Dumbbells and Drama

I’m going to request you to take leave of your office chair for a while, and come with me to the city of canals. But today we will talk about things other than San Marco Square, Rialto Bridge and the Grand Canal.

Venice has a lot of curiosities and little secrets to share, most of which I had noted down on my Google Keep during the walking tour back in November 2019. There are things that local guides will tell you that will stay with you for the rest of your life (You might forget what you read in the history books but you’ll never forget what a local guide told you about their city)


I had misunderstood Venice (Read all about it here) Today it’s one of the cities in the world that will always be close to my heart. Dedicating this dreary day in lockdown 2020 to Venice, the city of water, masks, bridges, love and romance.

Did you know about the underwater forest in Venice?
The subsoil of Venice is full of tree trunks that support the buildings. Some legends say that the thickest forest in Italy is actually in Venice right under the houses! Apparently there are around 1,160, 000 trees under the famous Rialto Bridge!

Flooding is common in Venice.
We saw it in the news earlier this year- This phenomenon is called El acqua alta. This means that there is a rise in the water level in the Venice Lagoon that exceeds 90 cm above the normal tide level, and it is common to see the lower parts of Venice getting flooded. St. Mark’s square is where you will always see this phenomenon.

The narrowest street in Venice is 53 cm wide
Yup, that’s right! This street is called Calletta Varisco , and yes of course it is a damn popular tourist spot ????‍♀️

Ciao was born in Venice!
The word ciao was born in Venice and is derived from the Venetian s’ciavo Vostro meaning ‘your slave’

The first European ghetto was in Venice
The first ghetto in history appeared in Venice and it was the residential area for Jew workers (now known as the Jewish ghetto)

There is a street named after shit
IKR! Diablo Street owes its name to the bridge at the beginning of it, and while there are many theories around the name, the coolest ( and most fun) one says that the steps of the little bridge were so steep that whenever Venetians crossed them they could only think of abuses (similar to the bridge of shit)

Only two naked bridges survive today.
When Venice was just built, none of the bridges had parapets. Seeing how this was dangerous, they were all converted to sturdier structures. There are two quite particular bridges though: the Ponte del Diavolo a Torcello and the Ponte del Chiodo, which are the only two remaining structures without parapets. Legend has it that the devil still appears every night on the bridge????

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