Venice (Celebrated city)

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

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-