As we discussed in an earlier article, Epcot’s Italy pavilion is
modeled after the Piazza San Marco in Venice, intended to create
a warm, welcoming atmosphere that invokes the elegance and charm
of Italy. Disney’s imagineers wanted to create a place that
echoed the feeling of being in Italy, but being imagineers, they
wanted more than that – they wanted to generate that feeling by
reproducing details, creating a remarkable echo of the Venetian
original. Among those important details are a pair of columns
flanking the entrance to the pavilion. Each column is topped
with a carved statue, and most guests simply push past the pair,
eager to shop or find their way to the next ride or dining
experience. But those statues are an important detail – a window
into Venice’s past, and into the importance of Venice as a
gateway to the Italian experience. In order to understand why
those columns are so important, however, you have to consider a
brief history lesson… …once upon a time the great and powerful
Roman empire dom