Venice, a Grande Experience

Venice is a place unlike any other we have visited in Italy, and truly was my favorite location so far (although, I seem to feel that way about every place). Our journey to get to Venice started with a multi hour bus ride through the Alps, not so bad in itself, then continued with a quick train into the central terminal of the lagoon city. Quickly after arriving in the city we got onto a water taxi, which at night was a beautiful way to get introduced to the city we would spend the next few days in, and also a reminder of how lucky we all are to be having this experience! For someone who has never been outside the US, or experienced a grand adventure, seeing the lights of Venice at night was surreal. However, our experiences while in Venice were far unlike the typical tourists, one such experience being a visit to a naval base in the heart of the city.

The night after visiting the naval base my partner and I presented an article on Venetian ships and shipbuilders of the renaissance, which covered in detail the guilds which acted as modern day unions would act in protecting and supporters workers. These guilds protected the carpenters and other workers who built, repaired, and worked with the Venetian ships. Truly, for the first time these workers had someone to back them up and assist them if they were being mistreated by the employer, a revolution for the rights of laborers.

Going to the naval base, or so called arsenal, was an eye opening experience as we were able to see exactly where these laborers created Venetian ships, as well as see the evolution of architecture of the buildings within overtime. Overall, Venice made such a great impact on me and I will definitely be back!