420 likes | 758 Views
Venice. Steven Dutch University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Founding of Venice. Early centuries CE: settled by refugees from mainland Lombards 568 Byzantine Empire to 751 800-1100 Becomes independent city state. Keeping Dry. City built on wood pilings Deforestation of east coast of Adriatic
E N D
Venice Steven Dutch University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
Founding of Venice • Early centuries CE: settled by refugees from mainland • Lombards 568 • Byzantine Empire to 751 • 800-1100 Becomes independent city state
Keeping Dry • City built on wood pilings • Deforestation of east coast of Adriatic • Piles in anoxic setting, do not decay • Many still intact after centuries • Foundations of Stone • River Diversion to prevent silting of lagoon
Venice Rising • 1172 Republic formed • 1178 Brenner Pass captured • 1100-1200 Occupies east shore of Adriatic to suppress piracy • 1204 Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople • 1200-1300 Peaks as maritime and trade power • Marco Polo 1271-1295
Renaissance Venice • War is commerce by other means • Important supplier of mercenaries • Italian Wars 1494-1559 • Papal Interdict 1509 • Artistic Peak • Titian (c. 1488 -1576) • Tintoretto (1518 -1594) • Bellini (c. 1430 -1516) • Our Bad: Blew up the Parthenon, 1687
Modern Venice • European fashion and cultural capital, 1700’s • Vivaldi 1678-1741 • Casanova 1725-1798 • Conquered by Napoleon 1797 • End of 1070 years of independence • Off and on occupation by Austria until 1866 • Incorporated into modern Italy 1866
If everything beneath Venice is full of water, how can extracting water make Venice sink?Wouldn’t sea water just replace whatever is taken out?
So What’s a Few Inches? • Venice doesn’t have a lot of inches to spare • Acqua alta (High Water) during storm tides and spring tides • Persistent flooding of lower stories • Salt water attack on masonry, metal • Add to other natural sinking • We want Venice to last for centuries
Saving Venice Stop Pumping Wells • Halted in 1960’s Subsidence and Sea Level Rise • Barriers at Lagoon Mouth What About Large Sea Level Change? • Dikes? • Raise or Relocate Prize Structures? • Abandon?
“Nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky” • “Dust in the Wind,” Kansas “Nothing lasts forever, not even the earth and sky” • Geology