VENICE, a fortified city of northern Italy, one of the noblest, most famous, and sin gular cities in the world, is built upon a crowded cluster of islets, in the lagoon of the same name, on the n.w. fringe of the Adriatic sea, 23 m. e. of Padua by the Milan and Venice railway; lat. 45* 25' n., long., 12° 20' east. The lagoon of Venice is banked off from the Adriatic by a long, narrow extending s.w. from the mouth of the Piave to that of the Adige, and divided into a number of islands by narrow sea-passages, six in number. Formerly, the chief of these entrances into the lagoon was the port° di Lido, through which all the great merchantmen of the republic passed direct into the city, and which is still frequented by small vessels, and by the Trieste steamers. The porto di Malamocco, between the island of the same name on the s., and that of Lido on the n., is now the deepest channel into the lagoon. Inside of this sand bank, and between it and the mainland, which is from three to five in. distant, is the lagoon—a sheet of shallow water, navigable for vessels of very light draught, except where channels have been formed naturally by rivers, and artificially maintained. In some parts of this marshy, sea-covered plain, islets have—by the action of currents and otherwise—become consolidated into ground firm enough to be built upon, and fruitful enough to be cultivated; and in the midst of a crowded cluster of such islets, amounting in number to between 70 and 80, the city of Venice is built. In the vicinity of Venice, the ebbing tide (the difference between high and low water is only between 2 and 3 ft.)'lays bare nearly everywhere a great plain of calcareous mud, laced, however, by an intricate network of narrow channels, from which the sea never retires; while at high water the whole surface is covered by the sea to the depth of from 1 to 1+ feet. The chief of the islands upon which Venice is built is called isola de Rialto $.e., riro alto), or island of the Deep Stream. The islands, in mhny places only shoals, afford no good foundations for bhildings; and the city, for the most part, is built upon artificial foundations of piles or stone. The fact that this city of marble palaces seems to rise from the unsubstantial sea, is sufficient to render its aspect at all times more or less fascinating; but in summer and autumn, the seasons of the highest titles, when the Grand place of St. Mark's is partially flooded, and when the image of each palace is doubled by reflection in that "green pavement, which every breeze breaks into new fantasies of rich tesselation," the city is indeed marvelously beautiful. The Canalazzo. or Grand canal—its tortuous course through the city being in the form of the letter S reversed—divides Venice into two unequal parts, and is the main thorough fare for traffic or pleasure. But the city is sub • divided by 146 smaller canals, or rii, as they are termed. These are the water-streets of Venice, by means of which. passengers can be conveyed to any quarter, for here the canal is the street, and the gon dola (q.v.) is the cab or carriage. Access can also be had to all parts of the town by land —across the canals by bridges, and among the houses by narrow lanes called calli. There are in all 306 public bridges, and of these, three cross the Grand canal—the Rialto, a stone structure, and the most famous; and two iron bridges. The piazza or square of St. Mark's is the great center of business and amusement, and the locality most frequently visited by travelers in Venice. It is 576 ft. in length, 269 ft. in greatest width, and 185 ft. in least width. The e. side of this square is occupied by St. Mark's church. The first church of St. Mark's was built in 813, but was destroyed by fire in 976. It was rebuilt in 1071, and consecrated before the close of the 11th century. The edifice is Byzantine, with Gothic additions of the 14th c., and renaissance alterations of the 17th century. It became the cathedral and seat of the patriarch in 1807. The plan of St. Mark's is the Greek cross. Above the doorway are the four famous horses which Marino Zeno brought from Constantinople in 1205, which were carried away by Napo leon in 1797 to Paris, and restored 'to Venice in 1815. A great dome rises over the inter section of the lines of the cross; and over the transepts, other domes arise. The carved work, which is very profuse, is of the most exquisite description; and the building is perfect as an example of the delicately-colored architecture of the east. The structure is of brick, incrusted with richly-colored marbles. To the right of this beautiful edifice
