Blood upon the Water

The subterranean water vault beneath the Palazzo Malipiero was an imposing, subterranean cathedral of sixteenth-century maritime engineering. Carved beneath the foundations of the palazzo at sea level, the cavernous chamber spanned over ten thousand square feet of ancient, damp brickwork and moss-encrusted limestone pillars. Tide water from the Grand Canal surged through the central canal basin, lapping against three tiers of stone loading docks where stacks of heavy wooden shipping…