Top5 Secrets Points Of Venice City That Expose it’s Marshy Islands To City Joutney

This is about 1570 years ago when the city of Venice did not even exist and the Roman Empire was attacked by Barbarians and Huns tribes. They attacked many cities of the Roman Empire and caused a lot of destruction. The people living there wanted to run away to save their lives. But on one side the Adriatic Sea and on the other side the Tyrrhenian Sea was blocking their way. They had only one option left. So they started running towards the nearby islands in the sea. After reaching there, they were saved from the attacks. But these islands were built in the coastal lake.

The soil of islands was so soft that even a human being could not stand on it. Going against all these difficulties, those people not only settled here but also showed engineering feats one after the other by building buildings, canals and bridges. This is the city which the world knows as Venice. There were no roads, no land and no clean drinking water here. But still the Veniceians made it the most powerful city. How was all this possible? Small islands on which it was not possible to even stand. How was such a big city built there. That too about 1000 years ago. We will discuss this in today’s article. So let’s begin.

5) Migration

When the people who left the Roman cities and went to these islands in the beginning, they did not have any place to live here. The ground was like soft mud on which if anything was kept, it would start sinking inside. At that time many people advised to go back to the shore. But returning meant death. Barbarians and Huns tribes were some nomadic tribes of Northern Europe. Who attacked here taking advantage of the weakness of the Roman Empire. At that time the situation was so serious that living on these soft islands became a compulsion for the migrants.

Here, 5 kilometers away from the shore, there were more than 150 small marshy islands. All of them were in the same condition. During this time, one of the migrants was sinking into the ground. To save himself, he buried the oar of his boat in the ground. It became completely solid after going several feet down. This is where he got the idea, which later became the foundation of Venice city.

4) Foundation

A few kilometers away from here, where today’s Croatia is, tree trunks were brought from the forest and they were hammered and buried inside on marshy islands. After going down about 5 meters, these trunks would go into the hard soil of the ground and make their grip. They were hammered close to each other, so that a stable platform could be made. After putting the piles inside, their upper part was cut and leveled and wooden planks were laid on top of it so that the entire load could be equally divided among the piles.

Special limestone blocks were placed to raise this foundation above the water level. The load of stones on top and five meter long wooden piles below, this simple combination was enough to make a strong foundation. The stems of wood which were now under water swelled and became tight to each other and there was no space left for air to pass between them. This is the reason that the piles which were buried about 1000 years ago in Venice are bearing the weight of the city in perfect condition till date.

3) Engineering

After laying the foundation, the work of building buildings was started on it. Initially, the Venicians built wooden houses. But they often caught fire during cooking. Later, the use of bricks also started. To keep the buildings light, the houses were not made more than three stories tall. A special mortar made from limestone powder was put between the bricks. So that the walls remain flexible along with being strong. The floors and the inner walls were made from wooden planks. Which were held from outside by inserting iron rods.

This idea became very popular among the Venicians and in this way the islands started getting filled with houses. Normally cities spread outwards. But Venice started spreading inwards. Earlier it used to happen that the only way to go from one island to another was by boats. But later when the population started increasing, the islands started getting closer and now in less water, one could cross the islands by sitting on horses. Now the biggest need in Venice city was to connect these islands with each other. For the first 500 years, these islands were not connected with each other.

When the population increased a lot and business started increasing. So in the business hub here which is called Rialto, first of all an attempt was made to build a simple wooden bridge. This bridge is called Pontoon Bridge. In which a way to pass was made with the help of floats. But because it was standing with the help of floats, it used to shake a lot and often people used to fall from it. Later a wooden bridge was also built here. But in the year 1310, due to the uproar, it was set on fire. Even after the fire, the Rialto Bridge stood for the next several years and it fall down in 1444.

Eventually, it was decided to build Venice’s first stone bridge in Rialto. The same method was used to build it with the help of which thousands of houses were built here. More than 12000 wooden piles were driven into the canal bank and a stone arch bridge weighing 10000 tons was constructed on them. This bridge was so successful that stone bridges started being built in the same way all over Venice. Even today, these bridges are standing with the same strength and are bearing the weight of the crowd of people. With the help of these bridges, it has become even easier to go from one island to another.

