Walking Tour of Venice

After a delicious breakfast in the hotel, we met our local guide, an entertaining man named Andrea, in San Marco Square. He talked to us about the fascinating history of Venice and some of the ongoing challenges confronting Venice as the local population decreases and the number of tourists increases. There are now only 50,000 local residents compared to 180,000 just a century ago. This number is to be contrasted with the annual influx of 30 million tourists. That is half the population of Italy visiting just this one special city every year.
Venice if facing flooding risks which are being mitigated by flood barriers to prevent king tides from inundating the city.
We walked through San Marco square, by Napoleon’s wing facing the cathedral, past the opera theatre, and explored the small walkways and bridges of this amazing city built on an archipelago of 118 mud islands.
The city buildings are built on wooden piles driven into the mud and then wooden platforms constructed to bear the weight of the superstructure.
We saw how the neighbourhood wells provided water in medieval and renaissance times, and even the water bowls built into the well heads for cats and dogs.
Venice has built large infrastructure in the three openings between the lagoon and the Adriatic Sea so the floods are reduced in the impact on the city. The city is sinking about 25cm every century, so if that continues the will be additional complications for Venice in the future.Read more