The New York herald., 1922-07-16
A New Venice Arises.

A New Venice Arises.
Before the world began going to
Venice to see its palaces and art.
to study its history and romance
and to enjoy its peaceful, dreamy
life it was one Of the great COM
mercial cities of the seven seas. In
the days of the republic Venice was
the southern city at which many Of
the great overland trade routes from
northern and western Europe met
and the port from which fleets Of
Venetian merchantmen carried the
manufactures of the Occident to
trade for the products and rare wares
of the East. 1t is for the return of
some of this past commercial glory
that Venice is preparing.
A year ago when THE NEW YORK
HERALD first referred to this new
Venice correspondents expressed
doubt of the advisability Of such a
revival A new Venice was an unde-
sirable thing, they declared; it was
like substituting chugging motor
boats for the gracefully gliding gon-
dolas Of romance. Attempting to re-
vivify this ancient city, in fact, was
to them the same as putting new life
into the Pyramids or the Sphinx. 1t
would rob Venice of its greatest
charm. Even conservative vene-
tians were aghast at the prospect
of such reversal of traditional
policy. But the surprising thing has
happened. Venice is to become again
business city, to be the center of
new commercial life and at the
same time to remain in blissful pos
session Of its art treasures, its his
toric and romantic traditions and its
blessed quietude.
Within the last year Venice has been
making great progress commercially
and yet no factories or great ware
houses have been built to overshadow
the city's hallowed monuments or
churches or to threaten to mar its
beauty. This danger has been hap
PLY averted by wise governmental
policy. Trade is to be diverted away
from the city itself to a great new
harbor and industrial centers now
being built upon the mainland at
Marghera and Mestre. These points
are connected with the sea by new
ship canal dredged across the lagoons
in continuation of the Giudecca
Canal.
HEHBERT VIVIAN once said OF Ven
ice that It was . hopeless habita-
i4ion for all the big rough workers
called In by the spirit Of progress, be-
cause "she was too small as we'll as
too beautiful to house them, and with
the best will in the world they
smashed her priceless treasures at
every turn" BY this new project Ven
ice does. not exactly let them into the
city but assemblies them and en-.
Joys from distance their benefits.
1t surrenders to them the tip of the
island on which is situated the
famous sand beach where BYRoN
once took his morning rides and
where much OF the travelling world
at one time or another has had its
dip in the Adriatic. Here at Alberoni,
the outpost OF the enterprise, have
already been built warehouses with
facilities for transferring goods from
ocean steamships to boats which will
carry them through the new ship
canal to the new harbors.
The project was started in 1917
with an agreement between the Ital-
ian Government and the city of Ven
ice in cooperation with several large
industrial concerns. The work was
delayed by the world war until 1919.
Last May the King attended the
opening Of the main canal. In all
about 10000 acres on the mainland
Is to be recovered from the swamps.
The new harbor works on higher
ground now extend over about three
square miles below Marghera fort
and have vast docking area covered
with tracks connecting with the
railway at Mestre. There are small
isolated harbors for handling petro-
leum. On the Industrial zones are
several factories in operation, two
shipyards nearing completion, steel
works and several machine shops.
Outside of the industrial zone Venice
is building a garden city with homes
for 10000 people, which is already
partly inhabited.
There could be no more acceptable