Thursday evening we packed up our things and were off to the next city in Italy - Venice! Traveling in Europe by train is easy and very convenient - if you're noticed we traveled by train to all of the different cities while my parents were in Italy. Venice is located in Northern Italy and is known for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and artwork. Venice has had many nicknames over the years for its setting "Queen of the Adriatic" "City of Water" and the "Floating City" to name a few. The city itself stretches across 117 small islands in the Venetian Lagoon and Adriatic Sea. During the Middle ages and Renaissance the city was a staggering power, and very important center of commerce, making Venice an extremely wealthy city.
We arrived in Venice around 7pm - so although dark it was evident why the city is nick named the floating city - buildings upon buildings look as if there are just emerging from the sea - wherever there would be a street or an alley way, its filled with water and there are boats and gondola's everywhere! After being blown away by this city - I needed to know how it was possible that these beautiful palaces and gigantic buildings were emerging from the sea! Here's what I found... The buildings of Venice are constructed on closely spaced wooden piles, most of the piles are still intact after centuries of submersion. The foundations rest on the piles and the buildings of brick or stone sit about the footings. The piles penetrate a softer layer of sand and mud until they reach a much harder layer of compressed clay.
Why does the wood not decay after centuries of submersion? - Wood does not decay as rapidly in oxygen-poor conditions as it would on the surface. It is petrified as a result of the constant flow of mineral rich water; making it become a stone like structure. Question answered.
on the vaporetto (waterbus)
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