Venice, a city of approximately 21,000 residents, is located in Sarasota County, Florida. The city’s former and current claim to fame lies in its airport located on the south side of the city.
Built in the early 1940s by the United States Army Air Force, it served as a base for military training facilities and was also used by (ATC), the Air Transport Command to deliver US-made aircraft. .to Great Britain. As soon as the war ended, the United States government ceded the airport to the city of Venice.
The airport has 25,000 runways and is home to the FFTC (Florida Flight Training Center), which provides pilot training and charter services within Florida and surrounding states.
Triple Diamond is the primary FBO and provides support to jet aircraft.
On September 12, 2001, the national news and the FBI hit Venice when it was discovered that three of the 9/11 WTC terrorists, Mohamed Atta, Marwan Al-Shehhi, and Ziad Jarrah, had lived in Venice for the purpose of take flight training lessons at Venice Municipal Airport. The trio had signed up with Huffman Aviation.
Atta’s time in Venice has been chronicled by Daniel Hopsicker in his book, “Welcome to Terrorland.”
Due to the beauty of the area, the warm climate and the white sand beaches, many of the men and women who. were stationed in Venice during the war returned to make it their permanent home
Having been billed in many circles as the shark tooth capital of the world, Venice holds an annual shark tooth festival to commemorate the abundance of shark teeth (some of which are known to be thousands of years old) that are can find in the area. The teeth can be found by walking the beach and sifting through the sand, although the best results are obtained by diving offshore. One can only hope to find the teeth without the shark attached. Just kidding, shark attacks are extremely rare, no shark attacks have been reported in Sarasota County in many, many years.
Probably the best area to find shark teeth is south of the city, behind the airport, on a beach known as Caspersen’s Beach, although Sharkey’s Beach is also popular, where you can rent shovels and buckets to find teeth from 1/4 of inch. to 3 inches and larger.
In the past, due to the near-perfect weather and beautiful scenery, Venice has been the winter home of many organizations, including the Kentucky Military Institute and Ringling Circus.
Whether for a short stay or a home for life, Venice is calling.
