American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1875-06-26
The Streets OF Venice.

have already said that there can be no
more erroneous idea than that there are no
streets in Venice. The reverse is the truth /;
it is a perfect maze of streets and alleys,
all of the most cratic propensities and
vagabond inclinations, of corkscrew con-
struction, SO that there is not a house in
Venice that cannot be approached by land
as well as by water. But truth compels
me to add that they are as unlike the
streets of any other place as the city is
isolated in her own peculiarities of posi-
ton and construction from all the other
cities of the world. As there is but one
Venice, and probably never will be an
other like unto it, SO her pathways are dis
similar TO all others, whether on terra
filma or on water. Her streets are the
most intricate AMI bewildcring contriv-
to puzzle typographical brains and lead
wandering feet astray. No amount Of
study or experience can ever assure you
whittier you are vending your way, or at
what point you may finally emerge, and a
Chinese puzzle is a mild mystery COM
pared TO the solution of that peripatetic
problem in Venice. So narrow are these
streets, without sidewalks, and through
which no wheeled vehicle may safely
pass, that in the widest of them but four
persons can conveniently walk abreast,
in many of them crowd of two fat per-
sons will suffice to block the way!
BY measurement, the widest of these
streets are not more than eighteen feet
across, the ordinary width not exceeding
six feet, if as broad even as that.
The chief feature of all ofthem is found
in the constantly interposing bridge, span
ming one of innumerable canals, great or
small, that intersect the city in every
imaginable direction. In the course ola
ten-minutes' walk "any WHITTIER" as Mr.
Carlyle would say, you will have to cross
at least five bridges, on which, happily,
no tolls are demanded, else your walk
would empty your pockets. Emerging
from these, you will wend your way
through alleys so narrow that with your
elbows you may touch either side, lodging
occasionally under low archways, passing
under houses and openings into small
squares, each q world in itself and enjoy
ing separate and exclusive community of
its own. These little squares or caMpi
(felds), as they are termed by the resi-
dents, constitute peculiar and character
istic feature of Venice. Each campo is,
in itself, an independent town in miniature.
Within the narrow limits of its small
square it condenses everything necessary
fort of its frequenters, who people the
gloomy looking houses that surround its
Enclosure. These people do not live in
separate houses, but whole families occu-
by separate floors, or flats, as in Paris
or Edinburgh, and individuals even own
separate rooms in the same house, which,
when disposed of, have to be sold, as one
may say, by retail, due respect having to
be paid to the vested rights of numerous
proprietors congregated under the same
roof
Originally the burying- ground of some
church-whose name at Venice was legion
every campo can boast of Its separate
church, SO that within this narrow circle
may be found food for spiritual as well as
for mundane cravings. To every Vene-
tan, also, the BARRIERS shop and the cafe
are necessities, not luxuries, and, as a
matter of course, these are even to be
found within these Enclosures and thriving
under the patronage of the immediate VIC
image. To meet the wants and tastes of
the wsmen as well as of the men, each
eompo has its dry goods and grocery es-
adjustments o. a small scale and the in
evitable jewelers. sh ops are never found
Besides these man and woman
traps, itinerant vendors of cheap wares,
advertising their goods at the top of their
dIscordant voices, stroll leisurely along,
attracting custom; and fish, fruit, and
vegetable sellers, down to the wayside
vender, from whom you may buy a single
glass of fresh water, make the neighbor-
hood vocal with their ceaseless clamor.-l
APptetons' Journal.