What I'm watching - Strip the City - Venice Sinking City

A friend of mine recently alerted me to a new series on Australian TV's SBS network, Strip the City which featured a 50-minute episode dedicated to old and new engineering problems and solutions in Venice.  

My interest was piqued immediately because the promotional image that I saw was that distinctive yellow building on Fondamente dei Cereri where the wonderful poet, Diego Valeri once lived.  

Still shot from Strip the City - Venice Sinking City documentary currently available on SBS TV on demand

I was able to watch the Venice Sinking City episode online on SBS TV 'on demand' website but you'll have to be quick because the link is available only until 10 February 2014 (Australian time - and Australian time is ahead by at least 8 hours for most North American and European readers).

I'm certainly not an expert on the science of preserving Venice from its many environmental challenges and nor am I generally inclined to watching engineering shows, however I found this this documentary to be comprehensible and interesting to watch.  

The episode covered ingenious engineering solutions from the past and present which have been applied to Venice's unique circumstances.  

I am not qualified to comment on the accuracy of the assertions made in the documentary, however, some of the subjects covered include:

• A demonstration how Venice is sinking through geological forces by up to an inch every decade. Using a painting by 18th century view painter, Bernardo Bellotto, a geologist demonstrated how some parts of Venice are 2.5 feet lower in the water than in Bellotto's day, and asserted that Venice sinks by an inch every decade.  

• An interview with a contemporary engineer explaining how the foundations of the campanile in the Piazza San Marco have been braced with titanium and granite to guard against instability, and how the movement of the campanile is monitored by over 100 sensors.

• Plans to install underground one-way drainage underneath the Piazza San Marco to allow water to drain away, without rising back up

• How Venice is built is on over 10 million trees felled from the mainland - this vast forest is submerged in the mud, protected from oxygen where it remains stable.  However, erosion and changing environmental circumstances are threatening this stable foundation.

• Explanations of just why the introduction of motor boat traffic into Venice has caused so many issues for the conservation and preservation of its structures (the canals of Venice are too narrow to allow waves to disperse, and water current consequently are battering against the foundations of the structures, causing cracks and in the worst cases, exposing the wooden poles upon which Venice is built to rot and erosion).  Before the introduction of motorised craft into Venetian waters, traditional gondolas and other boats had a low impact on the structure of Venice

• How contemporary engineers are using water proof mortar to repair structures (like the Rialto bridge) whose foundations are being exposed to rot and erosion

• A graphical illustration of how wells in Venice are atypical - because Venice is built on salt water, Venetians devised an ingenious method of installing a large chamber to store rainwater, which was filtered through sand.  A clay lining protects the chamber from the salty ground water. Over 6,000 wells in the city once provided vital water supplies to Venice.

• How Venetians used brick and plaster to build their buildings, but protected these porous building materials from the salt water of the lagoon by installing a limestone base.  However, as Venice sinks, the water of the lagoon is rising above this limestone barrier and attacking the brickwork and plaster causing expansion and cracking.  This allows salt water to further penetrate structures in Venice and if untreated can lead to the collapse of buildings.

• How extensive repairs were undertaken at the Salute recently to mitigate against water rising through the floor and breaking apart its marble flooring.  Engineers removed 4,500 pieces of marble by hand, and installed protective layers above the soil/ brick foundation of the church starting with a plastic membrance, covered by a metal grill holding 2 miles of tubes conducting warm water to dry the moisture from the floor of the church.  A concrete layer was then poured over the warm water and all 4,500 pieces of marble were painstakingly re-laid in their original places.

• How Venice experiences floods up to 250 times per year and how an immense weather tracking station was built 10 miles off shore in 1970, following the devastation of the 1966 flood. The documentary provided an explanation of how the siren system operates in Venice to warn residents and business owners of impending floods, and how four different tones are used to announce the expected severity of the flooding.  

• An interview with chief fire officer, Alessandra Bascia (who also features extensively in a recent BBC documentary about Venice - Venice 24/7).  Bascia explains how fire fighters were severely hampered by the lack of access to reliable water supplies and water pressure to fight the disastrous fire of 29 January 1996 (when the historic and beloved La Fenice opera theatre was burnt down).  In the aftermath of the disaster, 700 fire hydrants were installed in Venice, fed by 30 miles of water pipes, providing a dedicated water supply for fire fighters.

• Bascia also demonstrates how during a flood or high water, it can be very difficult for emergency boats to navigate the lower bridges in Venice.  The documentary shows footage of how fire crews can lower their windshields and duck down to improve their ability to fit under low bridges.

• The documentary ends with footage of the third of MOSE's 75 gates being lowered into the lagoon.  The MOSE project, scheduled for completion in 2016, aims to protect Venice by forming a mile-long flood barrier across the three inlets to the lagoon.

La Fenice - remembering the night of 29 January 1996

As you might have guessed from the right hand side of my blog page, I love using social media and amongst many things, it helps me to stay connected with news and happenings in Venice.  

