of old and new and a delirious heaven from where you never want to come back. Called by many names like Venezia, La Serenissima and the City of Canals & Palaces; Venice is tops every tourist’s wish list.

Get to know this fabulous city that seems to have been pulled right out of a romantic fantasy, before you get there.

Venice through the years

The islands of the Venetian lagoon were first settled by refugees fleeing the invasion of the Lombards as the declining powers of the Byzantine Empire had proven worthless in defence. This was during the 5th and 6th centuries AD when the early settlers reclaimed the marshy land and built villages on rafts of wooden posts driven into the subsoil, laying the foundations for the Venice of today. The traditional date of Venice's birth is given as 25 March 421 AD celebrated today as St. Mark’s Day – St. Mark is the patron saint of Venice. In the subsequent centuries as Venice grappled with the changing political situation in the region Torcello became the most important island village in the lagoon and a cathedral was built there in AD 639 when the Bishop of Altinum transferred his seat to Torcello. At this time, Venice was part of the Byzantine Empire.

Arsenale in Venice

In an attempt to retain his grip on northern Italy the Byzantine Emperor, Leo III, organised the various island communities into a coalition sufficiently powerful to withstand the barbarian invaders. The first Doge, Paoluccio Anafesto, was elected as its leader in 697 AD. However, the construction of Palazzo Ducale or the Doges' Palace in what is today St. Mark's Square did not begin until the year 814. . In 828 AD Venice acquired the relics of Saint Mark who was proclaimed as the city's new Patron Saint and the Basilica of St. Mark's was built in 834.

The Venetians were excellent sailors and energetic merchants and soon brought Venice to the forefront of the trade with East. By1000 AD, Venice was a shipping and mercantile power to reckon with and after having defeated marauding pirates in this century became even stronger in the mercantile circles trading undisturbed in spices, silk, rice, sugar from Asia, North Africa and the Middle-East.

The Crusades became an excellent business opportunity for the Venetians who used them to extend their rule over the Aegean islands, Peleponesia, Crete and part of Constantinople. Much wealth and many works of art were taken to Venice as booty, especially from Constantinople; such as the four bronze horses (above, left) of St. Mark's. With the banner of St. Mark flying over most of the eastern Mediterranean, Venice was moving from strength to strength and refining their administrative system as well with governmental checks and balances in place, overseen by the Great Council made up of members of the city's powerful and moneyed families.

However, Venice's rapid expansion had piqued the interest of rival Genoa and several inconclusive battles and peace treaties ensued in the next few decades. This changed with Venice's victory in the Battle of Chioggia in 1380 and the city state turned its attention to the mainland, acquiring self-sufficiency and allies to bolster its population, which had been decimated by the Black Death in 1348. Venice remained top of the heap as a mercantile power until 1453 when the Turks captured Constantinople ending an era of Venetian dominance.

The time after this was the nadir of this great power as Turks started taking over La Serenissima's Mediterranean empire. Within the empire too, things were not looking good as rampant corruption joined hands with soft political will to create the beginning of a rot in the system. The rest was taken care by successive bouts of Plague decimating the city’s population and the final injury occurred when a host of art treasures were lost when the doge's palace went up in flames. The scene was set for the arrival of Napoleon in 1797, and the city's eventual shunting into Austrian hands.

The Austrians never quite invaded the populace’s heart or earned its loyalty and Venice rebelled in 1848 against the Austrian Empire. The movement for Italian unification spread quickly through the Veneto, and Venice was finally united with the Kingdom of Italy in 1866. The city was a hive of activity during the last decades of the 19th century: increased port traffic was coupled with growing industry; a railway bridge linking Venice with the mainland was built, permanently erasing the lagoon city's island status; canals were widened and deepened; pedestrian zones were laid out in the city centre, and tourism began to take off.

Today Venice is but a shadow of the powerful empire that it once was but tourism and a spate of new industries are keeping it afloat. The threat of submersion is ever present, but the gondolas are not likely to stop regaling tourists anytime soon.

The best times in Venice

Whether it is summer, spring or winter, there is never a bad time to go to Venice. However, the traditional tourist months are from Easter to October when hotels are packed to the ceilings and Euros fly out of your hands like goose down. A similar scene can be witnessed during the Carnival in February (the 10 days up to Shrove Tuesday) and Christmas.

Summers are hard on tourists but the city becomes a little more affordable, so if you can manage the trade-off, summer is a good time to visit too. Spring and autumn are the most comfortable seasons to be in Venice however November is the time the "Acqua Alta" (Right) and every time water laps up against your ankles you question its source!