38 elisabeth crouzet-pavan
to safeguard it, the site of Venice was condemned. Therefore, in the his-
tory we write, it is necessary to distinguish between levels of interpreta-
tion. Yes, for centuries, the Venetians developed a providential design of
their own destiny: only God could allow life to thrive in the midst of salt
water. This first mode of thinking, however, did not prevent them from
undertaking an active policy of environmental design. Confronted with
the uncertainties of nature, mindful of the vulnerability to which they
were exposed, they sought to prevent and protect. In sum, to put it in
current terms, the authorities managed the risk. Prevention, protection,
compensation, aid released after the damage of the aqua alta—the arse-
nal of methods used do not differ from those that geographers and risk
specialists identify today. Especially since, and this is another fact that
makes the Venetian situation particularly instructive, human impact fur-
ther increased the risk. The history of risk management thereby conforms
to a precise chronology that must be explained step by step.
Chronology and Evolution of an Appropriated SpaceFor centuries, the community gave no priority to efforts at coastal defense.
It was necessary to build, create, and beautify, to organize the supply of
drinking water. Here the rare documentary evidence is consistent with the
narrative sources. The city thus initially focused on growing and resolving
day by day the difficulties related to the site. Works are certainly attested
to in the lagoon, but controlled by the major lineages of landowners, they
were used primarily, in the creating fisheries, mills, and salt works, for the
exploitation of the aquatic areas. Thus, while communal oversight was
already organizing urban construction, the coastlines are not listed among
the elements of the environment. Water, land, marshes, and canetus were
all entrusted to these officers, though everything leads us to believe that
the barrier beach was, in many areas, severely and regularly neglected.
During the decades of active Venetian urban policy in the last third of
the 13th century, however, a general guardianship of the coasts was put in
place. The scale of the work sites and their management changed until the
early decades of the 15th century, when the pace of intervention became
more sustained. A 15th-century chronicle that runs almost uninterrupted
for hundreds of pages, the archives of the magistrates over salt produc-
tion, tells of these works in all their variations and sequences.36 The storm
36 Elisabeth Crouzet-Pavan, Sopra le acque salse. Espaces, pouvoir et société à Venise à la
fin du Moyen Age, 2 vols (Rome, 1992), 1:344–57.