A brief history of venice italys floating city july 14th 2017 2094 views 2 minutes read a city built on the islands of a swampy lagoon on the adriatic coast of north eastern italy venice certainly has a unique foundation in more ways than one consisting of 118 small islands linked by 150 criss crossing canals and 417 bridges italys floating city was first inhabited in . The city saw a year of independence between 1848 49 around the same time they were also linked to the mainland by a railway then the british invaders bled out some more of this beautiful city this forced venice to become a part of italy and it has remained the same since then. Although a long series of disputes between the leading families were crumbling the city the trade development was not stopped at the begging of the 9th century the doges were chosen by election by the leading families during the time of giustinianos rule the body of saint marko was brought to venice he became the citys patron the rialto island became civitas venetiarum the city of venice in the time of doge domenico flabanico 1032 1042 the final collapse of the family rule . Venice italy is known by several names one of which is the floating city this is due to the fact that the city of venice consists of 118 small islands connected by numerous canals and bridges yet the buildings in venice were not built directly on the islands instead they were built upon wooden platforms that were supported by wooden stakes driven into the ground