Venice
Chaos, Beauty & Decay
An amazing mix of rich and diverse architectural styles presents Venice as a showcase of historical trends. Venetian Gothic Architecture has Byzantine and Ottoman influences alongside Renaissance and Baroque buildings.
Often cited as the most beautiful city in the world Venice has to contend with erosion, subsidence, elegant decay and just too many tourists! Even out of season the city remains extremely busy.The use of closely spaced wooden piles support the buildings, they go deep down through soft sand and mud until they rest on hard compressed clay. Many of the piles are centuries old. Global warming, rising sea levels and a slowly sinking Venice are causing fairly frequent floods. During our stay a night time high tide flooded St.Marks Square and the water level just lapped over the canal edges where we were staying.
