The thousand year existence of the Venetian Republic can be roughly divided into three
main periods: the very beginning, when a population of bargemen became a seagoing
nation sailing, trading and fighting in many parts of the Mediterranean; a second
period of extraordinary prosperity which saw the consolidation of their power and
government followed by the expansion towards the Italian mainland; a third and final
one at the turn of the 16th C when we see the beginning of a decline and decadence
which eventually culminated with the fall of the Republic by Napoleon in 1797.
- The Venetian Lagoon
- Before Venice
- Early Byzantine domination
- Venice and it’s political center: the Square of St. Mark
- The Doge’s Palace and St. Mark’s Church
- Venice becomes a Sea Power
- Western Europe
- The 4ht Crusade
- The Venetian political system
- Venice vs Genoa
- The turning Westward
- The Ottoman Turks
- A turning point
- Decline and pride
- The Last Century
- Venetian Carnival
- The End
- The foreign domination
- Italy
- Problems of the present days
- The Mose
THE VENETIAN LAGOON
The Venetian Lagoon stretches for 30 miles from north to south, and Venice
is in its strategic centre. According to a recent theory the area occupied
at present by the waters of the lagoon was once a landmass. Then a combination
of natural phenomena operated a dramatic change: the rising of the sea-level
and the gradual sinking of landforms - subsidence - caused a rather rapid
advance of the sea through disastrous floods.
Between the 2nd and 12th C the increase of the sea level has been estimated
around 1,80 mt (approx. 6 feet) while landforms had sunk approx. 1,20 mt (approx. 4 feet).
Sand carried down by the rivers and shaped by marine currents eventually
formed bands along the coastline, which in due course practically locked the
Lagoon in on itself, with the exception of 3 port of mouths. The presence
of the caranto as a
sedimentary rock, deep into the subsoil of the lagoon, is significant
evidence that at one stage there was no water in this area.
Information on the lagoon goes back to the 3rd Century: Erodiano, a Roman
chronicler reports this lagoon as part of the Seven Seas, a navigable network
of waterways along the coastline which connected the city of Ravenna to Aquileia.
Then, more information in 537, in a letter written by Cassiodorus, officer
at the Goth's court. The lagoon area is described, the natives' homes dispersed
across the surface of the water, boats tied up at the doors. Fish and salt their
basic economic resources. Salt being very important, for it was needed to
preserve food... So, these boatmen claim our attention as the first people
who found a way of making a living in this mixture of mud and water. Yet, we
cannot actually refer to these settlements as VENICE.
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BEFORE VENICE
The birth of Venice is a consequence of the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
From the 4th C the Roman Empire was to be divided into two parts, each part governed
by its Emperor. Rome was the capital of the Western Empire and Constantinople that
of the Eastern. Constantinople had been founded in 330 by the Emperor Constantine
I on the site of an old Greek town, Byzantium, which he renamed after himself.
The fall of the Western Roman Empire was ultimately caused by invaders from the
North and East. This is the time of massive invasions of barbaric people: the
Visigoth, the Huns - led by Attila, " the scourge of God” -
the Goths, and others. The last of the Western Roman Emperors was deposed in 476.
During this violent incursions Roman citizens fled from the mainland and sought
shelter on the tidal islands of the lagoons. Tradition wants to identify the
birth of Venice with these migrations, but this is not correct. Many of these
earlier refugees in fact returned to their devastated homes once the immediate
danger was over.
Moreover, in 555 the Emperor Justinian the Great completed the re-conquest of
Italy and these lagoons were re-placed under Byzantine jurisdiction.
It's actually in the 6th and 7th cs (568 e 639) that things were to change.
At that time another Germanic people, the Lombards, thundered down from the
North and occupied a large part of the Italian territory. That of the Lombards
was not a simple raid. They were actually determined to settle down in those
territories and in fact they will gain their end and remain for about two centuries.
As a result, the temporary character of those early migrations changed to become
permanent, their intrusion causing the alteration of the social structure
described by Cassiodorus.
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EARLY BYZANTINE DOMINATION
At this stage the lagoon area was unquestionably considered part of the Byzantine
Empire, governed by military officials representing Byzantine suzerainty. And the
dating of Venetian independence to those early days is just legend, a legend created
by the old Venetians to glorify the Myth of their State.
Evidence of this comes from what can be considered the very first written
document regarding the history of the lagoon: an inscription contained
in the Cathedral of Torcello.
Torcello is a small island at an hour boat ride north from Venice and the
visit to Torcello is strongly recommended. The journey offers you the unique
opportunity to see and envisage what the lagoon must have looked like in those
early days, with its shoals and reed-covered mudflats (wet-lands).
