I arrived in Venice a couple of days in advance of my group’s arrival … and had a wee bit of free time – to wander and wonder.

There is no place – no place – in all the world, like Venice.  And, although I’ve been here several times over the years, I realize that there are some basic things for which I have no clue.  Last week, I listed 7 Things I Should Know About Venice. 

Last week, I had questions. This week, I have answers!

1.  Why did they construct this city on the water?

Blame it on Atilla the Hun.  Or, his ilk.  The barbarians were invading from the north.  They didn’t much like water (probably because they were already cold enough without risking total immersion!).  A bunch of local folk fled to a marshy area as a temporary safe haven.  Turns out they had to stay a lot longer than planned.  Eventually (and I’m talking centuries …), they cut down the alder forests that comprised much of what is now western Slovenia and sunk millions of wooden stakes into the mud and muck.  There they remain – petrified – and form the foundation on which the city is built.  Submerged underwater, in oxygen-poor conditions, wood does not decay as it would on the surface.

2.  Why do the gondoliers wear stripe shirts? And what’s with that hat with the ribbon?

The private palazzos had private gondolas and decorated the poles with colored stripes and designs with family crests.  The gondoliers wore uniforms to match.  Most of the striped poles are gone, but the striped shirts have remained a tradition and are now part of the officially mandated uniform.  Straw hats were to protect them from the summer sun.  Now, it’s a tradition – but most of them (especially the young studs) disdain the hat.

 

3.  Does anybody really  buy any of that Murano crystal?

Another confession:  I’ve never been to the glass-blowing workshops on Murano island.  So, I’ve not witnessed master artisans creating such unbelievably gaudy (in my opinion) glassworks such as these:

I did find some pieces that had merit (in my opinion), either for their beauty or their whimsy, as below:

 

 4.  Why are the gondolas so l-o-n-g? 

Because of the narrow canals, the vessels necessarily had to be steered and propelled only from one side.  Thus they are asymmetrical – exactly 11 meters on one side and curved on the opposite side according to the weight of the gondolier.

More gondola trivia:

• There once were more than 10,000 gondolas in Venice. Today, there are less than 500.
• Gondolas were once painted many different colors, but after the plague the authorities decided to paint them black so as to be less ostentatious.
• Gondola licenses are passed from father to son.
• There is one female gondolier in Venice. In 2010, 24-year old Georgia Boscolo passed the rigorous exam. In response to critics who have questioned whether she is strong enough to control the large boats, she said, “Childbirth is much more difficult.”
• It costs about 100 euros for a 30-minute gondola ride.  And don’t expect your gondolier to sing “O Sole Mio” (or anything else for that matter.)

 

 5. Do people who live here get sick of it?  All those bloody tourists …. (yeah – THEM!), the hassle of getting around, etc.?

Yes. In 1348 Venice, with more than 100,000 inhabitants, was the most populous city in Europe.  In 1980, the population was 120,000.  In 2009, it had fallen to 60,000.

More than 20 million tourists descend on Venice each year; many from the monstrous cruise ships that drawf the city’s monuments.

Many residents have been driven out by foreigners who pay exorbitant prices for homes in Venice.  Many have moved to the city of Mestre on the mainland.  50,000 “expatriate” Venetians commute by vaporetto ferry each day.

 

 

 

 6.  What must it be like to live here – actually live  here?

A woman named Erla Zwingle – a freelance journalist – went to Venice on assignment in 1994 and never left. She publishes a blog dedicated to this question.  Here are a few snippets from her posts:

• The vaporettos (public ferry boats) have reached Third-World levels of crowding, especially the #2 from Tronchetto. 
• There is increasing chaos created by the ever-more-aggressive itinerant illegal vendors proliferating in the Piazza San Marco and environs.  They sell corn to feed to the pigeons, counterfeit handbags and sunglasses, long-stemmed red roses, and toys of various sorts.
• Traffic on the Grand Canal is akin to the 405 Freeway, as this 4-min time-lapse video would indicate. (Except that cars on our freeways are traveling in one direction and more or less staying in their lanes.)  The video, a compilation of 3,062 photographs shot in a 10-hour period near the bottleneck that is the Rialto Bridge, shows the chaotic movement of 1,615 boats (700 water taxis, 219 vaporettos, 216 transport barges, 209 gondolas, 168 private boats, 39 airport launches, 18 “Vaporetto dell’Arte,” 13 ambulances, 17 police boats, and 2 fire boats). Yikes!!
• MOSE is a massive public-works construction project of 79 mobile barriers intended to block flooding of Venice when the tide exceeds one meter above the usual high-water mark.  The project – seriously behind schedule and significantly over budget – has been controversial from the start.  “There isn’t enough money to restore historic palaces and churches which are visible every day, but somehow money has been found to block exceptional high water, an event which might occur four to seven times a year.”  Naturally, the project is a windfall for the engineering and construction companies, and the floodgates of massive amounts of public money have proven to be very tempting for many politicians and businesspeople – caught in the act of accepting bribes.
• Living in the constant dampness: “We’ve had fog, rain, and mist, plus indeterminate watery vectors for weeks and weeks.  Even when the sun is shining, the air is humid.  We have to do hand-to-hand combat with the front door to open and close it, the wood is so swollen with damp. But I refuse to turn on the heat until driven to do so; the gas company sucks out what little blood and lymph are left in our bank account with a voracity even a vampire can’t match.”

 7.  What’s behind all those rotted doors?

As best I can tell – nothing.  In the past, the “ground floor” was the main entrance, and the place for storage and business activity.  With the rising waters over the years, the ground floor of many buildings is vacant space.  Makes for a crumbling beauty, as these pictures attest . . .

 

 

 

 

 

Still . . . Venice is one of the most fantastically gorgeous cities in the world – especially in the morning . . .

 

 

. . . or the evening . . .

 

 

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