Making Venice Work

"3,000,000 tourists move through Venice each year. But when the tourists leave the city, 270,000 year-round residents stay behind, continuing their daily lives, which requires navigating an archipelago made up of 124 islands, 183 canals and 438 bridges. How this complicated city works – how the buildings are defended from water, how the buildings stand on unsteady ground, how the Venetians navigate this maze of a city – is a pretty fascinating story. These techniques have been worked out over Venice's 1500 year history."

The video was produced by the Venetian government agency and shows an in-depth look at how the city operates.