"Powerhouse City" a Venice Travel Page by rexvaughan

Where do you start in Venice? It doesn't really matter because anywhere you look is a magnificent scene. Above is the Santa Maria Della Salute church just across the Grand Canal from the entry to Saint Mark's Square. It is a 17th C salute to the Virgin in gratitude for the end of the plague which claimed 47,000 lives.

For several centuries Venice was a political and economic power due to its maritime location, proximity to Byzantium and the astuteness of its merchants and rulers. It became also a religious center in the 9th C when the purported bones of St. Mark were smuggled out of Egypt and brought here.

The Byzantine influence can be seen in the "onion" domes of St. Marks in the photo. Mark Twain is said to have commented (probably from this angle in the bell tower) that St. Mark's "looks like a warty bug taking a walk."

You can do canal tours or you can just take the vaparetto or water bus. We took it from the train station to San Marco and observed the magnificent houses along the canal, all testifying to the fact that this was once the richest city in the world. As the city slowly sinks and expenses rise I am sure it is a major problem to keep these old buildings in good repair. The one in the photo seems to be undergoing some renovation on the lower floor (I guess you can't say ground floor in Venice. Is it the water floor then?) This is not a large house but notice the intricate statuary among the arches and the beautiful mosaic on the second floor.