She lifts up all whom others abase. She welcomes those whom others persecute. She cheers the mourner in his grief and defends the disposed and the destitute with charity and love. And so I bow to Venice with good reason. She is a living reproach to [papal] Rome. When people ask me about my favorite place, I always tell the truth β Beirut β because this is where my heart is. A truly Byzantine city built by refugees on mud banks amid the marshy lagoons of the Adriatic in the 5th century, it rose to acquire a rightful title of the Empire and to rule the seas for over a thousand years!
Successful leadership and trade brought immense wealth and with that wealth the Venetians built a magnificent city, a stunning composition of stone and waves that still evokes wonder today, and called her β La Serenissima! So, in February , we flew to Venice and spent 10 days there, half of which fell on a very hectic and colorful end of the Carnival and half, on a quiet and very local post-Carnival time. The same streets, without any sight of modern traffic lights, are still trodden.
It is, as if living in those times! So come and succumb to the magic of this improbable place whose streets are full of water and where the glories of the past are evident and alive at every turn. In the 5th century A. In the old days of the Pax Romana this area had been one of great beauty and wealth.
Patavium modern Padua had boasted of its affluent citizens who reaped rich profit from the wool and wine afforded by the verdant countryside.
Its markets and homes spilled over with every luxury and delicacy that a vast empire could afford. But in Attila the Hun came to Aquileiaβ¦. A few survivors of this devastation searched for refuge but found none. Where could one flee when even Rome itself was in danger? With no secure retreat on the mainland, ragged bands of refugees made their way to the marshes of the nearby lagoon, a brackish hideaway between the land and the Adriatic sea.
