Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Keeping Venice Afloat
When a devastating flood hit the city in 1966, a world of admirers rushed to Venice's res-
cue. Fifty organisations worldwide rallied to preserve the city, raising €50 million to com-
plete 1500 restoration projects over 40 years. For its exceptional cultural contributions,
Venice and its lagoon have been named a Unesco World Heritage site.
While the city is actively seeking sustainable solutions to rising water levels, Venice can
also seem inundated by a wave of admirers at high noon in high season, when an average
of two cruise ships a day release thousands of passengers for mad dashes on Piazza San
Marco. Venetian protestors took to the Giudecca Canal in rowboats in September 2012,
symbolically blocking the entry of ships they claim put undue environmental stress on the
city.
But when it comes to responsible, intrepid travellers, Venice wants to see more of you,
not less. The more time you spend here - staying in Venice's neighbourhoods, supporting
Venetian artisans and musicians, trading Venetian toasts over happy hour - the more you
become part of Venice's long and exceptionally colourful history of international exchange.
TIMELINE
c 1500 BC
Celtic Veneti tribes, possibly from Anatolia (in present-day Turkey), arrive in northeast Italy to inhabit
the region now known as the Veneto.
7th-9th Century AD
Glass-making furnaces on Torcello get ired up, creating the cathedral's Byzantine glass-mosaic mas-
terpieces.
AD 726
Orso Ipato is the irst elected Venetian doge. The Byzantines consider the election an act of rebellion,
and are not devastated by Ipato's assassination in 737, even if they're not behind it.
810
The seat of the Venetian empire is moved from the hamlet of Malamocco on the Lido to the bustling
market centre of Rivoalto, known today as the Rialto.
