Venetian Waterways

I had no idea that I would enjoy Venice as much as I did. It is by far my favorite place that we have visited so far. I was warned that it kind of smelled and it had some crazy people like most big cities do, both of which I quickly found out were true, but it's also the most gorgeous place I have ever been and I never want to leave.

Venice is a city controlled by the water that surrounds it and flows through it. On our way back from dinner our first night in Venice, we saw the water lapping over the edge and onto the ground where a couple of gondalas were resting. The next day, I visited a massive cathedral with my friend, but we had to walk on platforms to enter the building and everywhere on the first floor because there was a layer of water covering the ground. I saw more of these platforms in the main square of the city in case of flooding from the lagoon. Water management is a great concern of the city.

We later listened to a presentation about the Mose system by an institution called the Water Authority to help control the flooding from the lagoon in Venice. This system involves several mobile barriers at the lagoon inlets that rise up using compressed air when flooding is imminent to separate the lagoon from the sea in order to protect the city. This is a massive project that is in the final stages with one barrier already completely finished.

Our article talked about Water Resource Management (WRM) in the Veneto region throughout the years. Before the land came under Roman rule, water flooded the area frequently due to the many rivers and channels flowing through it. Roman settlers were the first group to try and make the land livable around the 1st century A.D. by assigning war veterans to plots of land to manage the water in their sections. With the fall of the Roman Empire, however, this water management system also fell. The Benedictine monks tried to control the land again in the 11th century, but it wasn't until the 16th century with the expansion of the Republic of Venice that water management made substantial progress. The Water Authority and the Uncultivated Soil Authority were both established at this time to control flooding and increase food productivity, respectively. Managing the Veneto region was a task too great for individuals alone, so consortia, or large associations, of landowners were institutionalized under the Water and Uncultivated Soil Authorities to manage the land together.

The Water Authority is still a working organization today since its founding in the 16th century. I strongly believe the Veneto region is worth all of the time and resources that have been put forth throughout history to make it the beautiful region it is today.

Below is a picture of the lagoon flowing through Venice and a picture of the water nearly going over the edge by the gondalas.