Ancient Mysteries - Miraculous Canals of Venice
Of all the world's great cities, none defies nature and logic like Venice.  This jewel of western civilization, built in the water, stands bravely against time and tide, weathering the capricious floods that have endangered its very existence since its birth, some 1500 years ago.  How and why did Italians build a great metropolis in a lagoon?  Our program MIRACULOUS CANALS OF VENICE yields some surprising answers.  Venice is a city built out of fear--its first inhabitants fled to the lagoon to escape bloodthirsty barbarians, such as Attila the Hun who swept down the Italian peninsula in his raids against the Roman Empire.  In our program, we'll explore how those first Venetians invented a whole new life for themselves in their ancient waterworld, and how they turned salty marshland into a city for the ages.