Venice: The Sinking City

Venice is supposed to be the city of bridges, the city of canals, the sinking city (every year it sinks a few inches), one of the greatest European cities. When I visited it, I found a truth that every Venetian knows - more than anything else.

Venice is a museum to the past, a mummified dead city, whose only life seems to come from tourism, and paradoxically, it will die of tourism long before it sinks into the sea.

I am talking of the historic city of Venice with a total population of 55,000 people, of which 5,000 are leaving every year. And there are 2.5 million tourists every year taking 100 Euro pathetic Gondola rides, gushing over how romantic and beautiful the city is.

Behind the facades, and the glitzy restaurants, when one walks down the "roads" of Venice, it is decay and centuries old plaster falling off, with ghost houses, occasionally turned into a shop, a bar, a hotel or lodge.

Even the shop keepers and hotel owners are too wise to stay the night, besides the fact that it is too expensive to live there. By evening, everyone has shut shop and gone to their homes in the mainland, while St. Mark's square is still open.

The reason isn't difficult to comprehend. Staying in the sinking city (Venice sinks a few inches every year) isn't economical. Apartments like the one above cost about 300,000 Euros to purchase (about 2.5 Crores INR). The prices continue to skyrocket, pushed up by non-residents (buy-to-rent types).

If you want to cement the exposed brick, you have to pay a manual laborer through your nose to carry the cement bags , after transporting it by boat to the nearest canal. Through the narrow lanes of the Historic City with UNESCO Heritage status.

If you want to paint the building, you can't do it except by prior permission.

If you want to break a wall or build an additional wall or make modifications, you can't. The city's decay is protected!

Vittorio Emanuelle II Monument (1849-1861)

Venice is a historic city, founded in 421 CE, with the church of San Giacomo.Some of the building are 1200 years old and still standing.

Venice was the financial centre of world trade because it had a monopoly on the land route to India, till the 15th Century CE. Merchants from East and West, of any religion or nationality, did business here, and Venice was under the interdict by the Papacy twice.

After Vaso De Gama's discovery of a sea route to India, Venice lost its entire advantage. Other colonial powers soon followed in Vasco De Gama's route.

Aside from that, Venice's decline was also because of the Black Death (plague) that struck Venice thrice. The Italian Plague struck in 1630 killing 150,000 citizens.

A view of the canals of Venice

Just like that! I liked this poster, and have to memorize it at some point of time.

A silent but little discussed reason for the fall of Venice is the decadent lifestyle of Venetian citizens. Citizens of Venice, also known as the City of the Masks, wore the masks every day in public. Women actually wore the masks even at home when visitors were around. No one knows where it started, but even in the 1300's, there were laws against masked men throwing eggshells filled with perfurme at masked women who they liked.

Another law forbade women from wearing vulgar disguises and visiting convents when masked. I wonder whether this face and body mask was the type described in that ancient law.

Around a thousand years ago (1162 CE) Venice is said to have won a victory against someone else, and people sang and danced in San Marco square. This later became the Carnival festival.

Every day was Carnival day in Venice and the festival lasted weeks in the 18th century. All social laws were suspended during this celebration, and license and pleasure ruled. One can imagine the convenience of gambling wearing masks (though laws forbade that), murder, crime or sex.

By the end of the 18th century, during the last gasps of the Venetian Republic, the Carnival was finally outlawed by the Holy Roman Emperor and masks were forbidden. In 1979, the Italian government revived Carnival once again, this time as a way of popularizing Venice!

This girl was selling home made Gelato ice cream, and enthusiastically asked me to taste some as I was passing by. I couldn't refuse for the beaming smile on her face. The ice-cream was also good!

 The Doje's Palace - view of the roof in one of the rooms.

The Doje (Duke) of Venice was the ruler elected for life by the 400 families. If you had to be someone in Venice, you had to belong to one of the 400 families.

Beauty, even in dying decadence, is still beauty. One of the halls in the Doje's palace.

The Doje showed his power by not having any armies or soldiers to protect him. Once elected for life, he was always referred to in My Lord the Doje or as Most Serene Prince.

 A Venetian view though an open window. Observe the stained glass on top, and also the view in the opened glass reflection.

Another view through a window. This view was captivating enough to look like a framed picture post card!

 Another view of Venice while traveling in a public "Vaporetto" (so called since their steamboat days).

All transportation throughout Venice is by public Vaporettos operated by ACTV, which are very inexpensive. Or you can travel by private boat, or by a Gondola (the most expensive and time consuming way to see Venice at a crawl).Cruise ships still go through the major canals though there was an attempt to ban them.

No other vehicles - bicycles, cars, motorbikes - were there in the historic city of Venice. You walk through the lanes on foot, or go through the canals on boat.

A real indulgence!

These blank letters were issued by a pope, cardinal or bishop for vast sums of money and then the Church money was used for charitable works such as sending out the Crusaders to spread the word of the lord in pagan lands.

Or in the service of the greater glory of the lord, such as decorating the Sistine Chapel commissioned Michelangelo to paint it.

Once you had an indulgence, you could fill in the name, place and date where the sin was committed and voila! You were pardoned by God.

Finding a real indulgence is difficult, because most people who bought them took them to their graves held in their hands. So God would see the bony fingers, immediately read the indulgence, and would take them to heaven when Armageddon came.

The indulgences were one of the primary drivers behind Martin Luther, the evil professor and servant of Satan, starting the Protestant Movement.

 In San Marco square, there are restaurants each competing to play classical music. They even played some movie themes. The cover price of sitting is a very expensive glass of cheap wine or beer.

Campanile de San Marco (St. Mark's Cathedral Tower)

 St. Mark's clock tower (with a mechanical clock)

 San Marco Basilica

St. Mark's square viewed from the Basilica

Doje's palace on the left, viewed from St. Mark's Basilica

Rialto Bridge. This is the most famous bridge in Venice. People are always standing on top of it, as if they expect to see a better view, and more people are in line to pass under it in a Gondola or boat. The boatmen steer you through the graveyard of the city, you see the 70,000 tourists and the 55,000 locals there for the tourists.

St.Mark's Cathedral Tower at sunset

 Wrought iron bridge near Galleria Accademia

The whole city is built on foundations of wood piles pounded into the mud. Wood lines the canals too. Wood doesn't rot as long as it is underwater, but the exposed portions do.

Venice, rather than being a floating city, is a sinking city because it settles down deeper in the mud every year. Rising water levels flood the entire city.

All vehicles are outlawed other than boats. They even considered banning wheeled suitcases, but settled for banning hard wheels for cargo.

And now they've banned adding new hotels.

Doje's palace from the outside (right side), with St.Marks cathedral tower rising on the left. You can see St. Mark's Basilica dome behind the palace.

San Marco Piazza (St. Mark's Square) at night.

San Marco Basilica at night.

 The Glass Museum at Murano, an island an hour away from Venice.Murao is famous for its Venetian Glass.

 A canal at Murano

 Glass Art at Murano

 Murano Glass

 Dogs of all shapes and colors in Murano glass

 Dancing figures in Murano glass

Burano is famous for its lacework

 Burano

Burano 2

 Burano 3

Near the Lace Museum at Burano

Lace Museum at Burano

Lace Museum at Burao

Wine Shop in Venice

You can buy local wines, and fill it in a bottle. Exceptionally good wine, and I took a plastic bottle to drink it on the way to the bus station. I'm not a connoisseur and can't make out the different notes, grape varieties, or even age. But even to a layperson like me who drinks from a plastic bottle, even when I don't twirl it in a glass and smell it, the taste was about the best wine I had.