Torcello became important in 638, when the bishop of Altinum moved there his mainland
congregation and founded the Cathedral of S. Maria Assunta. The cathedral you can
see today, though, is the 11th C reconstruction of the original one. The only two
things that have remained from the 7th C are the remains of the Baptistry and the
plaque we referred to as the
oldest Venetian document(discovered in 1895), stating that the church was built in
639 "by the Honourable Magister Militum Maurìce who resides in
this site which belongs to him". The Magister Militum Maurice was a
Byzantine official, so the inscription confirms that the islands of the Lagoon
were originally under Byzantine rule.
Torcello was a thriving island up to the 14th C, rich in beautiful palaces
and monasteries and counting approximately 10,000 inhabitants. But what you can
see on this slide is almost all that is left. Torcello is a kind of open air-museum.
Its population reduced to 12 souls.
Allegiance to Byzantium and detachment from the mainland were reaffirmed when
the Lombard kingdom was absorbed by the Frankish Empire. In those days the seat
of the local governor in the lagoon area was Malamocco, on the Lido island. In 809
Pepin, the son of Charlemagne, attacked the lagoons. The Byzantines responded
promptly to the Frankish attack and sent their fleet to counterattack Pepin.
The Franks were pushed back and the Byzantines reaffirmed their
sovereignty over the Lagoons.
Yet, what I have just said is the result of years of deep studies.
The truth in fact was disguised by the old Venetians keen to establish the Myth
of their original independence. Their version goes in fact that the defeat of
the Franks was the result of their military ability.
The account of the chronicler Giovanni Diacono (10th-11th C) reads in fact:
"Pepin's fleet ran aground in the shallow waters of the lagoon and there
a multitude of Venetians launched their attack and won “with the help
of the Divine Providence". This "divine providence"
was actually the Byzantine fleet...Anyway, legends and myths aside, the outcome
of this struggle marked the turning point for the history of Venice.
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VENICE AND IT’S POLITICAL CENTRE:
THE SQUARE OF ST. MARK
First of all, the territory of the Venetian lagoon was included once and for
all under Byzantine jurisdiction. Yet, being Constantinople so far away, the
Byzantines soon relaxed their control, their suzerainty gradually faded away
and the Venetians became in fact independent.
Secondly, the seat of the government was transferred in 811 to a more
protected area corresponding to present St. Mark’s Square, since
Malamocco had proved vulnerable to attacks from the sea. And this event
marked the beginning of one of the most remarkable and daring engineering enterprises.
The aspect of the lagoon was very different in those early days, the area
being mostly occupied by water. As you can see in the map, the black contour
marks the boundaries of present Venice, whereas the red splotches are in fact
the islands that already existed in the 8th and 9th Cs. Few centuries later
the section of solid land had expanded. Canals were dug, land was drained
and reclaimed by erecting basket-work dikes around the sites. And yet this
was not enough to withstand the heavy weight of the buildings.
So thousands and thousands of thick wooden piles were driven into the heavy
clay beneath the mud and there, not being exposed to the action of water or
air, timber didn't rot. On top of those piles, wooden
rafts were laid to provide elasticity while the piles settle and shifted.
Finally, stone slabs. So this is were Venetian buildings stand on, still now:
on some sort of a petrified forest.
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The DUCAL PALACE and the CHURCH OF ST. MARK
A significant step in the evolution of the Venetian state is the construction
of the Doge's Palace, in those days probably more a castle than a palace: the
erection of the government building is in fact more than anything a statement
that a durable political system is established.
Near the Palace, the Church of St. Mark was soon to be erected and the
church was dedicated to the Evangelist who was appointed as the patron saint
of the city. Today we might find it difficult to appreciate the importance
attached to saints and relics in the Middle Ages. In addition to their
mystical properties, they were symbols of the wealth and power of the State...
Politics and religion were arm in arm.
So the most desirable for the Venetians were the relics of S. Mark the Evangelist.
The saint, in fact, had been officially recognized as the preacher who converted
the people of the lagoons to Christianity and founded the patriarchate of Aquileia
(the most important religious authority in Italy after the Pope). So St. Mark
was the most suitable patron...the snag was now to strip Aquileia of the right
to the saint's patronage. The only way to solve this... holy mess
was to acquire the relics of the saint which were stolen
from Alexandria in Egypt by two Venetians who covered their prize with
quantities of pork to avoid possible inspections by the Moslem guards.
The Venetians then - in order to justify their move - made up the story that
St. Mark, on his way to Alexandria, had been caught in a violent storm and
had been forced to land on one of the islands of the Venetian lagoon. And
while he was marooned, an angel had appeared to him and said
"Pax Tibi Marce, Evangelista Meus":
Peace be unto thee, Mark, my Evangelist". So this was sold as
a prophecy that the saint mortal remains would find final repose in Venice
despite the fact that he had returned to Alexandria, had died there and
his remains were there for over 8 centuries!
The acquisition of the body of St. Mark - or "pious theft"
to borrow Venetian words - was above all a political maneuver, in fact
the relics were not placed in S. Pietro di Castello, which was the seat
of the bishop, but rather in the church which was going to become the
doge's chapel: in other words, entrusted to the head of state. The State
of the Venetians was to become henceforward the State of St. Mark.
