In news–With some of Venice’s secondary canals almost drying up in the past few days, images of docked water taxis, gondolas and ambulance boats have garnered a lot of attention on social media.
About the famous canal and gondolas of Venice-
- Located in northern Italy, the city of Venice has a unique geography.
- It is a collection of over 118 small islands spread over a lagoon, which is a kind of water body that is separated from a larger water body through some kind of land formation.
- Covering 70,176.4 ha, Venetian lagoon is separated from the Adriatic Sea.
- According to UNESCO, temporary settlements in the 5th century gradually became permanent here, comprising land-dwelling peasants and fishermen.
- UNESCO states that Venice and its lagoon landscape is the result of a dynamic process which illustrates the interaction between people and the ecosystem of their natural environment over time.
Why have some Venetian canals gone dry?
- According to weather analysts, a high-pressure system is stuck over the city, creating low tides, which has led to low water levels.
- Experts believe that a prolonged long spell of low tides and lack of rain are responsible for the issue in the city.
- However, many say the root cause behind the issue is the drought-like situation across Italy.
Venice(City of Canals)-
- Venice, the capital of northern Italy’s Veneto region, is built on more than 100 small islands in a lagoon in the Adriatic Sea.
- The islands are in the shallow Venetian Lagoon, an enclosed bay lying between the mouths of the Po and the Piave rivers (more exactly between the Brenta and the Sile).
- It has no roads, just canals – including the Grand Canal thoroughfare – lined with Renaissance and Gothic palaces.
- The central square, Piazza San Marco, contains St. Mark’s Basilica, which is tiled with Byzantine mosaics, and the Campanile bell tower offering views of the city’s red roofs.
Source: The Indian Express
