Memento Vivere

Venice has been, historically, one of Europe’s cleanest cities.

The use of canals as a sewage disposal system in Venice dates back to the way 15th-century people dealt with their waste... by flinging it out into the streets of water, as many medieval mainland people did to their streets of dirt or stone; but uniquely the tides conveniently swept waste out to sea twice a day.

This kept Venice clean of waste compared with other cities, utilizing the power of the tides and Venice’s nature as a city of water to remove waste long before modern sewage disposal systems existed.

As a result, Venice developed one of the first sewer systems to be implemented in the world; the unique, gravity-driven system of underground channels and waste water drainage is called a fognatura.

In the 16th century, a network of tunnels was put in place in the walls and under the pavement of walkways in Venice to collect waste water and rain water.

These tunnels, called “gatoli,” collected and channeled the city’s waste water, which would then flow out into the waters of the lagoon. Additionally, the physical outlets where sewage waste enter the canals, called sbocchi, are as old as the Venetian foundations they are in.

Of course, when the extremely low tides would cause difficulties, visitors and tradesmen unfamiliar with Venezia’s issues would be concerned about the ill aroma; Venetians just ignored it as another Venetian part of life.