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Venice (Celebrated city)

a celebrated city of northeastern Italy, capital of the above prov ince and of the former Venetian republic; near the N. extremity of the Adriatic, 70 miles W. of Trieste. The city is built entirely on piles driven into about 117 small islands situated in the shallow waters of the Bay of Venice, and known as the lagoons, a kind of lake shut out from the deeper water of the Adriatic Sea, by a ridge or long but interrupted belt of sand and earth called the Littorale, which extends about 2 miles from the shore, shutting in all the islands and lagoons from the Adriatic Sea. A modern viaduct, supported on 222 arches, part of the Verona and Venice railway, has lately united the continent with the Littorale or protecting beach of the city. The 117 islands on which the city is built are separated from each other by narrow channels, which serve the purpose of thoroughfares, being constantly traversed by gondolas, a light river boat, answering the purpose of cabs and omnibuses, and depositing passengers at any house or building at which they may desire to alight. The whole series of islands are conrected with each other by some 450 bridges.

Some of the islands are large enough to have what may be regarded as two or three short streets with intersecting lanes or alleys, but in general they only present blocks of buildings, having river fronts, according to the direction of the canal, or the water frontage of the isle.

The longest and most important street in Venice, the Merceria, is only 15 feet wide; carriages and horses are unknown in Venice, the gondola being the universal means of transit to those going from shop to shop or house to house.

Venice is nearly 8 miles in circum- VENICE (Italian, Venezia), a prov-ference, contains about 28,000 houses, ince of northeastern Italy; bounded S. E. and E. by the Adriatic Sea, and remarkable for its long series of lagoons, which, stretching due N. for 25 miles from the mouth of the Brenta to that of the Sile, occupy a considerable part of the old bed of the Piave; area 934 square miles; pop. about 400,000.

The lagoons contain numerous small islands (on some of which the city of Venice itself stands) that are separated from the open sea by a peninsula which is partly composed of the alluvium brought down by the rivers, and partly of the sand thrown up by the waves. Being, however, intersected by both artificial and natural channels, access to the coast, as well as to the capital, is thereby obtained. Products, all kinds of cereals, with rice, maize, hemp, silk, and wine. and is divided into two parts by the Grand Canal, or Canal Grande. Over this canal there are three bridges, that of the Rialto, the most magnificent bridge in Venice, consisting of a single arch 90 feet in span and 24 feet in height, built of marble in 1590. Two ranges of shops divide its upper surface into three narrow parallel streets. Venice is regarded as one of the finest cities in Europe, and was for many centuries the capital of the first maritime and commercial state in the world. It consequently contains proportionally a larger number of public buildings and palatial residences than any other city in Europe; among the most celebrated of its national edifices, first mention must be given to that stupendous building, the pride and glory of Venice, the ducal palace of St. Mark, with the cathe- VENICE