Venetian Chimneys
As you travel up (or down) the grand canal on your vaporetto, one of the many fascinating sights you will see are the beautiful chimneys. The stonemasons who built Venice must have had a great time finishing off the magnificent palazzi with their unique chimney designs, adding a special touch to some of the greatest buildings of their time.
There are over 7,000 chimneys in Venice and they come in lots of different styles, twisted, funnel shaped, round, square, they are all an important part of Venice’s architectural heritage and just another unique example of the talented craftsmen who built the city.
You would think these fanciful chimneys were nothing but a folly, however there is a practical reason for their lovely shapes.
They were designed to prevent fires starting from the sparks falling on roofs.
Their peculiar shapes prevent sparks from escaping
into the air by whirling them around the inner walls, they have to travel such a long way that they cool down and fall to the base of the chimney. This is also why a lot of them have very high shafts above the roof.
In the XIII and XIV century, more and more brick was being used to build houses and palazzi but the majority of the houses were still built of wood with roofs of reed or straw.
Fires were inevitable, and in the late XIII century after several very damaging infernos, all the glassmaking workshops and furnaces were moved to the island of Murano.
All the shipyards were concentrated in the Arsenal area, which was well away from the city center.
The problem was that the small workshops, bakeries and private houses still needed to use fire every day and so the design of the chimneys became crucial.
Apart from the functionality of the designs, they became very competitive among house owners and some of the chimneys were even decorated and painted.
