When you’re next in Venice, remember to look down and consider the non-slip stones beneath your feet. They have a story to tell. In the sleepy faded spa town of Battaglia Terme not far from Padua lies the key to the building of the great and unique city of Venice.

The Euganean Hills around Battaglia Terme are extinct volcanic cones with hot springs, now a regional park and an area favoured particularly by German tourists for its spa treatments and its wines. But at some point a thousand or more years ago it must have been discovered that the stone quarried there provided the perfect paving stones for the passages and alleyways of Venice, having a salt-resistant rough texture which prevented slipping, an important factor in a city based on water.