is the torre dell Orologio (built in 1494), with a splendid dial in gold and azure, and very complex and ingenious movements. The n. side of the square is almost entirely taken up by the procuratie Vecchie, built in 1517, for the accommodation of the procurators or trustees of San Marco, who had the care of the edifice, the management of its property, etc. Facing the procgratie Vecchie, and on the s. side of the square, are the buildings. of the procuratze .1.1uove, which are connected with a facade, which forms the w. side of the square; and the two buildings constitute the palazzo linperiale. Leading s. from the piazza is the piazzetta, or little square; and near the point where it makes an angle with the great square, is the Campanile, or bell tower, of St. Mark, placed at some dis tance in front of the building to which it belongs. It was begun in 'J02, and completed in 1510, is 323 ft. high, 42 ft. wide at the base, and is surmounted by an angel, which serves as a weather-cock, and is said to be 30 ft. high. On the w. side of the piazzetta. are the old library. and the mint, the former now forming a part of the palazzo Impe riale. At the s. of the piazzetta are the two famous red granite columns of Venice, one of which is surmounted by a figure of St. Theodore, the patron saint of the republic till St. Mark supplanted him; the other covered by the lion of St. Mark. On the e. side of the piazzetta stands the plazzo ducale or doge's palace. The first palace' reared on the site the present one was built in 813, and though frequently enlarged, rebuilt, and re decorated, it retained throughout the character of a Byzantine structure. In the year' 1301, its architectural character began to change; and from that time till 1423, all the rebuilding and enlarging were executed in Gothic. After the date 1423, there are no• buildings iu Venetian architecture, properly so called; and the alterations made in the ducal palace after that time, as well as the palaces subsequently built, which took their style of architecture from the doge's palace, were in renaissance, and like almost all the architecture now to be seen in Venice, " of immeasurably inferior' spirit in the workmanship" to that native style which flourished with the republic, and decayed with. it. Starthig from the landing-place of St. Mark's at the e. extremity of the Grand canal, and proceeding w., a great number of palaces are passed. In former times, aces, or the magnificent buildings which occupied the same sites, were the ware houses and places of business of great merchant-princes, most of whom possessed_ mansions in the suburbs, i.e., on some neighboring island, which afforded more than could be found in the city itself. A few of these are worthy of mention. Among them are the Palazzo Giustiniani, now the Albergo dell' Europa. perhaps the best hotel in Venice; the Palazzo Contarini Fagan, a beautiful specimen of the richest Venetian Gothic. of the 14th c.; on the left bank, the Palazzo Pisani a S. Polo, in arabesque Gothic of'the beginning of the 15th c.; further on, on the right, the Palazzo Loredan, the Ca' d'Oro, a building of the 15th c., in the oriental style, restored by Mlle. Taglioni, the celebrated dancer. The bridge of the Rialto crossing the Grand canal consists of one arch, the span of which is 91-ft., and the height from the water 24-i feet. The width is 72 ft., and the bridge is divided into three streets—the middle one 21 ft. wide—and two rows, of shops. The Bridge of Sighs (Porte dei Sospirz) 'stretches across the canal called the' Rio Palazzo, and communicates between prisons on the e., and the Doge's palace on the w. bank of the canal. It is a covered gallery; and prisoners, when led to execution, passed from their cells across this gallery to the palace, to hear sentence of death passed upon them, and then were conducted to the scene of death between the red columns. The churches of Venice are, as a rule, fine edifices, and of various styles. The styles are i chiefly, first, Venitian Gothic, massive and solemn; second, Lombard; third, classical, i.e., Italian; fourth, decorated Italian. Among the chief churches after St. Mark's are those of the Frani, with a colossal monument of Titian, a number of excellent pictures, etc.; and the church of S. Giacamo di Rialto, at the foot of the bridge of the same name, occu pies the site of the first church erected in Venice in 421. But of the multitode of churches, a great many, though of pleasing proportions, are in the later and degraded.