Venice,Italy

Venice lies in the province of Venice, in the region of Veneto, in the Venetian Lagoon, and is - together with the lagoon - taken up on UNESCO's World Heritage List. It is a city built on 118 islands, the islands connected with each other through bridges. Unfortunately, however unique and appealing this is, research has proven that Venice is slowly sinking - and not only that. Recent studies have also found that Venice is slowly detaching from the main land, threatening to drift out onto the Adriatic if nothing is done to stop it. The question is if it can be stopped. The ethereal city of water and stone rises like a dream from the waters of the lagoon. Regional inhabitants founded Venice as a marshy haven from invading barbarians, and the city’s waterways became the heart of both its defenses and its eerie beauty. Ornate palaces line the Grand Canal, testament to the wealth and power of the Republic of Venice, which spanned nearly a millennium. St. Mark’s Square, designed to be approached from the water, has drawn a steady stream of awestruck travelers and artists for centuries. “A realist, in Venice, would become a romantic, by mere faithfulness to what he saw before him,” observed Welsh poet Arthur Symons. For modern visitors, part of the city’s unique appeal is its human scale and anachronistic carless infrastructure, with its narrow, mysterious streets and captivating canals, crossed by hundreds of gracefully arched marble bridges above and gliding, silent gondolas below. But La Serenissima, the most serene, has long struggled to maintain its moniker in the face of mass tourism, a declining resident population, and the physical decay of its buildings.

Nevertheless, Venice will continue to exist for a significant number of years, as it is "only" sinking 20 centimeters (7,8 inches) every century. Meanwhile, you might as well go over and enjoy.Venice at night: it doesn't really matter where you go, as long as you wander the streets after dark. The Veneto-Byzantine architecture, narrow streets and lights reflecting on the canals make it a spectacularly beautiful sight to see, and makes the perfect setting for a romantic dinner almost anywhere in Paris. The Chamber of Torment, also known as The Torture Chamber, and the prison cells of Doge's Palace, or Palazzo Ducale: the torture chamber is in its original state and holds one single device as it did back in the days.