Venice Italy Fact Sources of venice italy fact resources from the Web

During the 20th century, when many artesian wells were sunk into the periphery of the lagoon to draw water for local industry, Venice began to subside. It was realised that extraction of the aquifer was the cause. This sinking process has slowed markedly since artesian wells were banned in the 1960s. However, the city is still threatened by more frequent low-level floods (so-called Acqua alta, "high water") that creep to a height of several centimeters over its quays, regularly following certain tides. In many old houses the ground floor is unoccupied due to the periodic floods, but people continue to live and work in the upper stories.

For some thousand years, the chief magistrate and leader of the Republic of Venice was the Doge (Duke). Doges of Venice were elected by the city-state's aristocracy. Commonly the person selected as Doge was the most politically shrewd older man in the city. While doges had great temporal power at first, after 1268, the doge was under strict surveillance: he must wait for other officials to be present before opening dispatches from foreign powers; he was forbidden to leave the city and was not allowed to possess any property in a foreign land. He was by law confined for the rest of his life to the Doge's Palace complex and the connected Basilica di San Marco.

One of the ceremonial duties of the doge was to celebrate the symbolic marriage of Venice with the sea. This was done by casting a ring from the state barge, the Bucentaur, into the Adriatic. In its earlier form this ceremony was instituted to commemorate the conquest of Dalmatia by Doge Pietro II Orseolo in 1000, and was celebrated on Ascension Day. It took its later and more magnificent form after the visit of pope Alexander II and the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I to Venice in 1177. On state occasions the Doge was surrounded by an increasing amount of ceremonial, and in international relations he had the status of a sovereign prince.

The first dry crossing of the Grand Canal was a pontoon bridge built in 1181 by Nicolò Barattieri. It was called the Ponte della Moneta, presumably because of the mint that stood near its eastern entrance.

The Congress of Vienna combined the territories of Lombardy (ruled by Austria in 1713-96) and Venetia (under Austrian rule since 1797) under the Austrian Habsburg dynasty. The Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia was was held by Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, who ruled from 1815 to 1835. Ferdinand I of Austria ruled from 1835 to 1848.

In the 12th century the essentials for the power of Venice were laid: the Arsenal was under construction in 1104; Venice wrested control of the Brenner pass from Veronia in 1178, opening a lifeline to silver from Germany; the last autocratic doge, Vitale Michiele, died in 1172.

Venice (Italian Venezia), the city of canals, is the capital of the region of Veneto, population 274,000 (2003). The city stretches across numerous small islands in a marshy lagoon along the Adriatic Sea in northeast Italy. The saltwater lagoon stretches along the shoreline between the mouths of the Po (south) and the Piave (north) Rivers. The Venetian Republic was a major sea power and a staging area for the Crusades, as well as a very important center of commerce (especially the spice trade) and art in the Renaissance

The classical Venetian boat is the gondola, although it is now mostly used for tourists, or for weddings, funerals, or other ceremonies, due to its cost. Most Venetians now travel by motorised waterbuses ("vaporetti") which ply regular routes along the major canals and between the city's islands. The city also has many private boats. The only unmotorized gondolas still in common use by Venetians are the traghetti, foot passenger ferries crossing the Grand Canal at certain points without bridges.

Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia (Italian: Regno Lombardo-Veneto) was established after the defeat of Napoleon, according to the decisions of the Congress of Vienna (9 June 1815). The Kingdom was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy, in 1866.

By the eighteenth century, the Serene Republic was largely a shadow of its former glory, although it continued to rule over Venetia, the Adriatic littoral, and the Ionian Islands. In 1797 it was invaded by the French troops of General Napoleon Bonaparte, who partitioned the republic between France and the Austrians.

The idea of rebuilding the bridge in stone was first proposed in 1503. Several projects were considered over the following decades. In 1551 the authorities requested proposals for the renewal of the Rialto Bridge, among other things. Plans were offered by famous architects such as Sansovino, Palladio and Vignola, but all involved a Classical approach with several arches, which was judged inappropriate to the situation.

Six hundred years ago, Venetians protected themselves from land-based attacks by diverting all the major rivers flowing into the lagoon and thus preventing sediment from filling the area around the city. This created an ever-deeper lagoon environment.