Venice

Venice shouldn’t exist. Its buildings stand on millions of wooden piles driven into mud and clay more than a thousand years ago. Somehow, they’re still holding firm.

From this impossible foundation rose one of Europe’s wealthiest republics, a city built on water and spread across more than 100 small islands that once dominated the Adriatic and traded with empires half a world away.

In the 9th century, people fleeing barbarian invasions settled in this lagoon for safety. They built homes on stilts, learned to live with the tides, and built boats faster than anyone else’s. 

By the Middle Ages, Venice had transformed from a muddy refuge into a maritime powerhouse. Its merchants shipped silk, spices, and glass from Constantinople to London. The lion of Saint Mark, the city’s symbol, flew proudly over ports from Crete to Cyprus.

The Republic of Venice fought, schemed, and negotiated its way through centuries of war and wealth. In 1204, Venetian ships led the Fourth Crusade and sacked Constantinople, hauling back treasures like the bronze horses that still stand on St. Mark’s Basilica. 

Plagues struck hard. One in 1348 killed tens of thousands. But the city rebuilt every time. Then in 1797, Napoleon arrived, ending more than a thousand years of independence and handing Venice to Austria.

By the 1700s, Venice was famous not for war but for pleasure. Masked balls, Carnival, and Casanova’s escapades turned it into Europe’s playground. Artists like Canaletto painted its light, and Vivaldi composed music that still ripples through its churches. 

Even when its power faded, its imagination didn’t.

Today, you can glide down the Grand Canal like a Renaissance merchant, explore the Doge’s Palace where rulers plotted behind gilded doors, or squeeze through alleys so narrow you can touch both walls. Watch glassblowers on Murano turn fire into art, or eat squid ink pasta while gondolas slide past.