The Lido: A narrow sandbar 2 km east of Venice
Picture by NASA Earth Observatory, 9 December 2001
The Lido is a narrow
sandbar, approximately two kilometres to the east of Venice. It divides
the Venetian lagoon from the Adriatic Sea.
The Lido is fifteen kilometres long and two kilometres wide. It was
created by the tidal accumulation of sand and silt.
The Lido is a popular tourist destination due to the sandy beaches along
its Adriatic coast. Most of these beaches are privately owned by local
hotels, and are reserved for the exclusive use of their guests. There
are two large public beaches. One is situated at the northern end of the
Lido and one at its southern end.
The largest town, located in the northern part, is also called the Lido.
It hosts the Venice Film Festival every September. The town's two
exclusive hotels, the Excelsior and the Hotel de Bains, have been
patronised by the rich and famous for more than a century.
The Lido is also famous as the setting of the novel "Death in Venice",
Thomas Mann’s famous tale of homosexual infatuation.
The novel's main character, an elderly novelist, develops a crush on an
adolescent boy while holidaying on the Lido. Despite an outbreak of
cholera in nearby Venice, he is so fascinated by the boy that he can not
leave.
Having spent his entire lifetime denying his own sexuality, the old man
is finally confronted with the truth about himself only to become
infected and die on the beach just as he finally makes eye contact with
the unattainable object of his desires.
The other towns on the Lido are Malamocco, the first ducal capital
before the settlement of Venice; Alberoni, a largely modern resort with
an impressive golf course; and San Nicolo, whose 11th century
Benedictine church is notable for its renaissance cloister.
The Lido is dissected from east to west by the Viale di Santa Maria
Elisabeth, a broad avenue approximately 2 kilometres long. The Lido's
fashionable shops, restaurants and bars are centred around this avenue
and the Venice ferry terminal is located at its western end.
The ferry ride to the Piazza San Marco provides some of the best views
of Venice, a city whose skyline was meant to be seen by visitors
arriving by sea.
Picture by Gary Houston, 2 July 2005
The Lido has an
interesting past. In 1202 an army of crusaders were left stranded on its
sandbank after they refused to pay the Venetian navy for their
transportation to the Holy Land.
The wily doge, Enrico Dandolo, had made a grand show of joining the
crusade, and had encouraged the crusaders to assemble and set sail from
Venice. However, once they were trapped on the Lido he raised the price
of Venetian support.
Since the crusaders were unable to pay, Dandolo suggested that they
raise the necessary funds by sacking the port of Zara in Dalmatia, one
of Venice's rivals.
After Zara was destroyed, Dandolo also persuaded the crusaders to sack
Constantinople en route to the Holy Land. Many of the marbles, columns
and friezes which now adorn Venice were plundered from Constantinople.
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