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The history of Venice is fascinating and longer than its canals.
As a center of enormous and extensive trade, Venice was a great
sea power with trade relations with the Mediterranean region and
the Far East, holding a supreme position till the Age of Discovery.
The artists and artisans of Venice were influenced by the talent
from the Orient and they infused this intricate art into their divine
creations especially into their traditional chief occupations of
glass-making and textile industry.
As the mists of time clear with a glimpse of Torcello, a marshy
islet where the first settlers found safety from barbarians, the
earliest history of Venice begins as a home at that time to about
20,00 people. Veneto as the mainland was once called in the 5th
and 6th centuries AD, was a primitive settlement with refugees who
built rafts with wooden poles. They used wood driven into the sub
soil to build the foundations for the floating palaces. The curtain
of myths surrounding the birth of Venice on 25th March 421, is still
shrouded with a shadowed past. With settlers making their home on
Rivo Alto, known as Rialto, the highest point of the lagoon, Venice
emerged as a republic. Venice’s first doges were elected in
697, as the city evolved with the Byzantine Empire, formerly the
eastern branch of the Roman Empire. Coming into prominence in 828,
Venice became home to the earthly remains of St. Mark who was buried
in St. Mark’s Basilica by merchants in 828, with the Basilica
being consecrated in 1094.
Pope Urban II's First Crusade of 1095, and the Fourth Crusade of
1202, alternately saw Venice decked with exquisite booty with economy
on the rise. The Great Council comprising of powerful and rich families
commanded authority forming a government. But soon even the success
of the battle of Chioggia in 1380, was decimated by the Black death
in 1348, and as the Turks plundered the city taking Cyprus in 1570
and Crete in 1669, plague struck again and Venice’s new-found
confidence crashed as disaster struck in the form of fire at the
doge’s palace destroying valuable art and treasures. With
the arrival of Napoleon in 1797, Venice fell into the hands of the
Austrians. But Venice with her plucky confidence joined the band
of rebels in 1848, as the movement for Italian unification was contagious
with the final outcome of Venice uniting with the Kingdom of Italy
in 1866.
Venice now with its new make-over, boasted of a civilized appearance
with the facilities of convenience. Mussolini built a road bridge
parallel to the railway bridge and business and industry thrived
in ‘greater’ Venice. Though a victim of the World War
II, Venice reappeared unhurt and the post war years brought a host
of job opportunities as industry expanded. With problems created
both by natural calamities and man, Venice stabilized herself and
her beloved architecture even through the fear of the city sinking,
the ‘Serenissima’ royal title has made Venice even more
mystical, alluring with her essence of romance.
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