Venice

Sister cities

• Yangzhou
• Basra
• Suzhou
• Isfahan
• Nice
• Tel Aviv
• Tirana
• Thessaloniki
• Rimini
• Sarajevo
• Baku
• Lübeck

History

Although no surviving historical records deal directly with the founding or building of Venice, tradition and the available evidence have led several historians to agree that the original population of Venice consisted of refugees – from nearby Roman cities such as Patavium (Padua), Aquileia, Tarvisium (Treviso), Altinum, and Concordia (modern Portogruaro), as well as from the undefended countryside – who were fleeing successive waves of Germanic and Hun invasions. This is further supported by the documentation on the so-called "apostolic families", the twelve founding families of Venice who elected the first doge, who in most cases trace their lineage back to Roman families. Some late Roman sources reveal the existence of fishermen, on the islands in the original marshy lagoons, who were referred to as incolae lacunae ("lagoon dwellers"). The traditional founding is identified with the dedication of the first church, that of San Giacomo on the islet of Rialto (Rivoalto, "High Shore")—said to have taken place at the stroke of noon on 25 March 421 (the Feast of the Annunciation). Beginning as early as AD 166–168, the Quadi and Marcomanni destroyed the main Roman town in the area, present-day Oderzo. This part of Roman Italy was again overrun in the early 5th century by the Visigoths and, some 50 years later, by the Huns led by Attila. The last and most enduring immigration into the north of the Italian peninsula, that of the Lombards in 568, left the Eastern Roman Empire only a small strip of coastline in the current Veneto, including Venice. The Roman/Byzantine territory was organized as the Exarchate of Ravenna, administered from that ancient port and overseen by a viceroy (the Exarch) appointed by the Emperor in Constantinople. Ravenna and Venice were…

Geography

Venice is located in northeastern Italy, in the Veneto region. The city is situated on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by 438 bridges. The historic center of Venice is divided into six districts, or sestieri, which are named Cannaregio, Castello, Dorsoduro, San Marco, San Polo, and Santa Croce. Venice sits atop alluvial silt washed into the sea by the rivers flowing eastward from the Alps across the Veneto plain, with the silt being stretched into long banks, or lidi, by the action of the current flowing around the head of the Adriatic Sea from east to west. Subsidence, the gradual lowering of the surface of Venice, has contributed – along with other factors – to the seasonal Acqua alta ("high water"), when the city's lowest lying surfaces may be covered at high tide. Those fleeing barbarian invasions who found refuge on the sandy islands of Torcello, Iesolo, and Malamocco, in this coastal lagoon, learned to build by driving closely spaced piles consisting of the trunks of alder trees, a wood noted for its water resistance, into the mud and sand, until they reached a much harder layer of compressed clay. Building foundations rested on plates of Istrian limestone placed on top of the piles. Between autumn and early spring, the city is often threatened by flood tides pushing in from the Adriatic. Six hundred years ago, Venetians protected themselves from land-based attacks by diverting all the major rivers flowing into the lagoon, preventing sediment from filling the area around the city. This created an ever-deeper lagoon environment. Additionally, the lowest part of Venice, St. Mark's Basilica, is only above sea level, and one of the most flood-prone parts of the city. In 1604, to defray the cost of flood relief, Venice…

Most-observed species

• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  1,275
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  1,241
• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,059
• White-throated Sparrow

  Zonotrichia albicollis (J.F.Gmelin, 1789) · Aves
  932
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  893
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  839
• Black-billed Magpie

  Pica hudsonia (Sabine, 1823) · Aves
  839
• Red-eyed Vireo

  Vireo olivaceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  806

Most recent

• M 3.9 — 2026-05-09
  15 km SSW of Smoky Lake, Canada