The cult of St. Mark thus offered a strong political and religious belief
to the people, who felt safe and protected by the Evangelist.
The winged lion, which according to the vision of St. John
in the Book of Revelation is the symbol of St. Mark, became the emblem of the
city and is to be found everywhere to look after the Venetians
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VENICE BECOMES A SEA POWER
The Venetian economy was initially based on fish and salt... of
course, it was to evolve. The lagoon territory fitted into the Byzantine
commercial system as the perfect outlet for eastern merchandise. The
Venetians' role was to transport and sell eastern goods up
the rivers of northern Italy.
Yet, after 1000 AD they became more active and gradually turned into
proper merchantmen, trading with towns along the Adriatic coast down
till Constantinople. They eventually set up a fleet and transferred
their interest seawards. The Supreme Architect of this evolution was
the doge Pietro Orseolo II. In 1000 AD he smashed the Narentan pirates
- who were threatening Venetian trade-routes - and established
Venetian control over Zara, thus marking the beginning of the expansion
over the Adriatic.
The decline of the Byzantine Empire was to provide the Venetians with more
opportunities to expand their traffics. When threatened by enemies, the
Byzantines turned to Venice for help offering commercial advantages.
This is what happened in 1081 when the Venetians contributed to check
the Normans, and in return the Byzantines conferred them trading privileges,
exemption from tolls, and even a colony in Constantinople. At that stage
conditions became more favorable for Venetian rather than Byzantine merchants.
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WESTERN EUROPE
If we want to understand the evolution of the Venetian State, we'll now have to
look at the Western context. We'll find that at the beginning of the 12C -
after centuries of stagnation due to the barbaric invasions - economy
and trade were revived. In this new context, towns, seats of trading
fairs, grew in importance and wealth, and gradually turned independent from
feudal lords.
Economic independence then turned into political autonomy: this is the rise of
the Communes or City-States.
However, in 1152 the most famous of German Emperors next to Charlemagne
came to the throne.
This was Frederick I, the “Red-bearded”. Frederick's
ambition was to restore its Empire's former glory and influence on the
Italian territory. Venice initially remained aloof from the struggle, but
when she realized the danger of the emperor's presence in Mainland Italy,
she enacted her diplomatic machinery and sent ambassadors to the pope
and to Frederick. These expeditions contributed to the
reconciliation of the two and the site of the
meeting between the pope and the emperor was Venice!
The event was considered a source of immense pride for the Venetians.
The pay-off in terms of prestige was immense. They exploited the event
to manipulate history and made up the story that the pope had expressed
his gratitude by giving to them a sword and a golden ring
s a symbolic token of Venetian authority on the Adriatic Sea.
Venice emphasized the event with the institution of an annual festival,
the Marriage of Venice to the Sea. Every year the doge aboard the Bucintoro -
the sumptuous state barge - along with the noble, the clergy the foreign
ambassadors sailed for the port of St. Nicolò followed by a
procession of boats and gondolas and having arrived at the mouth,
the Doge cast the ring into the sea and pronounced the words "We
wed thee, sea, in token of our perpetual rule". With this symbolic
official ceremony a series of festivities began on the Lido and went on for 15 days.
And this is a festival we still celebrate the very same way,
with the mayor instead of the doge and without the Bucintoro - for the
last one was destroyed by Napoleon.
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THE FOURTH CRUSADE
It wasn't just the West that had troubled the Venetians in this period.
The concessions they had been granted by Byzantine emperors became a source
of friction. In 1171 the Byzantine Emperor felt ready for a drastic move
and suddenly arrested all the Venetians in his empire and seized their
properties.
Venetian's retaliation came in 1204. This is the date of the Fourth
Crusade, what proved to be the most profitable transaction in Venetian
history. The Venetians had played a fairly passive role in the previous
expeditions to reclaim the Holy Land from the Infidels for their
situation in fact was already extremely favourable in the Mediterranean.
Yet, in 1204 the Venetians became protagonists.
The crusaders asked the Venetians to provide them with transportation
to the Holy Land and in return they agreed to repay them with an exorbitant
sum of money. The time came for the crusaders to depart, but not all the money
had yet been paid. Doge Enrico Dandolo therefore struck another bargain: if
the crusaders would help him recapture Zara, he would allow them to defer
payment. The new terms were accepted, Zara recaptured, but the itinerary of
the Crusade was to undergo a further diversion and in fact this is the only
crusade which will never reach Jerusalem.
Instead of making for the Holy Land, they set sail for Constantinople...
This is an obscure page of history, full of intrigues... To be brief,
in the end Costantinople was captured and sacked for
three days.
The Venetians demonstrated their appreciation of art by seizing sculptures
and treasures which were to decorate the outside of their Basilica...
like the 4 horses placed over the central arch of
St. Mark's basilica.
