Just saw some footage of Venice and it's canals and so forth and it leads me to ask the following questions. What came first the water or the buildings? I know they originally built on lagoon islands. I cant imagine puprposely building in fifteen feet of water, but who knows?

I seem to remember reading that the inhabitants of the area in about the 5th Century, hid in the marshes around there to escape the invading barbarians. This seemed to be safe as they thought no one would find them there. I suppose you would have to find a website giving the origins of Venice, but I think that is how it started.

As Ren stated people did hide in marshes because of invaders,Atilla the Hun was the first recorded I think. There were certainly fisherfolk already there though. Venice was built around and through the marshes and lagoons and the Grand Canal was/is actually a river.

Courtesy of various site (Who all disagree onthe dates!)

With Istria, Venice formed a province of the Roman Empire. In the 6th cent. refugees fleeing the Lombard invaders of N Italy sought safety on the largely uninhabited islands. The communities organized themselves (697) under a doge [Lat. dux=leader]. Favorably situated for handling seaborne trade between East and West, the communities grew, and by the 9th cent. they had formed the city of Venice.

According to tradition, Venice was founded in 421 AD on April 25th, St.Mark's day, who is the patron saint of Venice

The area around Venice was inhabited in ancient times by the Veneti. According to tradition, the city was founded in AD 452, when the inhabitants of Aquileia, Padua (Padova), and other northern Italian cities took refuge on the islands of the lagoon from the Teutonic tribes that invaded Italy during the 5th century.

It would seem that there were islands which were inhabitable and these have been enlarged to form the Venice we see today.