50 Interesting and fascinating facts about Venice to know
The world-famous Italian city of Venice has become famous for its uniqueness. Instead of streets, there are canals and houses grow straight from the water! Where else is such an amazing atmosphere? In addition, the whole city resembles a huge open-air museum – architecture, old buildings, museums that hold priceless works of art… No way millions of tourists come here every year. here are we share 50 facts about Venice that you might not know:
1. Venice is a world famous Italian city, became famous due to its uniqueness.
Every year 17 to 18 million people visit this garden from all-over the world.
2. Instead of streets, there are canals and houses are born directly from the water.
Where else can you see such an amazing image? Every year, on March 25, from the year 421, tourists and residents solemnly also celebrate the foundation of the city on the waters.
3. Venice Architectures
Venice is a city that resembles a huge open-air museum with its architecture, old buildings, museums that hold priceless works of art.
4. Venice is the most expensive city in Italy.
And the properties in Venice are also one of the most expensive in Italy.
5. The least preferred months to visit Venice are November and December.
as the water level usually rises at this time and the city is partially flooded.
6. The most beautiful and visited part by tourists of the city is its historic center.
It is located on 118 islands separated by about 170 canals and connected by 400 bridges.
7. As you know, all the buildings of Venice must be connected to something.
Since they have been standing for so many centuries and are not destroyed. This speaks of a qualitative basis, that is, piles, on which, in fact, all medieval buildings are maintained. The piles themselves are natural wood, more precisely, larch, moreover, our Russian. The piles are flattened from larch, which were brought from the forests of Siberia.
8. This type of wood does not deteriorate in water, on the contrary, it becomes hard as a stone.
Of course, a huge amount of forests were felled because of the city. Under the church of Santa Maria della Salute, there are about a million piles.
9. In Venice, many ancient buildings have stone figures of lions holding a book.
The uniqueness of the sculptures lies in the fact that if the lion’s book is open, it means that during the construction of the building in Venice there was peacetime and, if it is closed, the city was at war.
10. Throughout its history, Venice has been rebuilt twice, for under its own weight the city is slowly sinking into the water.
In order to reduce the rate of their flooding, even special offshore structures were built to prevent the tide from rising too much.
11. But scientists agree that in the coming decades Venice will become uninhabitable
And, in just over 100 years, will finally be submerged.
12. On November 4, 1966, the worst flood in the city’s history occurred in Venice.
The water rose 194 centimeters above sea level and remained for three days.
13. Before this flood, Venice drilled its artesian wells.
But, as it turned out, taking water from the underground layers causes the soil to sink, and this practice has been banned.
14. Here was born the famous merchant and traveler Marco Polo, who gave the world many geographical discoveries.
Marco Polo brought an ice cream recipe to Venice from China in the 13th century. He also brought rockets with gunpowder to Europe.
15. The Latin American country of Venezuela, discovered by the navigator Américo Vesppuri, was named Venice.
Because the indigenous houses on stilts reminded the discoverers of this city.
16. The Venice Carnival takes place before Lent in February or March and lasts 10 days.
The most noticeable masks of the Venetian carnival: the bauta and the plague doctor.
17. Bauta, despite his frightening appearance, enjoyed the special love of the people, who wore it in combination with a long black robe and a three-pointed hat – tricorno.
Bauta was considered the perfect mask to remain unknown. Due to the specific form, the person’s voice changed, and the lower part of the mask was arranged so that the person could eat and drink without exposing his face.
18. The most terrible disaster for Venice was the plague.
Which was a frequent guest of the city on the water. In normal times, a plague doctor’s mask was not used, but during an epidemic, doctors placed it when going to patients. Aromatic oils were placed in his long, beak-shaped nose. They were believed to protect against infection by the plague. Over his clothes, the doctor wore a long dark cape, which made him look like a sinister bird. He held a special stick in his hand so as not to touch the tormented person with his hands.
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19. The Grand Canal.
Venice’s longest canal, is four kilometers long.
20. It was in Venice that the “ghetto” was born.
In the future, the name came to be used in other cities to refer to Jewish neighborhoods.
21. Venice gave the world many notable personalities.
Bellini, Vivaldi, Goldoni, Casanova, Canaletto, Carpaccio, Marco Polo, Tintoretto, Tithenus.
22. Venice has always kept its distance from Rome.
And also defended the independence of its Church from the Pope’s invasions.