The Byzantine Emperor was deposed and the territory of the Empire was divided
among the crusaders.
In the partition, Venice obtained what she wanted: 3/8 of the territories
of the former Byzantine Empire: mainly islands or naval bases along the route
to the eastern markets, so as to form an almost uninterrupted chain from the
agoon to the Black Sea, thus establishing conditions of near-monopoly on the
trade with the East. The Venetian “Stato da Mar”, or Sea-state
was formed yet destined to continuous alterations...
Behind these achievements there was a solid and steadfast direction by the
Venetian government, ready to adapt itself to the circumstances.
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THE VENETIAN POLITICAL SYSTEM
In the 9th, 10th and 11th Cs the head of state was a monarch called doge,
from dux-duke.
The Venetians then evolved the first system of constitutional monarchy
and they spared no pains to make sure that the head of state was kept
strictly within his constitutional limits.
Councillors to control and limit the power of the doge appeared as
early as 1032. The oath the doge took at his coronation bound him to execute
the orders of the Major Council. There were numerous restrictions on his
activities: all his letters were read by censors, he couldn't receive foreign
delegations alone, he was not permitted to trade. At his death his record in
office was examined and, had he accepted any gift or act of homage that were
not clearly intended for the State as a whole, his heirs were prosecuted and
forced to pay compensation.
Towards the end of the 13th C the Venetian constitutional framework becomes
more and more complex following the creation of several organs with different
responsibilities. The most important of all was the Major Council, elected
by the General Assembly, whose function was to elect all members of the
Venetian government and was therefore very powerful.
Distrust of individual power made the Venetians depend on committees and
councils which crosschecked one another. Even their election system which
was re-elaborated in 1268 reflects their obsession to eliminate/to check
political plots and intrigues.
This is how the doge was elected after the reform:
From the Major Council there was chosen by lot 30
The 30 were reduced by lot to 9
The 9 named 40
The 40 were reduced by lot to 12
The 12 named 25
The 25 were reduced by lot to 9
The 9 named 45
The 45 were reduced by lot to 11
The 11 named 41
The 41 nominated the Doge, for
approval by the Assembly
At the turn of the 13th C the Venetian constitution reached a form that will
endure until the end of the Republic, in 1797.
Changes were prompted by a certain number of influential families which had
continued to reassert their office within the Major Council. They felt the need
of a law which would never displace them, and could as well prevent the
concentration of political power in the hands of one single family. This is in
fact what is happening in the rest of Italy, where the Communes are turning
into Signorie, dominated by single families or Signori.
T
he process of transactions which was to lead to the reform took years and
culminated in 1323 with the Serrata del Maggior Consiglio, literally the
“closure of the Major Council”: membership to the
Major Council was restricted to those who had already been part of it or
who could prove that a paternal ancestor had sat in it and the list which
recorded the names of eligible families was closed henceforth.
These families were self-proclaimed the Venetian Aristocracy and their
names registered in the Golden Book. The Serrata can be thus considered
similar to a coupe-d'état, performed - though -through
bills rather than weapons.
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VENICE VS GENOA
In the second half of the 14th C when we see the climax of the conflict
between Venice and Genoa which had engaged them in a 150-year struggle and
4 wars for the control of the Mediterranean trading routes.
In 1379 the city of Venice came near to being taken by assault.
Blockaded on all sides, Venice began to run out of food and supplies.
The Genoese allied with the Paduans and took Chioggia (a fishermen village
in the Southern Lagoon) by storm.
The Venetian backlash was remarkable and its success was possible thanks
to the peculiar configuration of the lagoon environment. The lagoon waters
are very shallow and navigable channels were known only to the natives....
even today they have to be marked by bricole. So,
entrances to the lagoon were barricaded with large vessels chained together
and enemies' lines of communication were cut by sinking stone-laden barges
in the canals...
In June 1380 the Genoese surrendered.
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THE TURNING WESTWARD
After the War of Chioggia and with Genoa out of the way, Venice felt restored
in power and prosperity. Yet, the Lord of Padua had not given up his ambition to
humble Venice. His aggressive policy became a real menace when he threatened
to cut Venice off from the Alpine passes leading to Germany.
The Republic could no longer remain aloof from all that was taking place
behind her back.
At the turn of the 14th C in fact we shall see a shift in the Venetian strategy:
the turning westwards and Venice's expansionism on mainland Italy
If sea lanes of the eastern Mediterranean were the foundation of Venice's
wealth, its dominance as a trading centre depended on the possibility of
reaching other markets, relying on free access to the rivers and mountain
passes of northern Italy. Thus, although Venetian foreign policy was predominantly
eastward-looking, a degree of intervention on the mainland was inevitable,
especially with the rise in the 14 C of ambitious dynasties such as the Scaligeri
in Verona, the Carrara in Padua and the Visconti in Milan.
