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.

© 2006 LACT Limited. All rights reserved.

 

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