Page 27 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Venice & The Veneto

A POR TR AIT OF THE VENE T O  25

The Campanile Foundations
When the Campanile in the Piazza San Marco (see p80)
collapsed in 1902, the ancient pilings, under pinning the
98.5-m- (323-ft-) high landmark, were found to be in
excellent condition, after 1,000 years in the ground. Like
the Campanile, all buildings in Venice are supported on
slender oak and pine piles, harvested in the forests of the
northern Veneto and floated downriver to the Venetian
lagoon. Once driven through the lagoon subsoil, they
create an immensely strong and flexible foundation.
Even so, there is a limit to how much weight the piles can
carry – the Campanile, its height having been increased
several times, simply grew too tall and collapsed. When
the tower was rebuilt, timber foundations were again
used, but this time more than double the size. Strengthening the Campanile foundations

Palazzo roofs, built of light, Façades were built of
glazed tiles, had gutters to lightweight rose-coloured bricks,
channel rainwater to the well. sometimes left bare, sometimes
weatherproofed with plaster.

Bridges were often privately
owned and tolls were charged
for their use. Originally, none
had railings, creating a night-
time hazard for the unwary in
the dark streets.

High water level

Low water level
The Campo (Santa Maria Accumulated rubbish
Mater Domini) is regularly removed by
The fabric of Venice is made up of scores dredging to prevent the
canal silting up.
of self-contained island communities,
linked by bridges to neighbouring islands. Sand and clay
Each has its own water supply, church
and bell tower, centred on a campo
(square), once the focus of commercial Caranto is compacted clay
and sand in alternate layers,
life. Palazzi, with shops and warehouses which provides a stable
at ground-floor level, border the campo base for building.
which is connected to workshops and
humbler houses by a maze of side alleys.

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