Ven-e: A City Floating on a Submerged Forest. 150 Since 421 AD; Venice has stood on millions of tree trunks stuck into the bottom of the lagoon: Not steel or concrete; but mostly alder; with a few oaks, support the entire city: In the salt water; these wooden pillars have petrified over time, becoming as hard as stone_ St: Mark’s Campanile alone stands on 100,000 piles; while the majestic Basilica della Salute required over a million trunks_ The ancient builders beat these trees into the seabed, creating a veritable submerged forest: This unique structure extends up to three meters deep, with piles spaced just half a meter apart: At 1.6 meters below the waterline, this extraordinary feat of medieval engineering continues, after 1,500 years, to support one of the most fascinating cities in the world: Sources: University of Florida Architectural Studies Historical and Archaeological Documents clay