'In 1788 the Lagoon was frozen over so hard that people could walk across to the mainland; …In other years, under the strong and sultry gusts of the sirocco, the tide flooded low-lying streets, in which people paddled about in boats or were carried to and fro on the shoulders of porters. But 'this caused more amusement than inconvenience', one visitor wrote, 'and the city even took on a new beauty as its buildings were reflected in the shimmering waters'. … 'There is the perpetual boom of the Adriatic on the beach, and the hot breath of the sirocco sweeping over the heaving grey expanse of water that breaks in waves on the marble steps.'

Christopher Hibbert, Venice, the biography of a city, published by Grafton