Venice is built on wood poles. Under Santa Maria della Salute church there are about 100.000 poles.
The wood had been taken from Cadore forests, in the Alps.

The island of Murano is famous for glass. This tradition started in 1291, when the Venetian Republic ordered glassmakers to move here, to avoid fire and destruction of the Venice buildings, mostly made of wood.

The palaces in Venice were built with the facade in front of the canal. The entrance used today was actually the secondary one.