Venice and Her Lagoon, the Ultimate Symbiotic Relationship

Venice, more than any other city, is dependent upon and simultaneously threatened by its natural environment. Ecologists often use the word symbiosis to describe relationships between organisms. For one thousand years, Venice and her lagoon exhibited a form of mutually beneficial symbiosis; without the lagoon, Venice would never have survived, and without Venetians, the lagoon would be a historical artifact found only in old maps and in sedimentary records. The lagoon provided both sustenance and protection to Venetians for over one thousand years; meanwhile the Venetians had the foresight to divert the Brenta and Piave Rivers several centuries ago, preventing the fluvial sediment flux from turning the lagoon into a large salt flat.

Venice and Her Lagoon, the Ultimate Symbiotic Relationship