Throughout today, I’ve been receiving updates and reminders about a disastrous event in contemporary Venetian history – because as I write, it is the 18^th anniversary of the night that La Fenice opera house burned down on 29 January 1996.

Although I was living in Venice when the fire took place, on the night of the fire I was staying with my family near London.  I vividly recall looking up at the television as a BBC news item announcing the fire flashed across the screen, and I wondered how the wooden structure of the theatre, or indeed how this part of Venice – with its tightly packed buildings and ancient structures - could survive such a major fire. 

‘La Fenice’ is of course an apt name for Venice’s famous opera house - it means ‘phoenix’ -and like the bird of Greek mythology, La Fenice has risen from the ashes of its predecessor twice since it was first built in May 1792 (ironically to replace the earlier San Benedetto theatre – which had also burnt down in 1774).

Venice’s La Fenice theatre is renowned as one of Europe’s leading and most beautiful opera theatres.  Many well loved operas were premiered in Venice at La Fenice including Rossini’s Tancredi in February 1813.

In 1836, the theatre was completed destroyed by fire, and a replacement building by Giovanni Battista Medusa was inaugurated in December 1837.  It was this 'new' building which saw the premieres of Verdi’s Rigoletto in March 1851, La Traviata in March 1853 and Simon Boccanegra in March 1857.

The opening sequences of Luciano Visconti’s 1954 film, Senso (which is set in 1866 during the Austrian occupation of Venice) were shot on location at La Fenice.  The film depicts a performance of Verdi’s Il Trovatore at La Fenice, as Italian patriots distribute leaflets calling for an end to foreign occupation and calling for the unification of Venice with Italy. 

In the 20th century, Maria Callas’ 1949 performance as Elvira in Bellini’s I puratani at La Fenice was highly acclaimed, and her success in assuming the role at short notice marked a turning point in her career.   The Venice Biennale commissioned notable modern composers to write works for La Fenice including Stravinsky, who premiered The Rake’s Progress in September 1951, and Britten, whose work, Turn of the Screw, premiered in September 1954.

Decorated in the neo-classical style, and filled with ornate gilt interiors, frescoes and huge Murano glass chandeliers, it was, according to Luciano Pavarotti 'a jewel and architecturally  the most beautiful theatre in Italy'.  La Fenice has also played an important role in social life in Venice for hundreds of years - with its tiers of box seats stacked vertically one above another, opera patrons are fully on display for each other, and the film, Senso, depicts how opera-goers caught up on gossip and the latest happenings at the theatre.

Campo San Fantin, where La Fenice is located, is a small campo, filled with wooden buildings - hotels, homes, restaurants and bars -  all packed closely together.  On the night of the fire, the two adjacent canals had recently been drained for dredging and maintenance work.  Although the fire department were at the scene of the fire almost immediately, they were hampered by the ferocity of the blaze and the need to use water from distant canals.  The available water pressure was insufficient to allow any meaningful attack on the blaze.  

The decision made must have been heartbreaking - to let the city's beloved, historic opera theatre burn so that Venice could be saved.  With embers falling on nearby buildings, fire crews evacuated the area and focused on keeping the fire from spreading.  At around 11pm that night, the wooden roof of the theatre collapsed, sending huge flames into the air.  

La Fenice burnt down to its external walls.  I've experienced a house fire, and it's easy for me to imagine how its famously ornate interiors and rococo salons started to smoulder and burn, and how the tiers of blazing boxes began to collapse and fall.  As well, the theatre's collection of musical instruments, sets and costumes were lost.  

Fortunately - remarkably - no lives were lost, and as I understand it, the damage to nearby property was contained.   

I never got to experience Medusa 1836 theatre - I’d been meaning to visit La Fenice either via a guided tour or by attending a performance – but I hadn’t gotten around to it.  

As is typical of Venice, La Fenice was rebuilt ‘come’era e dov’era (as it was, and where it was).  Reconstruction of the theatre commenced around 18 months after the fire.  The design of this new building closely copies Medusa’s 19^th century building, but it is larger (it now seats 1,000 patrons) and it also incorporates modern stage equipment, a new rehearsal space, and modern fire prevention measures including a roof made of steel rather than of wood.  

The architects used still photographs from the opening scenes of Senso to design the building, and a team of over 200 hundred artisans including plasterers, woodworkers and visual artists were involved in the reconstruction of its lavishly decorated interiors.  The Venetian fabric firm, Rubelli, had supplied wall fabrics for the 1837 Medusa building, and was able to use these same patterns for the new building.  

The latest incarnation of La Fenice opened in December 2003 with a concert conducted by Riccardo Muti.  Verdi’s La Traviata was re-staged in November 2004.

In 2007, I had the fantastic opportunity to arrange a cocktail reception in La Fenice’s lovely Salle Apollinee rooms, followed by a private viewing of the theatre.  It was surreal to step inside this thoroughly modern building and marvel at the brilliance of the faux rococo interiors, and to remember those awful scenes of Venice on fire on that night of 29 January 1996.