The images with the floating “roads” in Venice, the picturesque gondoliers and the impressive palace to frame the canals of the city are among the most characteristic that one brings to mind when hearing the word Italy. Unfortunately, the rising water level has destroyed much of the historic city and threatens to “swallow” it completely in the future, reports grunge.com.
With that in mind, one might reasonably wonder why the site was chosen, building a city literally on the water. Ironically, then, the answer is because its location has allowed the city to go down in history for centuries.
The real reason Venice was built on water
Life in Europe, then, during and after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire was an ongoing battle for power and survival. While the city of Rome was no longer the capital of the empire, its plunder by the Visigoths in 410 AD. essentially destroyed the autonomy of the western kingdom. The controversial exception is the Kingdom of the Soissons – a western Roman state in present-day northern France that survived a few more decades – according to The History Files.
However, the Visigoths’ possession extended from Italy to Spain and would last for more than 300 years, according to grunge.com. However, in 421 AD, the Venetians – former Celtic citizens of Rome – left the mainland for a swamp in defiance of their would-be rulers.
The Venetians, therefore, set up the meager fishing grounds at the site for two reasons: security from the armies of their enemies on land and to be as close as possible to the Byzantine / Eastern Roman protection. In order for their new homeland to become a reality, it took years of intensive design and construction to tame the sand and water. Large wooden piles served as foundations and when rocked and fossilized by sea water, they were more powerful to support huge stone structures.
Thus, Venice managed to evolve from the ambitious architectural work of desperate refugees into one of the most powerful naval forces in Europe in a few centuries. By 1204, the Venetians were quite powerful, and even when Venetian influence waned, their geography allowed them to remain independent until 1797, when the country was conquered by Napoleon. The city then passed from the hands of the French to those of the Austrians, until 1866 when the unified Italian state was created.
Source: News Beast
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