The political and military intrigues of northern Italy in this period are
extremely complicated: alliances were regularly made and betrayed, and cities
were changing hands with bewildering frequency. Venice formed an alliance with F
lorence to counter the expansionistic campaign of the Scaligeri of Verona (gaining
control on Treviso and the surrounding areas).
At the close of the 14th C the Doge and Senate were watching with increasing alarm the
Carraras of Padua eager to expand their territory. The Senate checked them for a while
by supporting their opponents and finally took the extreme step of allying with
the ruler of Milan, the dangerous Gian Galeazzo Visconti. Together they overthrew
the Carraras and shared their lands. Yet the Venetians realized that the Visconti
could now become the real threat... luckily their concern didn't last long for
Gian Galeazzo was carried off by a plague and Venice could take advantage of
the vacancy in the Milanese state and gain control on vast portions of territories.
Having once turned to the mainland, Venice was to end by coveting greater
imperialistic ambitions which will later come down on her head.
You Venetians - had warned the Duke of Milan - are wrong to
disturb the peace of Italy, and not rest content with the fine state that
is yours. If you only knew how everyone hates you, your hair would stand on end!
And a similar warning had come from the 80-year old doge Tommaso Mocenigo
in his "Farewell Address" made just before his death. His speech
was directed against those who thought Venice could gain wealth from wars
in Lombardy, and extolled on the other hand the high prosperity brought by peace.
The leading advocate of the policy criticized by the old Mocenigo was a man
known primarily as an aggressive politician: Francesco Foscari.
"Beware of Messer Francesco Foscari" came the warning of
the doge Mocenigo "He is a vainglorious braggart... If he becomes
doge" - read his speech - "you will find yourselves constantly
at war; you'll fail even to keep your long-johns and will become the slaves of
your men at arms and their captains".
Yet Francesco Foscari was elected, and his election marked the beginning of
thirty years of almost constant warfare in Lombardy.
These Lombard wars were in part naval wars! The battle to control the city
of Brescia fought on Lake Garda is quite remarkable: Venetian galleys were
rowed through the rivers and then with 120 oxen to a galley, pulled over
hills to reach the lake.
For warfare of that kind, Venice relied on mercenary captains. They were
called condottieri because they operated according to a contract, a
condotta which stated the amount of money they received for
their services. Bartolomeo Colleoni was one of the
most celebrated of all condottieri. At his death he even left 100,000
ducats to Venice on condition that an equestrian monument should
be erected to his memory in St. Mark's square... The money was surely
needed by the State Treasury whose coffers had been exhausted by the
long wars; on the other hand a monument in St. Mark's Square would
have been contrary to the traditions of Venice, which had never consented
to excessive glorification of single individuals. So they resorted to a
cunning diplomatic compromise and erected the monument in front of St.
Mark's ... confraternity - in Campo San Giovanni Paolo.
By mid-15th C Venice's so called land-state was formed a
territory which reached Bergamo and Brescia on the west and extended
eastwards onto Istria and Dalmatia, a state of affairs officially
sanctioned in 1454 by the Treaty of Lodi.
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THE OTTOMAN TURKS
Another reason for the turning westward is to be found in the
expansion of the Ottoman Turks in the Levant. In 1453, in fact,
Constantinople fell in the hands of the Turks. The Venetians
concentrated their efforts to avoid any offense to the Ottoman
sultan so as not to confront the full power of the Turkish army.
Yet, in 1470, Mehmet attacked Negroponte, Venice's main base in
the North Aegean, and also snatched bits of territories here and there.
However, the Venetians were soon to compensate their losses with
the acquisition of Cyprus.
The acquisition of this important island was the result of a combination
of shrewd diplomacy and shameless opportunism. The Republic arranged in
fact the marriage of the beautiful 14 year-old Caterina Corner to King
James of Cyprus. Caterina was formally adopted as daughter of the Republic
and then shipped to Cyprus. When James died about a year later, the Republic
decided that this beloved daughter had better abdicate in favour of her
adopted mother, the Republic. In October 1488 in fact Cyprus was formally
incorporated in the Venetian Sea-State and its Queen sent back to Venice.
The Doge even sailed out in his state barge to greet her.
A stately procession up the Grand Canal then followed. The event is one of
the grandest ceremonies we still celebrate every year on the first Sunday
of September: the Historical Regatta, a memento of all the
pomp and pageantry the Venetians loved so much.
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A TURNING POINT
In 1494 Italy was invaded by Charles VIII of France, an intervention
which Venice lost no time in exploiting. By playing the various territorial
contenders off against each other, Venice succeeded in adding bits and pieces
to the her "land-state". by the end of the 15th C Venice held a
vast portion of territory, coveting greater imperialistic ambitions which
will eventually come down on her head. By now, the Italian powers were in
fact suspicious that Venice may upset the balance of power and dominate
the whole peninsula.
