The commerce and possessions of Venice made it necessary
for her to maintain a powerful fleet. She is said to have had at one time over
three thousand merchant vessels, besides forty-five war galleys. Her ships went
out in squadrons, with men-of-war acting as a convoy against pirates. One fleet
traded with the ports of western Europe, another proceeded to the Black Sea,
while others visited Syria and Egypt to meet the caravans from the Far East.
Venetian sea power humbled Genoa and for a long time held the Mediterranean
against the Ottoman Turks.
THE "QUEEN OF THE ADRIATIC"
The greatness of Venice was celebrated by the annual
ceremony of "the wedding of the sea." The doge, (that is,
"duke.") or chief magistrate, standing in the bows of the state
barge, cast a ring of gold into the Adriatic with the proud words, "We have
wedded thee, O sea, in token of our rightful and perpetual dominion."
VENICE DESCRIBED
The visitor to modern Venice can still gain a good
impression of what the city must have looked like in the fourteenth century,
when ships of every nation crowded its quays and strangers of every country
thronged its squares or sped in light gondolas over the canals which take the
place of streets. The main highway is still the Grand Canal, nearly two miles
long and lined with palaces and churches. The Grand Canal leads to St. Mark's
Cathedral, brilliant with mosaic pictures, the Campanile, or bell tower, and
the Doge's Palace. The "Bridge of Sighs" connects the ducal palace
with the state prisons. The Rialto in the business heart of Venice is another
famous bridge. But these are only a few of the historic and beautiful buildings
of the island city.
