Mud, water and wood. The system that kept a 1604-year-old city afloat

[oldbrownhat]

Interesting article on BBC website. Despite some damage from anerobic bacteria, the city is still remarkably well supported.

Most modern structures are built to last 50 years or so, but ingenious ancient engineering has kept [Venice] afloat for more than 1,600 years – using only wood.

As any local knows, Venice is an upside-down forest. The city, which turned 1604 years old on March 25, is built on the foundations of millions of short wooden piles, pounded in the ground with their tip facing downwards. These trees – larch, oak, alder, pine, spruce and elm of a length ranging between 3.5m (11.5ft) to less than 1m (3ft) – have been holding up stone palazzos and tall belltowers for centuries, in a true marvel of engineering leveraging the forces of physics and nature...

...the battipali (literally the 'pile hitters') had a very important profession. They even had their own songs... they would sing an ancient song to keep the rhythm – a haunting and repetitive melody with lyrics that praise Venice, its republican glory, its Catholic faith, and declare death to the enemy of the time, the Turks. On a more lighthearted note, a Venetian expression still in use today, na testa da bater pai (literally 'a head that is good to pound down the piles') is a colourful way of saying that someone is dull or slow-witted.

 

[walkin jack]

You, sir, post some of the most interesting topics to hit this forum. To me, this was one of the best. I have long wondered what was keeping this fabled city afloat. Thank you for putting it up.

 

[tlawler]

And now for something completely different

I wouldn’t have known the Larch was a tree if it wasn’t for these guys:

[ame]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ug8nHaelWtc[/ame]

 

[Bald1]

Larch is one of the most weather/water resistant trees there are. A lot of board n battin siding is made from it. It’s usually stained and people mistake it as Cedar. The Larch siding on my cabin is 18 yrs old and looks great.

 

[ameridaddy]

Interesting article. Despite some damage from anerobic bacteria, the city is still remarkably well supported.

Most modern structures are built to last 50 years or so, but ingenious ancient engineering has kept [Venice] afloat for more than 1,600 years – using only wood.

As any local knows, Venice is an upside-down forest. The city, which turned 1604 years old on March 25, is built on the foundations of millions of short wooden piles, pounded in the ground with their tip facing downwards. These trees – larch, oak, alder, pine, spruce and elm of a length ranging between 3.5m (11.5ft) to less than 1m (3ft) – have been holding up stone palazzos and tall belltowers for centuries, in a true marvel of engineering leveraging the forces of physics and nature...

...the battipali (literally the 'pile hitters') had a very important profession. They even had their own songs... they would sing an ancient song to keep the rhythm – a haunting and repetitive melody with lyrics that praise Venice, its republican glory, its Catholic faith, and declare death to the enemy of the time, the Turks. On a more lighthearted note, a Venetian expression still in use today, na testa da bater pai (literally 'a head that is good to pound down the piles') is a colourful way of saying that someone is dull or slow-witted.

Fascinating. I read some years ago the old Venice was sinking because the mainland side of the modern Venice had pumped too much water out of the aquifer that lies beneath the old island city. Supposedly adjustments were made, but whether they were sincere or effective I don't know.

Translation (more or less) of the pile drivers' song from my rusty Italian:
(note - I think Mai (never) is a wrong, and it should be Ma meaning but or barely in this context. Also, pase no such word should be pace meaning peace
Hoist it high eh
And really high oh,

For it pays eh
For this job oh,

That we have eh
Barely started oh,

But if my heart eh
We will finish it oh,

And we will explain eh
Black flag oh,

Black flag eh
Sign of death oh,

And we will explain eh
Red flag oh,

Red flag eh
Sign of blood oh,

And we will explain eh
White flag oh,

White flag eh
Sign of peace oh,

Oh hoist hoist eh
Oh hoist hoist oh.

 

[oldbrownhat]

Fascinating. I read some years ago the old Venice was sink...
Translation (more or less) of the pile drivers' song from my rusty Italian:
(note - I think Mai (never) is a wrong, and it should be Ma meaning but or barely in this context. Also, pase no such word should be pace meaning peace....

Pretty good. My Italian is probably rustier than yours, plus, it's in Venetian dialect, which may explain the odd spellings. I haven't found an official translation and I'm not sure I'd trust Google translate on old Venetian dialect.

I neglected to post the link to the full BBC article - now corrected. From the article (and quoted above):

...they would sing an ancient song to keep the rhythm – a haunting and repetitive melody with lyrics that praise Venice, its republican glory, its Catholic faith, and declare death to the enemy of the time, the Turks. On a more lighthearted note, a Venetian expression still in use today, na testa da bater pai (literally 'a head that is good to pound down the piles') is a colourful way of saying that someone is dull or slow-witted....​

The expression "na testa da bater pai' is in Venetian dialect. In "textbook" Italian it would probably be something like, "una testa per battere pali".

 

[crows]

And here I thought that Ft Pulaski on Tybee Island in Georgia, built in the early 1800's, was an engineering marvel because it is built on wooden pilings driven into the swampy ground.
It pales in comparison to Venice. Fascinating.

 

[DWalt]

Back in my old Southern Ohio home town, flooding of the Ohio River was fairly frequent. There were once many houses in the flood plain dating from the mid 19th century built on wood pilings, literally on stilts high enough to keep the houses above floods. As I remember, they were 10’ or so above ground level. Few remain there today, most were demolished during the mid-1950s due to elevated highway construction. It was and is an interesting and historic area, right on the Ohio-Erie Canal that ran from Cleveland to the Ohio River. I grew up literally a stone’s throw from the old Canal bed.