The brick texture of the walls of the buildings was exposed. The constant erosion from saline air and water revealed the materials of the buildings. The capillary rise followed by evaporation of saltwater in the bricks leave a dusty crystalline color. Plasterwork was chipping off, like a fresco. Those large bricks which I had mistaken for sandstone in New York, were, here, denounced as mere brick that had been cut away into oversized blocks and then plastered over.
The little municipal or civic activity that one sees on the island of Venice are workers repairing the surfaces of buildings. Repainting, replastering, or digging up the streets to access the electrical or telephone lines buried beneath. Occasionally one sees boats with supplies delivering goods, or picking up waste, emptying a building’s septic system, but primarily one sees the reconstruction of the building surfaces; it must be constant. A perpetual renovation.
The infrastructure built in response to this unique condition includes slightly arched calle that divert flood and rain water to the edges of the passageways where slitted trachyte permit water to sink into underground channels. Roof tiles repel water down into gutters that drain down several stories. At the base of entrances to homes that are vacant for long periods one finds wooden barricades to forestall high tide. And of course the gondolas and vaporettos for transportation.
It was November and the presence of the canals were three fold: a putrid smell of the canals into which gatoli empty waste; a physical obstacle that made pedestrian tourist entering a ramo, turn around, and seek out foot bridges; and the solid, light-green color. The smell was overwhelming during the first day, and then basically unexceptional. The bridges form familiar paths through the city. And I was surprised I didn’t bored of the beautiful, picturesque view down each canal as I crossed a bridge.
The color of the water was jarring. It appeared synthetic, yet it was organic – the thorough presence of algae that were flourishing due to organic compounds in the water, sunlight, and shallow, stagnant water that empties twice a day. Venice is a laboratory of engineering innovation but also a paradise for this microorganism.
Vienna felt like a classic city that has made an effort to modernize in every way, but only on a modest scale. There wasn't a towering downtown, but there were only a few high rises. It wasn’t a smart city, but there are plans to build a smart city area. People live and work there, and it was apparent. There are centralized tourist areas around Museumsquartier and the old center. But Venice felt like one giant Time Square in which it was unclear as to whether anyone actually lived and worked there, and if they did, whether they worked outside of the tourist economy. The city is frozen in a simplification of its own tourist attractions. Restaurants with white and red checkered tablecloths, pizzerias, masks, Murano glass works, and cafes. Even the city itself, which includes mainland Mestre-Carpenedo, Marghera, Favaro Veneto, Chirignago, Zelarino, Tessera, is reduced to the historic Venetian island when referenced as "Venice." But it's an amazing human construction, and it's historic importance is indisputable. The fact of its physical erosion, is even more prescient in the era of a global climate catastrophe.
If a city is a Stone Age material, the stone was believed to endure through water.
[1] "Venice Backstage: How does Venice work?" Insula spa, Venice Municipality, 2011
https://vimeo.com/21688538