Venice, Italy, is also known by another name, the Floating City. That’s because Venice is a complex of 118 small islands connected by a series of bridges and canals. However, Venice was not built directly on the islands, but on a system of wooden floors supported by wooden stakes driven into the water.
Venice is one of the most famous tourist attractions in Italy. (Image: Shutterstock).
The story of the Citadel of Venice begins in the 5th century AD. After the decline of the Roman Empire, barbarians from the north swept the territories formerly administered by Rome. To escape these persecutions, the Venetian community had to abandon their homes and take refuge in the surrounding marshy areas, and on the sandy islands of Torcello, Iesolo and Malanmocco.
At first they only temporarily stayed in the wild, gradually the Venetians felt familiar and decided to settle here permanently. To be able to proceed with the construction of solid structures, they must first drive wooden stakes into the sand. After that, wooden floors are installed on top of these wooden poles, and finally the house is built.
Wooden stakes, the foundation of Venice.
A 17th-century book about the construction of Venice describes the amount of wood needed to drive the piles alone. Accordingly, when the church of Santa Maria Della Salute was built, 1,106,657 wooden stakes, each 4 meters long, were driven into the water. The process took 26 months to complete. The wood is taken from the forests of Slovenia, Croatia and Montenegro, and then transported to Venice by water. The scale of this great project must make people admire.
Venice’s Santa Maria Della Salute Church. (photo: maxpixel).
Using wood to support buildings makes many people difficult to understand, because wood is not as durable as stone or metal. However, the eternal secret of the Venetian wooden stake system is because they are underwater . Wood in the air is decomposed by small agents such as fungi and bacteria. Thanks to being immersed in water, the wooden stakes in Venice are not exposed to oxygen, an important element needed for microorganisms to grow. In addition, the constant circulation of seawater around and through the wooden poles made it hard and solid as a rock.
As a city located in the middle of the sea, Venice has an outstanding advantage compared to neighboring cities built on ordinary land. Initially, Venice helped people avoid invasion. Pepin, the son of King Charlemagne, tried to attack Venice, but could not get to the island to build the city. Later, Venice became a maritime power in the Mediterranean. In 1204, Venice allied with the Crusaders and successfully captured the Byzantine capital Constantinop. However, it began to decline in the 15th century and finally fell to Napoleon in 1797 when he annexed Italy.
Today, the body of water that once protected the city from countless foreign attacks has become a threat to its very existence. For Venetians, the city is flooded as usual, as the water rises more than a dozen times a year. The rise in water is mainly due to irregular tides caused by high winds, storms and heavy rain on land. However, this happens more and more often due to sea level rise due to climate change, raising alarm bells for the whole city.
A series of countermeasures were discussed to save Venice from sinking. One of them is the Mo.SE Project (Modulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico, or Experimental Electromechanical Module). People will build 79 mobile gates to prevent the water inside the city from the Adriatic Sea when the tide rises 1m higher than the normal high water level.
However, many pessimistic observers argue that such measures are not enough to preserve Veince forever, and that the city will eventually sink to the bottom of the sea, like the legendary Atlantis of old.