Does any city have a more powerful sense of place than Venice?Built on wooden piles in a muddy, flood-prone lagoon, the city is an engineering wonder with elegant Renaissance buildings rising from a network of canals. An architectural masterpiece lies around every watery corner.
Venice became an important seafaring power across the Mediterranean from the tenth century, and its merchants amassed great wealth. Some of the greatest artists have created iconic images of the city. For 300 years, from the late sixteenth to late nineteenth centuries, young aristocrats on the Grand Tour of Europe were drawn to this place to become immersed in its history and cultural splendour. They returned home fully versed in art and architecture. Across the centuries, each generation of visitors has created their own imagery of the city—their sense of this place—its visual delights, its history, its crumbling facades, its people, smells and sounds.
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