The last straw fell in 1503, when the Venetians found the temptation to strike
at the Papal State. Enough was enough.
The pope, France, Germany and other Italian city-states formed an alliance
against Venice - the League of Cambrai - and smashed her army at Agnadello
in 1509. The fall of the Venetian state seemed inevitable. Yet, shrewd diplomacy
and a shift of the alliances made it possible for Venice to recover
practically all her possession on the mainland
The Venetian government, however, realized that the City could no longer
match wits with the great European powers. They decided to drop further
expansionistic ambitions and go for a policy of neutrality. Their frailty
and impotence could never be admitted and were in fact masked as a decision of
its wise administration. Venice began to address herself as the Serenissima,
the Most Serene Republic, claiming to be a model to regard with no less
admiration than those of the Greeks' and the Romans' in ancient times.
Her government has decided to devote all energies to the strengthening of
institutions and the reorganising of her relationships with the subject
territories and with European and Italian states. Basically, a policy of
public relations to promote the Myth of a glorious state whose force was
still to be reckoned with.
The new course transpires in the works of art produced throughout the century.
The paintings in the Ducal Palace - the Government building
- reflect the glory of Venice and illustrate land battles, sea fights, diplomatic
victories... The allegorical and mythological scenes are added with propagandist
significance and conscripted into Venetian service.
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DECLINE AND PRIDE
Despite military setbacks, the expansion of the Turks and the discovery
of new worlds and alternative sea routes, Venice remains a powerful state
throughout the 16th C. Then, at the turn of the century, the Republic will
start loosing predominance. During the decade after 1602, the volume of trade
moving through Venice fell forty percent
Compared to great European monarchies, such as France or Spain, Venice is
now a small state and has no more say in international matters. She relies on
a policy of neutrality and the ability of her ambassadors to keep afloat.
Yet, although the Venetian state was on its last legs, it held its head high.
And in fact at the time of the Counter-reformation Venice kept a stiff upper
lip and had the nerve to take a stand against the Pope.
This happened when Venice restricted the amount of the tithe, the tax that
monasteries paid to the Church of Rome - and then imprisoned two priests
charged with secular crimes - rape and child molesting. The Pope's demand
for the return of the priests and the repeal of the monastic legislation
was firmly rebuffed, and the upshot was a papal interdict in April 1606,
forbidding all religious services in the Venetian territory.
Excommunication for the entire city followed. In retaliation, Venice booted
out the Jesuits and threatened with exile or death any priest who wouldn't ignore
the interdict. And when priest in Padua insisted that the Holy Spirit had moved
him to obey the pope, he was informed by the Council of Ten that the Holy Spirit
had already moved them to hang all dissenters. Venice obtained the support of
the King of England, James I and eventually French mediation brought about a
resolution which required no compromise from the Venetians.
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THE LAST CENTURY
Despite her declining political weight, Venice in the 17th and 18th Cs was the
centre of European culture offering numerous attractions. In the 17th and 18th Cs
Venice had the reputation of being the gayest and most inconsequential of European
capitals.
Among the many features that drew visitors to the city were her theatres and
her music. Venice was the opera centre of the world in the 17th C..
In 1637 the S. Canciano Theater performed Europe's first opera before a
paying public. Elsewhere operas were performed at that date only in the closed
world of princely courts.
Venice’s Opera House was opened in 1792. Its name, La Fenice,
couldn’t be more appropriate. The Phoenix, in fact, was a mythological
bird reputed to rise from its own ashes. In the case of this theatre, this
already happened once, when it was rebuilt following a terrible fire in 1836.
And as you probably know, the Fenice was again gutted by a fire in January 1996
and was recently rebuilt.
The taste for music in Venice grew apace until 18C. In addition to the
accademies and private concerts which took place every night in one palace
or another, the “Ospedali” (orphanages) began to organize
paying concerts where vocal and instrumental music were given by the young girls
of these institutions. They were standing in a
n upper gallery hidden behind a grill. The success of these concerts were so
immense that great masters such as Galuppi and Vivaldi welcomed the opportunity
of directing them.
From 1703 Antonio Vivaldi taught at the musical seminary of La Pietà,
where he was the violin master and occasionally also the choirmaster. Vivaldi was
an incomparable virtuoso and composed approximately 250 violin concerts.
In 1700 the city counted 17 theatres. Her theatres began to give more time to
spoken drama. Both tragedies and comedies attracted audiences which expressed
their reactions vociferously. "Claques" organized to boo or cheer were
recruited particularly among the gondoliers who were rewarded with free admission.
Among the hundreds of productions, it is the comedies that are of most
interest, especially those of Carlo Goldoni who
contributed to provide Italy with a tradition of written comedies. Before Goldoni,
in fact, the Commedia dell'Arte depended largely on pantomime that was almost
acrobatic and improvised by the actors.