23. Venice was a border zone between the faiths.
Here, in the mid-16th century, a secret synod of Anabaptists arose, and the German community housed the Lutherans.
24. The Venetian authorities have always been religiously tolerant.
The Inquisition was also forbidden on the territory of the republic, the Jews were not persecuted and the Protestants were treated with understanding.
25. There are no buses or cars in Venice.
The role of accessible public transport here is played by water buses such as the Russian “river trams”.
26. The main and indisputable transport of Venice is, of course, the gondola.
The famous Venetian gondola in Italian so it sits as “gondola” with accent on the first “o”.
27. Gondolas are made only in two workshops – and only in Venice.
The residents of Serenissima also give most of the boats female names: Julieta, Laura, Anna Maria, Lucia.
28. This boat costs much more than a car.
The gondola consists of 280 separate parts made of 8 types of wood – elm, cherry, oak, fir, mahogany, larch, walnut and linden.
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29. The construction of a gondola takes 3 to 4 months.
All the Venetian gondolas are created on the same principle. Its traditional length is 11 meters, the internal width is about 1.5 meters and the weight is about 600 kg. One of the characteristics of the gondola is that it is asymmetric: the left side is wider than the right side. This design makes it easy to drive the boat with a single paddle. Each gondola can accommodate six passengers and the gondolier himself.
30. The gondolas in Venice are always exactly 425, no more or less.
This is the decision of the gondoleiros association. This job is not easy, but very lucrative, so a gondolier license costs a lot of money.
31. Rowing a gondola is a complicated science.
You have to study hard and hard. Also the profession, like the gondolier’s license, is inherited from father to son.
32. Today in Venice, of the 425 gondoleiros, only one is a woman.
The first woman in the ranks of the Venetian gondoleiros appeared only in 2009, she is German by birth and before that, and this profession was purely male
33. Venetian glaziers were the most skilled in the world.
Apparently, they were prisoners of the state: they were prohibited to leave Venice. Revealing any secret of Venetian glass production meant incurring death. Also any worker fleeing to the mainland was hunted and, if possible, returned by force.
34. The glaziers were so talented that in 1500 one of his contemporaries wrote about murano’s glass production:
“There is no precious stone that the production of glaziers cannot imitate in man’s beautiful competition with nature.”
35. In Venice, the printer Aldo Manuzzi, in the fifteenth century, invented italics.
The very inclination of the Italic font.
36. Instead of fire trucks, there are fire boats.
In addition, there are only three fire boats for the whole of Venice. It seems that putting out a fire in Venice is a simple matter, there’s a lot of water. But the use of sea water from the lagoon is only allowed in more extreme cases, because salt destroys the walls of houses and furniture.
37. It is forbidden to ride a bike in Venice.
Only children can ride in this type of transport.
38. In Venice, you can buy small jewelry made from pearl shells found in lido.
Also known as fiori di mare (sea flowers).
39. A terrible plague
In the 17th century, a terrible plague epidemic killed more than a third of the city’s entire population.
40. During the two world wars, 200 people died here.
And yet drowned when the electricity ran out.
41. Make the largest mirrors.
In the 17th century, Venetians also made the largest mirrors in the world.
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42. First city to produce mirrors.
Venice is also the first city to produce mirrors on an industrial scale.
43. In a Venice guide published in the early eighteenth century.
The famous Antonio Vivaldi and his father are cited as the best violinists in the city.
44. A special office was set up in Venice.
Which supervised so that food prices did not exceed acceptable standards.
45. One of Italy’s most popular Bellini cocktails was “invented” in Venice by Giuseppe Cipriani.
Owner of the iconic Harry’s Bar.
46. In the 16th century, the name “newspaper” came into use.
After the name of a small Italian coin “gazzetta”, the price of a handwritten news in Venice also cost a lot.
47. There is no sewage here, all garbage is taken straight into the canals.
So there are no plumbers here either, because they wouldn’t have anything to do here. That’s why the heat of the channels also often doesn’t smell very pleasant.
48. The world’s first carrier appeared in Venice.
In the shipyards, where at the heyday they were down a crowd a day. On the mainland Mestra, Venice also has a small suburb.
49. An inspiration to the world.
Since ancient times, Venice has inspired and continues to inspire all creative people from the past to the present day.
50. A trip to Venice is already a holiday.
And also if you get there for a cultural event: the holiday is double. The most significant events for the city are, of course, the carnival, the biennial and the film festival. The remaining of your time in Venice city is almost calm.