Visit Venice Italy

Enjoy Visit Venice Italy

Venice (Italian: Venezia) is one of the most interesting and lovely places in the world.

This sanctuary on a lagoon is virtually the same as it was six hundred years ago, which adds to the fascinating character. Venice has decayed since its heyday and is heavily touristed (there are 56000 residents and 20 million tourists per year), but the romantic charm remains.

This place may not seem huge, but it is, and is made up of different boroughs.

The most famous is the area comprising the 118 islands in the main districts that are called "Sestieri": Cannaregio, Castello, Dorsoduro, San Polo, Santa Croce and San Marco, where the main monuments and sights are located. Other main districts are Isola Della Giudecca and Lido di Venezia. Some of the more important islands in the lagoon include Murano, Torcello, San Francesco del Deserto, and Burano.

History

While the Veneti had long inhabited northeastern Italy and a small population of fishermen known as "lagooners" had long lived on the islands of modern Venice, the city's true beginning point came when refugees fled from to the marshlands from the surrounding Roman cities to escape marauding barbarians. The first wave of immigrants fled the Quadi and Marcomanni in the 160's A.D. In the 5th Century, more came to escape the Visigoths and the Hun, and in the 6th Century, yet more arrived seeking safe haven from the Lombards.

Byzantine Rule

With the Western Roman Empire destroyed and Lombardy ever threatening from across the lagoon, Venice welcomed help from the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire in the 6th Century. The Byzantines organized the thin coastal strip into the Exarchate of Ravenna and ruled it from Constantinople. The sheer distance and the lack of a land connection to Venice, however, left Venice rather isolated- and isolation bred a desire for autonomy. In 726, a rebellion broke out, and the Byzantine Exarch was murdered. Venetians then elected their first of a long series of 117 doges (dukes). However, Venice immediately resubmitted itself to the Byzantines under their new leader, perhaps to avoid Papal or Lombard domination.

The Rise of Venice

Venice gradually morphed into a fully independent city state between the 9th and 12th Centuries A.D., and its naval and mercantile might soon led to its status as the link between the East and much of Western and Central Europe. An empire was formed that included Crete, a collection of Aegean islands, the Istrian Peninsula, the Dalmatian Coast and areas inland from Venice all the way up to the Alpine slopes. By 1300, Venice was the wealthiest city on the European continent. During the Middle Ages, Venice gained valuable trading privileges with the Byzantines, successfully resisted the power of the Papacy and became the "printing capital of the world."

The Decline of Venice

When Venice unsuccessfully tried to defend Thessaloniki and Constantinople from the Ottomans, the end result was a costly 30-year war, the loss of their overseas possessions and elimination of their top trading partner. Next, the discovery of new routes to Asia by the Spanish and Portuguese in the 1490's reduced the relative value of Mediterranean commerce. Finally, in 1575, 1577 and 1630 plagues drastically reduced Venice's population.

In 1797, Venice was conquered by the French under Napoleon, then quickly transferred to Austrian rule in 1798. Napoleon again took the city in 1805 and again lost it to Austria in 1814. A revolt broke out in 1848 but was crushed by 1849. Finally, in 1866, Venice joined a newly united Italy.

Modern Times

Under Mussolini, in 1933, Venice's long-time Jewish population was deported. During World War II, the city center was not bombed much, but its rail connections to the mainland and its few industrial areas were targeted repeatedly. By the time Allied troops came to liberate the city on April 29th, 1945, rebels had already freed it from Nazi control.