Hi all

My Dad would really enjoy a tour that focuses on some of the engineering challenges Venice faces - for instance, how they are trying to stem the tide (so to speak!). He'd also enjoy general architecture tours. We all would, actually.

Has anyone been on any tours that focus on those specifically? I've been on a number of tours and while they are all interesting I'd like to find some focused ones. We will be sure to go on the general history tours, too.

Thanks.

http://www.contexttravel.com/city/Ve..._of_the_Lagoon

Thanks Zeppole! They are even pricier than I remember. Zounds.

The Ecology of Venice one looks interesting - and it's only two hours long (and half the price...)

I don’t know of any tours, but the one that Zepp noted might make a basis for a “do it yourself” tour.

We were in Venice in January ’09, and these are some engineering sites I remember, although the work might have been completed by now:

Base of the campanile in San Marco – the pile cap is being stiffened and tied together with titanium rods.
Frari church – the differential settlement between the campanile and the main fabric of the church is being rectified. Slowly. It is worth a visit.
Mose – the lagoon protection system. There's more to this than meets the eye, environmental clean up at Mestra and Marghera, locks around the barriers for fishing boats and large ships, and strengthening the barrier islands. It's huge. There is an information centre in Campo San Stefano, No 2949 from memory, on the side away from San Marco – look for a small vertical red sign outside. Interactive displays, and a great satellite picture of the lagoon, sized about A1, which makes a great memento. The satellite photo gives an excellent insight into how and why Venice existed in the first place, and the info centre is worth a 10 minute visit. The sat map is free.
You might consider a trip to Chioggia, which takes you along the edge of the lagoon. Here’s a link to it:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/201...blic-trasnport

The other thing is to keep your eyes open when you are walking around. We saw a dredge fishing rubbish out of a canal, and piles being driven. Take a good look when you see a footpath pulled up, and you can see how drainage problems are being addressed. Bridges are constantly being repaired, and the new bridge near the station is worth walking over, and taking a look under. The steel fabrication is most elegant.

There was heavy restoration being done on the Fondamenta Nuove when we were there – sheet piling driven to restrain the water, and stonework being pressure grouted.

I wrote a trip report about our time in Venice. An extract from the report, dealing with building works and the like:

The same applies to campaniles – some survive, some are converted to other uses – such as electricity sub-stations, there is one near the Rialto, some fall and are re-constructed, some just disappear. Mazzorbo retains one from its former five, surrounded by grape vines, with no adjacent church and with a remnant small chapel converted to public conveniences – free, I might add, surely a miracle in Venice. In the sixteenth century, there were more than 200 campaniles in Venice, a veritable forest.

The campanile of Sant’ Angelo fell three times before they finally gave in and demolished it, the tower of San Georgio dei Greci leaned from its inception, and has caused concern since 1816. It serves as a great photo opportunity from the Ponte de la Pieta on the Rive degli Schiavoni, and must be digitally captured when it falls – there are photographers there all the time. The San Marco campanile fell and was re-constructed, while, in 1515, the campanile of the Oratory of the Virgin, near San Giobbe, was trashed overnight by the monks of the adjacent monastery. They were so infuriated by the ringing of the bells they flattened it: they had to rebuild it at their own expense. I took a look – it’s near the Ponte de Tri Archi in Canneregio, and I couldn’t see where the new brickwork had been coursed in – but after all, it has been 500 years, and things weather.

The list to starboard on the Carmini campanile was solved by boring holes into the brick on three sides of the campanile, driving in wooden wedges, and then eating the wedges with acid, allowing the campanile to settle into the cavities. It’s been standing for 450 years since this treatment, and the responsible – and, one must allow, most brave – engineer is buried in the church. The campanile of Sant’ Angelo was less fortunate. A Bolognese, one Aristotle, undertook to correct the lean, and they do know about towers in Bologna. His method was secret, but involved excavating the foundations, and the lean was corrected. Until the scaffolding was removed, and the campanile collapsed. Aristotle fled to Moscow, where he built part of the Kremlin.

Peter, such wonderful detailed information, thank you!

This article was written by an engineering student (whom we happen to know) and provides a basic description of the city's original foundations.

http://illumin.usc.edu/article.php?articleID=191

I watched this program on the Discovery Channel a couple of months ago and thought it was very interesting. I don't know if you can buy the show on DVD, but it is available for download on iTunes.

http://www.yourdiscovery.com/video/e...o-save-venice/

Flygirl, the built environment in Venice and the lagoon really fascinated me. The whole concept of building a major maritime and commercial power on a group of mud flats is enormously seductive.

It’s funny when you take a ferry to say Burano, and you see dredges scattered all over the lagoon, either deepening waterways or restoring mud banks. I guess it’s the human response to the silting of the lagoon that was the death knell for Torcello back in about 1200 A.D.

I think I found the building works happening in Venice as fascinating as the art. A book that you might like to have a look at is “Venice for Pleasure” by J G Links. It is focussed mostly on the exteriors of buildings, and describes four walks around Venice that discover some pretty unusual places. (I find Links’ writing style a bit annoying, but the information is sound.)

Peter's idea of going to the information center on San Stefano is a good one. My husband and I have been there a number of times. He was doing similar work in New Orleans which has some of the same water problems as Venice.

Peter, while I usually never book any tours and do everything on my own, the Mose construction site is something you actually need a tour for - it can only be reached by boat, and no public boats are passing there. Guided excursions to the Mose site (far less expensive than the "contexttravel" tour discussed above, perhaps even free of charge, I don't remember) are available sometimes, but so far, I never had the good luck of being in Venice while such a tour was scheduled - which means (given the frequency and length of my trips to Venice) that they are being held RARELY. In your case, flygirl, I would check before arriving in Venice whether such a tour is available while you are there; I suggest calling the Consorzio Venezia Nuova (responsible for the Mose construction, and for the excursions) at +39-041-5293600 (midmornings only).

Franco, thanks for that excellent advice. I'm an engineer, and would really like to see the construction works.

(Big boys and their toys, maybe ....)

Flygirl, I know you are asking about tours not books, and you have some great information above... but if you want to add this to your list of books for Dad check out the The Architectural History of Venice. Here is the amazon link.

http://www.amazon.com/Architectural-.../dp/0300090293