Tourists in the 18th C Venice found her public gambing rooms even more popular than
the theatres.The Ridotto was among the most popular ones, opened in 1638 by Marco Dandolo
in his palace. It was later described by the Major Council as a place of "
solemn, continuous, universal and violent gambling". In fact in 1774
the Council ordered the closure of the premises, because several families had
been completely bankrupted there.
And nunneries on the other hand simply continued to be popular. They had a
long-lived tradition to defend: notorious is the episode that in 1509 saw the
nuns of the Celestia admitting a bunch of young noblemen into their convent
and dancing all night with them to the sound of pipes and trumpets. And what
about the banquets celebrated in some convents, with the nuns at the grill
sipping drinks with the aid of straws passed through the bars?
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VENETIAN CARNIVAL
Carnival was a pagan ritual marking the end of the old year on winter solstice,
the shortest day of the year. With Christianity it became the time when confessions
were made in preparation for Lent. And Carnival probably derives from old Italian
“Carne levare”, a farewell to meat - and flesh! - before the
rigours of Lenten fast. Eventually, it evolved in a relatively short period of
merrymaking which reached its climax the day before Ash Wednesday.
Well, in Venice Carnival began on Boxing-day, the day after Xmas, and ended
with Mardi Gras...The ceremonies accompanying the event were just extraordinary:
The flight of the angel was an acrobatic stunt where an equilibrist had to jump
from the bell tower, slide on a rope and end in the arms of the doge assisting
on the balcony to give him a bunch of flowers. Bullfights instead took place in
the campi (the squares of Venice).
Consider that in February 1789 the doge Paolo Renier died and the announcement
of his death was postponed, so as not to spoil the Carnival!
But masks and the same gay spirit lasted almost all year round. The mask was used
as a disguise to go to parties, brothels, gambling houses, nunneries.
From early date, tourists reporting on Venice included enthusiastic or disgusted
comments on her courtesans. The most notorious picture of Venetian licentiousness
is to be found in the memoirs of Giacomo Casanova.
Coffee houses multiplied. There were dozen around the Piazza, including Florian
which opened in 1720 and Quadri in 1775.
So, 18th C Venice was pervaded by a spirit of festivity, and light-heartedness
which derived from the absence of any serious purpose arising from political
involvement.
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THE END
In 1797 in fact Napoleon's troops entered the city which had never
before been occupied.
Napoleon demanded that the government dissolve itself and turn power
over to a democratic municipal council to be protected by French soldiers.
The doge Ludovico Manin summoned the members of the Maggior Consiglio and
proposed to accept Napoleon's demands for this seemed the only way to
"preserve unharmed the Religion, Life and Property of all these most
beloved inhabitants": he was asking for some sort of a political
suicide for the interest of the state a principle which prevailed in the
decisions of the ruling class until the very end.
The debate was opened when from outside the Palace a burst of musket
shots was heard: a contingent of mercenaries was preparing to leave and
that was their salute to the Republic. Those shots were enough to scare
the members of the Great Council who hurriedly voted the old constitution
out of existence.
Napoleon plundered Venice systematically. Then, to buy time for his
imperial schemes, he turned it over to Austria by the Treaty of Campoformio (October 17th).
Eight years later Napoleon took Venice back, having meanwhile defeated Austria.
In 1805 he added it to his Kingdom of Italy. A decade of French rule brought
changes typical of Napoleonic administration. A good number of monasteries and
churches were suppressed notorious is the demolition of Sansovino's
Church of St. Giminiano opposite St. Mark in 1807 to make
way for a Ballroom in what had become Napoleon's Royal Palace.
Public gardens were opened (again, with no mercy for pre-existing architecture).
Last but not least, we are told that Napoleon cherished the plan to dredge
part of the lagoon to the south-east and connect Venice with the mainland.
Luckily he never had the time to accomplish it.
Smashed at Waterloo, Napoleon was exiled in the Island of St. Helena where
he died. The Congress of Vienna in 1815 reassigned Venice to Austria.
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THE FOREIGN DOMINATION
Under Austrian occupation, Napoleonic policies for improving the city's network
of streets and canals were continued. Streets were widened, bridges restored or
rebuilt, canals dredged.
The simplest, cheapest method of creating new streets was the filling in
of canals. The Rialto Bridge ceased to be the only bridge spanning the
Grand Canal when the Accademia bridge was built in 1854.
Four years later it was the turn of the Scalzi's near the station.
The first structures were in iron, later replaced by the present bridges.
Now, as we go through this list of improvements, we must say that such efforts
at modernisation also involved taxes on the citizens at a time when economy was
totally neglected, the port of Trieste having gained much of Venice's trade.
In 1846 the city effectively lost her insular status, when the first
railway bridge across the lagoon was opened. 14 yrs later
a stretch of historic buildings on the Grand Canal, including the church
of St. Lucia from which the station derives its name, were ruthlessly
demolished to make way for new terminal buildings.
