We've moved from Baltimore, Maryland USA to Venice, Italy in pursuit of living our dream!



Wednesday, April 25, 2012

April 25, 2012 - Celebration of the 100th anniversary of the rebuilding of the Campanile

It's hard to believe, but 100 years ago on the 14th of July, the bell tower in St. Mark's square completely collapsed to the ground.  In the last few days a few photos of the event have surfaced on a few sites relating to Venice, and there are several of these photos lining the walls of cafe's and bars around the city. Yes, hard to believe, but the photos don't lie!




photo 1, shared from Venice International University
https://www.facebook.com/VeniceInternationalUniversity/info





photo2 shared from  Venezia Today
https://www.facebook.com/pages/VeneziaToday/252463908142196



In this second photo, nothing is left but a pile of bricks. I read that miraculously, no other buildings were damaged, nor were there any injuries to human life. Again, hard to believe!  After the building fell, the city held a design competitions in an effort to select a new building design. Venetians did a bit of protesting, using the familiar Venetian phrase, "Com' era, Dov' era" (As it was, where it was) as their reasoning for not wanting something more modern to be erected in the Bell Tower's place. The locals won this debate!

Over the last year or so, there has been an ongoing project to do some repairs to the foundation of the Bell Tower after some hairline cracks were discovered.  This work appears to be just completing- hopefully the problems have been resolved and the building has been shored up. I can't fathom what it would be like for this building to collapse again.

Tonight in St. Mark's square there is a special celebration, including a light show, to commemorate 100 yrs of the rebuilt bell tower. Auguri, Venice!


5 comments:

Laura McDonnell said...

Fantastic pictures, thank you for sharing! I wonder how true it is that there was a cat in the Campanile when it collapsed?

karen said...

I had read the same thing somewhere about the cat- don't know if that is true or not! Grazie!

Anonymous said...

The Marciana library clearly looks damaged in the second photo!

karen said...

You're right- the library does look damaged, however I have not been able to find anything that lists any building damages.

Tanya Danielle Rasquinha said...

hey!...i came across ur blog randomly ...m glad i did...what fantastic pictures!!