History of Venice: Building the Enchanted City

Introduction:

Venice is located on a lagoon of the Adriatic in north-eastern of Italy, The city is built on 118 island disconnected by canals and linked by bridges. The city has portal trading between Greek and Turkey and one of the best tourist attraction cities in the world (2014 Oxford University Press).

In the early fifth century after the fallen of Roman Empire, Italy became vulnerable to attack by the Goths from the West and the Huns from the East. During this era there were several attacks by the invasion from the north across the Alps which drove refugees from surrounding town to migrate to a safer place. In the lagoons were a series of scattered island and sand bars where the invaders had no intention of attacking from the waters (Goy, 1999, P14).

The settlers managed to survive by trading fish and salt for water. Venice's location was lacking basic materials to create buildings, for example, the salty clay was not suitable to produce neither brick nor growing tree and the island did not have stones. Venice was first built using timber as a primary material for their houses both in substructure: hammering piles of wood into the ground for solid foundation; and superstructure: building houses with timber hut-like timber framed construction. Due to population growth brick became the main material of construction which was brought from nearby towns (Goy, 1999, P46-47).

Thereafter, architectural improved by using decorative solid material (some imported overseas). As a result Venice was created and evolved into one of the most astonishing cities in the world to be a unique showcase for its art and architecture.

In this essay I will be travelling back in time from mid sixth century to present Venice, waving through a var...

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...nice. London: Thames & Hudson.

DaMosto, F. (2010). Francesco's Venice. London: BBC Books.

Force, T.U.T. (2003). Towards an Urban Renaissance: Mission Statement. London: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

French, H. (2006). New Urban Housing. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Goy, R. (1999). Venice: The City and Its Architecture. London: Phaidon Press.

Howard, D. (2000). Venice and the East: The Impact of the Islamic World on Venetian Architecture. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Pullan, B. (1968). Chrisis and Change in the Venetian Economy. London: Methuen & Co Ltd.

Segantini, M.A. (2008). Contemporary Housing. Milano: Skira.

Media Reference DVD

Francesco's Venice, 2005. [DVD] Edward Bazalgette, Sam Hobkinson, United Kingdom: BBC Sam Hobkinson.

List of websites References: www.aviewoncities.com www.bbc.co.uk/news/world www.oxforddictionaries.com www.unesco.org