Our story begins on a winter morning. It is foggy and cold.
The children are going to school.
Marco and his friends walk in a line on the walkways above the water.
Schoolchildren who live far away arrive by gondola.
All the children look down and see the water rising higher every day.
At school, the teacher is telling the story of Venice.
"Venice was born on the sea," she says. "A long time ago Venice was one of the most important cities in Italy. Its boats traveled far away and the merchants brought back lots of precious objects like gold, silk and spices. And so Venice soon became very rich and very powerful, and its people wanted to live in wonderful palaces.
"To protect the city from the waters of the sea, they decided to build the houses, the churches, the port and the monuments on stilts — on huge wooden poles driven one by one into the bed of the lagoon. And they were right, for over the centuries, Venice with its narrow streets, churches, bridges and small squares, and its beautiful houses, Venice with its gondolas, canals, arcades and statues, with its lovely balconies... Venice was like a dream, like a paradise set upon the water. But one terrible day the sea began to rise and, little by little, despite the stilts, the sea crept in between the houses. One day, Venice will be completely covered in water.
"One day, Venice will disappear forever at the bottom of the sea..." The children listen attentively, and the teacher adds: "Take pencil and paper, brushes and colors... try to imagine what Venice will be like tomorrow... Try to draw Venice under the sea!"
It's nighttime. Marco, in his little bed, thinks about his drawing. In the foreground he has painted a little mermaid, and in the background Venice, lying under the sea.
Suddenly, someone knocks on the window. It's a little mermaid, and she says to Marco: "Thank you for putting me in your picture! But you've never seen Venice at the bottom of the sea... I've come to take you to see it!" Marco is amazed... behind the window is the sea, and he can see seaweed and little fish! "Put on this diving suit and these fins and this mask," says the little mermaid, "so you'll swim more easily!"
Marco and the little mermaid are now swimming in the night.
Marco turns on a flashlight to see, in the dark, cuttlefish, jellyfish, glowing fish, sea anemones, sea urchins and blue seaweed...
Suddenly a clump of seaweed opens up and Venice appears. Marco recognizes the wonders of the city: the Doge's Palace, St Mark's Square, the Clock Tower...
"It's not possible!" he exclaims. "It's not possible!"
"Oh yes it is!" replies the little mermaid. "Let's dive deeper and I'll show you how beautiful it is to live at the bottom of the sea!"
As they go, they see strange fish swimming around them, and lobsters and seaweed and long swaying plants. Then they swim over a large white monument.
"This is the church of Santa Maria della Salute, which was built many, many years ago to give thanks when the great plague in Venice came to an end. But let's go and see St Mark's. It's the most beautiful one! In front of it there is a large square, where all the people of Venice meet, as they always have. But now they also meet flying fish and seahorses and shells scattered among the clumps of black seaweed."
How beautiful St Mark's is!
How beautiful!
Domes, arches and doorways, bell towers, turrets and carved capitals! And the four bronze horses, tired of forever standing still and keeping watch, every now and then run off to play hide-and-seek among the seaweed with the mullet and the jellyfish.
And down there, deep down, they can see some children who have brought food to their little fish friends.
"Let's go into the church," says the little mermaid.
Inside, everything is golden: the crosses and the candlesticks, the lamps and the mosaics that cover every wall. Even the seaweed shines like gold and hangs in festoons of splendid embroidery.
Then Marco and the little mermaid come to the Doge's Palace.
It was once the palace where the Doge and his family lived, the most powerful people in the whole city.
Today no one lives inside it anymore. The seaweed is master of the house now — red seaweed and corals swaying in the dark like tongues of flame. Marco turns on his flashlight, and in a corner he finds the octopus Polifemo, the guardian of the palace, playing cards by himself to pass the time.
Polifemo has so many arms that he can't remember which cards he's holding in each hand, so he can't cheat! "Come on," says Marco. "Let's go over there and play hopscotch too!" And there he is, jumping along with the mermaid, with the fish, with the girls and the boys!
Now the two friends reach the market square.
"Fish! Fresh fish! Freshly caught fish!" shout the fishermen from behind their stalls, with people crowding around to do their shopping.
"Look, Marco!" says the little mermaid. "Look at those children skipping and playing marbles and throwing a ball. Look! A peacock fish! And that funny gentleman trying to catch butterflyfish with his net..." In front of them, children and little fish race up and down the spiral staircase of a very special palace, one that looks like a large corkscrew...
Further down, they find another strange palace.
"What are those numbers on the wall?" asks Marco.
"The numbers show the water level," replies the little mermaid. "Ever since Venice began to sink, they have marked the level of the water every year. See those workers on the roof? They're mending the tiles. There are many people — technicians, engineers, scientists — who keep working hard to save Venice, just as it was.
"Who knows! Perhaps one day the water will go down, the fish and jellyfish and octopuses will disappear, and Venice will come back to life just as before!" As Marco swims past, he sees that inside the houses nothing has changed at all. The children stare wide-eyed at the television; a little boy cries in his bath; another boy holds a big shell to his ear and seems to hear the sound of the wind and the cries of seagulls flying in the clouds...
And here is the basilica of Saints John and Paul. Just as Marco and the little mermaid arrive, a wedding is taking place.
After the ceremony, the bride and groom leave by gondola.
The little bridesmaids smile at everyone and wave bunches of flowers. The gondolier sings a song as the fish dance around them. People lean out of the windows to wave and smile, and call down from the arcades along the canal.
Children hold on to the jellyfish and octopuses and follow the newlyweds' gondola, while the prawns and sea urchins, the seaweed and shells all stop to watch.
The newlyweds are long gone.
Now the children take Marco and the little mermaid to a large colorful room full of beautiful, precious paintings.
The sea water is spoiling all the colors, and so the best painters work without stopping to restore them and touch up the parts that have been damaged.
They use all the colors of the sea: gray-blues and greens, coral pinks and anemone purples, the yellows of the sand, the reds and golds.
When the paintings are fully restored, they are taken back to the museums so that everyone can admire them.
Marco is really excited.
How many wonders, how many beautiful things!
"But can't you do anything to save Venice?" he asks his friends who live under the sea.
"No, there's nothing more we can do down here," the children answer, "but you, Marco — you who live up there — you must tell people to come and help us, you must tell people not to wait. We have been waiting so long for you to come and save us!"
Marco is deeply moved, and promises that he will help them. And the children give him a pretty round bowl with two little goldfish swimming at the bottom. Marco and the little mermaid float slowly upward; the children and the fish follow them for a little way. Then Marco finds himself back in his bedroom.
"Goodbye, goodbye!" says the little mermaid. "One day we will meet again!"
In the morning, when he wakes up, Marco finds the round bowl with the fish on his bedside table and remembers Venice at the bottom of the sea!
Was it a real journey or just a dream?
Marco tries to remember, but his memories come and go like the two fish at the bottom of the bowl... Only one thing he remembers clearly: that he too has promised to help all those who are trying to save Venice.