OCR Text |
Show Home ef Seabirds Venice has been called the "Queen of the Adriatic" and the "Serene Seaport," but its oldest name was the "Sea-Birds' Home. Long before the Huns swept down on Italy there was a small population, popu-lation, the aboriginal Venetians, occupying the estuary, of whom Cassiodorus, secretary of Theodor-ic Theodor-ic the Great, has left us a picture. pic-ture. The Huns drove refugees from Padua, Aquileia and other mainland cities to the lagoons to found a republic among the sea birds. |