Summer euro-trip 2011 part VI.

Posted on Sep 3, 2011 in Blog | 0 comments

September 3^rd

We’re on all day trip to Venezia (Venice). Here are some interesting facts about Venezia:

 

• Venice really is built on water. The people of the Veneto region built the city on a salt marshland at the mouth of the Adriatic Sea.  The “official” date of the birth of Venice is the 25 March 421.
• Venice has around 150 canals connected by 409 bridges, and over 3000 alleyways on the 117 islands. Basically every time you see a bridge it is connecting two islands.
• The Grand Canal is the widest canal in Venice and divides the city into two parts, with three sestieri to the west (San Polo, Dorsoduro and Santa Croce) and three to the east (San Marco, Castello and Canneregio).  The Grand Canal is slightly longer than 2km long, and has an average depth of 4m.
• Only three bridges cross over the Grand Canal – The marble Ponte di Rialto built between 1588 – 1591, the wooden Ponte Accademia built in 1854 and the stone Ponte degli Scalzi which replaced the original iron bridge in 1858.
• The population in Venice has halved over the last 50 years and is currently estimated to be in the region of 63,000 – most of the workers in Venice live on the mainland and travel by water to work each day. This relocation of residents is due to the high cost of living and the inconvenience of living away from the mainland.
• Over 15 million tourists visit Venice each year.
• There are an estimated 450 souvenir shops in Venice, with half the population involved in the tourist industry to some degree.
• Venice is sinking. The mean level of the land has lowered while the sea levels have risen.
• Amazingly, there are less than 20 plumbers in the city of Venice.
• Crime, especially violent crime, is virtually non-existent in Venice.
• Venice has no sewer system; household waste flows into the canals and is washed out into the ocean twice a day with the tides.
• A “calle” is a street, a “compo” is a square and there is only one compo large enough to be called a piazza in Venice – San Marco Piazza.

Source: http://www.travellady.com/Issues/November04/1071FastFactsAboutVenice.htm

 

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