venice is a city that can be enjoyed at all time of the year. Even the winter mist add to the the city a romantic appeal, though clear blue skies and balmy weather make spring and autumm the best times to go.

Origins: around the VI century A.D. the people living on the mainland, frightened by the arrival of the Barbarians, found a permanent refuge on the island of the vast Veneto lagoon.
The foundation of the city of venice goes back to the first half of the IX century, when the capital of venice was moved from Malamocco, a small coastal community of Lido-venice, to Rivo Alto (Rialto), a much safer and stronger island in the center of the lagoon. It was surrounded by a group of smaller islands separated by vast water. A little at time, each island built squares and churches around which the local community was built. Now there are about one hundred canals and over four hundred bridges.

Architecture: venice is substained by a thick forest of wooden piles planted in the slimy ground by ancient Venetians. Today these piles are completely mineralized and even thus more resistant.
They have consequently been covered by wooden slabs and a base of Istrian stone upon which the building were constructed.
The first architects found inspiration from the Byzantine art , because the trade links between venice and Costantinopole, capital of Bizantium.
Facades of palaces or houses with byzantine influence are recognizable by their pointed arches and carved windows heads, which give a delicate and lacelike appearance (13th century).
Houses of Renaissance (15th/16th cent.) have a classical style borrowing motifs from ancient Rome and Greece, incorporated in fluted columns, Corinthians capitals, and semicircular arches.
Venetian Baroque has its own roots in Renaissance style but it is far more exuberant. Cherubes, grotesque masks, rosettes animate the main facade of buildings of this period.
Venetian house: the layout of a typical palazzo or casa has changed little over the centuries, but it was so divided: the main entrance was on the water and on ground floor there were the storehouses and offices for the transection of business; the piano nobile on the first floor, often lavishly decorated was used to entertain visitors. The upper floor was housed by the family. Attic rooms were reserved for the servants.
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