Iwas born in venice, one of the most popular tourist destinations in italy, and studied architecture at university here. though i have also spent time away, i have always come back because it's my home. in venice, there are no roads, only canals, so you have to get around on foot or by boat. i live on a canal in the rialto area in a house that was built in 1588 for the muti family, who were merchants in the silk trade. in the mid-eighteenth century, it was home to the vezzi family, who made things like plates and bowls of fine china and became rich sending these around the world. these merchants' houses in venice are like palaces. their owners had to have space to show off their goods, but the building also had to be an office, a factory, a store and a home. my house came into our family in 1919, when it was bought by my grandfather. he died before i was born, but he was the director of a museum where i often do research on old documents. on some of these, i've seen notes in his handwriting, so, in a strange way, i met him through these documents. sadly, the population of venice has dropped from 120,000 in the 1950s to about 60,000 now. this doesn't include the thousands of tourists who come to visit. i welcome the tourists but unless something is done to stop everyday shops like bakeries and chemists from disappearing, the city will die. i want people who love the city to come here to live and work and give venice back the life that is not just about tourism. the writer's main reason for writing this text is to persuade more tourists to visit his city give readers the history of his hometown say what he feels about his birthplace describe some important moments in his life the family who first owned the writer's home used to buy and sell silk produced plates and bowls were skilled architects helped to build the canals the writer says about his grandfather that he taught him how to study documents had a handwriting which was difficult to read had died before the writer's birth turned his home into a museum the writer would like if tourists stopped visiting the city people got jobs connected with tourists the city benefited from having fewer inhabitants local businesses were encouraged to stay the writer's house was built by his grandfather was owned by merchants until the 18th century is on a canal in venice was made bigger to resemble a palace