There are no roads in Venice city but only canals and these canals are used to reach from one place to another. The advantage of this to Venice was that it was very easy to transport goods to any corner of the city. By the way, in other cities at that time, there was only one route for pedestrians and horse carts. Due to which there was a lot of crowd. But Venice was completely different from this. The path of pedestrians here is completely different from the boats running in the canals and the biggest advantage is that anyone can get down anywhere from the canal and reach his home quickly.

2) Water

Venice became the most powerful and rich city of Europe in no time. The biggest reason for this was its location. Venice is surrounded by sea from all sides. Therefore doing business here is a cheap and easy task. Due to business activity, Veniceians became very rich. Seeing this, people from the surrounding countries also started settling in Venice and the population here increased a lot in no time.

Now the demand for drinking water in Venice increased beyond limits. Of course Venice is surrounded by water from all sides. But this is salty water of the sea. Which cannot be drunk. Due to the absence of natural springs or rivers, fresh water was not collected here. Drinking water in Venice was brought in drums from the mainland and loaded in boats. But when the population here reached 170000, there was a shortage of water. Now the engineers of Venice needed to use their brains once again. Something had to be done so that the growing population of Venice could get drinking water. Otherwise the business here could also be affected.

There were a few parts of the islands in Venice where construction had not been done. On those islands, a deep pit was dug to store rainwater and its walls were made waterproof with soil and mortar. If you are thinking that rainwater will be stored directly in these deep pits, then it is not so. Rather, the thinking of the Veniceians was more advanced than this. Wells were made in these pits and sand and stones were put around it and tiles were put on it and the surface was made plain again.

Some holes were left on the surface. Through which rainwater could go inside. When this water collected in the well after passing through sand and stones, it also got filtered. This is the natural process of water filtration. When rainwater comes down from the mountains in the form of springs, it passes through stones and minerals and becomes absolutely clean and drinkable. This filter system of Venice worked on this basis. But the question is how much rainwater can be collected in such a small area.

For this, pipes were installed on the roofs of the nearby houses. Which started pouring the rainwater directly into this filter. The surface area for the collection of such water was also increased. Soon, more than 600 small and big filter wells were installed in Venice. 10 to 12 houses started sharing a single filter well. Venicians once again created a masterpiece to save their city.

1) Sewerage

Even now, Venice had a big issue, sewerage. Normally, underground sewerage lines are laid in other cities. Which take the waste away from the city. But if there is no ground in Venice, then where will the sewerage lines be laid? Till now, people in Venice used to throw their waste in the canals only. But those whose houses did not have any canal passing directly in front of them, used to throw their waste on the pathways only. Because of this, these pathways were often full of stink.

In the 16th century, Veniceians built drains for waste collection from the houses. With the help of which, the waste used to fall directly in the drains. These drains were kept above the normal level of the canals. Because of which, the liquid waste of the drains used to fall in the canal immediately and the solid waste used to remain in the drain itself. Then during the time of high tide, when the level of the canals used to increase, then the water used to pull the solid waste present inside the drains into the canal.

There is high tide in the sea twice a day, due to which the drains used to get cleaned automatically twice a day. Due to high and low tides, twice a day, sea water would enter Venice’s canals and replace the polluted water. This would keep not only the drains of the houses but also the canals of Venice clean. Even today, this sewerage system is working in Venice. Surprisingly, the engineering that was used to build Venice 1000 years ago is still working today. Building foundations, canals, bridges and sewerage system.

Let me tell you that Venice is slowly sinking into the ground. Every year this city is sinking 1 to 2 millimeters. This is the only city in the world where there are neither cars nor motorbikes. Floods come here every year. Which is called Aqua Alt. In winters the water level here rises a lot and often the walkways go under water. Every year 60 lakh people visit Venice. But right now the local population here is less than 50000.