Venezia

Hello readers,

This post is going to be all about Venice.

Venice is quite an interesting city. It is built entirely on water. There are no cars or anything on the street. The streets are literally water. They have boats as cars and even stop lights directly water traffic. It is basically a maze. It is incredibly difficult to find one’s way around when navigating the streets. I got lost multiple times. Haha.

In any case, many people, including myself, don’t really understand the foundation of Venice.

It is literally built ON the ocean. The buildings of Venice are constructed on closely spaced wooden piles. Most of these piles are still intact after centuries of submersion. The foundations rest on the piles, and buildings of brick or stone sit above these footings. The piles penetrate a softer layer of sand and mud until they reach a much harder layer of compressed clay. Submerged by water, in oxygen-poor conditions, wood does not decay as rapidly as on the surface.

Unfortunately, after so many years of being on the water, Venice is slowly sinking and is flooding more and more often. However, there are restoration projects going on. 

Hopefully, all of you will at some point in your life be able to visit this amazing city on water. 

Thanks for reading!

~Shelby Kenville