Capitolo 5 Venice seen from the water

1 - The "double practicability"
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The double practicability is a characteristic of the city risen on more than 100 islands.

While in any other city the pedestrian circulation must consider the needs of the motorized traffic, in Venice this problem has never existed: the whole city is a big "pedestrian island"! And this thanks to the sharp separation of the 2 roads, the one of the transport means, that circulate on water, and the one of the people who move on earth. The traffic of transports does not turn around the city, but it penetrates inside, like a shadow, crossing the net of little islands. In this sense famous town planners, such as the French Le Corbousier, have said that Venice is the modernest city in the world, since the 2 kinds of roads never get in each other's way, even if they run side by side.

The water ways.

The net of the water ways, constituted by canals and "rii", is totally independent from the one of the earth and often is not lined by pedestrian ways, so that it offers a very particular sight of the city, because it is usable only by boats. The canals are the watercourses most important for the links, while the "rii" (from the Latin "rivus") are most of the inside watercourses.