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ITALY
After the annexation to the newly-formed Italian nation in 1866, the policies
for modernising the city were given new life by the greater commitment of the
new Italian administration. Impetus was given to the development of Venetian
industry.
Among the new economic ventures was the Mulino Stucky,
a flour-milling complex on the Giudecca which is now being converted into
a conference center.
After the first World War, the most significant manifestation of the
rise of the borgeois was the development of the Venetian Lido.
When Goethe had visited the Lido in 1786 the long sandy
island had been inhabited only by a few fishermen and the Benedectine
monks of St. Nicolò.
Then, progress. The first bathing establishment on the Lido was opened in 1857.
By the time that Thomas Mann published his novel "Death in Venice"
in 1912, the Lido had become one of the bourgeois playground of Europe.
The consecration of the Lido as a very exclusive sea-side resort came with
the first Biennale Exhibition of Cinematographic Art in 1932,
the first movie festival ever conceived . The aim of the event was to raise
cinema to the same level of the other arts". On that occasion
"Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hide" (Rouben Mamoulian) represented
he Us and "Faithful Heart" (Victor Saville) the Uk.
And Venice was also invested by this wave of urban restructuring schemes.
The building of the Cassa di Risparmio in Campo Manin is an example
of modern architecture in the city clashing with the context in which it is inserted.
The erection of the building in 1964 proved disastrous for the massive structure
dragged down the piling structure of the surrounding buildings.
Luckily, today rigid planning restrictions control the erection of new
buildings as well as visible alterations to historic buildings.
After the First World War, the stage was set for the deterioration and
depopulation of Venice.
In 1917 the Ministry for Work approved the project for an industrial
port to be located on the immediate coastline of the terra-firma.
The industrial port attracted its workforce from the hinterland rather
than providing employment for the Venetians. And those Venetians who
found employment there, left Venice to live in nearby Mestre, thus
beginning a wave of migration towards cheaper and more comfortable
housing which reduced the population of Venice to 70,000 souls, one
third of what it used to be.
The creation of the industrial park and its enlargement in the
60's upset not only the city's balance but the equilibrium of the
lagoon as well. And it is not just a matter of pollution...
The industries in fact have contributed to the aggravation of a
phenomenon which we familiarly call acqua alta, high tide.
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PROBLEMS OF THE PRESENT DAYS
The acqua alta has always been a natural feature in
Venetian life. We have records of disastrous floods as early as in
1240, like this one, reporting that " Today the water was the
height of a man above the streets".
The acqua alta is in fact a combination of seasonal tides and
particular weather conditions. The lagoon is connected with the
Adriatic sea, and therefore the lagoon basin experiences two high
tides and two low tides every day.
During high tide the sea flows in through the three port-mouths
that provide access to the lagoon; then, during ebb tide it flows back
out into the Adriatic, carring refuse with it. The motion of water
within the basin is circular, and because of this scouring action Venice
didn’t need sewers. Twice-daily tidal movements were enough
until fairly recently to keep the water relatively fresh.
Now, it is a southern, warm wind which alters the natural flowing of water.
First it forces the water of the Adriatic sea through the three port-mouths
and then its constant blowing prevents the water from flowing back out again.
The presence of the industrial area - however - has aggravated this
phenomenon. Firstly, as you can see on this slide the industries were
accommodated on a portion of land which had to be reclaimed, quite vast
as you can see, so that space to contain the mass of water flowing in the
lagoon has been reduced (the effect is similar to throwing a stone in a basin).
Furthermore, the three channels that provide access to the lagoon
have been deepened to allow big tankers through the lagoon.
Consider that in the old days submerged sandbanks protected access
to the lagoon, water spilled slowly across it and the violence of the
tides was thus cushioned. Ships-of-the-line were brought from and to
the Arsenal by attaching to them some kind of pontoons called "camels"
to reduce their draught. (It was a protection from enemies..)
Finally, subsidence. Industries (1930) drew millions of gallons
of water from artesian wells and that caused a dramatic fall in the
water table (18 cm ca.), the sinking which had been going on slowly,
about half inch in ten years, became relatively rapid, about two
inches in ten years, until the danger of this operation was detected
and the practice stopped.
As Venetians, we have grown used to acqua alta. In our own way,
we are organized. We have our rubber boots, an alarm which sets off
and can be heard in the whole lagoon. And then all the gang-planks
where people can walk on. Yet, in the last fifty years, because of
the reasons I have just listed, the phenomenon has presented itself
more and more frequently, flooding being more and more disastrous.
The most disastrous of all floods is that recorded in November
1966, year when the Arno overflowed in Florence. The water in
St. Mark's - which is one of the lowest areas in the city - had risen
six and a half feet above normal. Water was lashing in, huge waves
were breaking against the columns of St. Mark. All telephone lines were
out of order, electricity had failed, most of the gas lines were disrupted,
all ground-floor stores and dwellings were flooded. It was impossible
to move about the city except by boat. Ebb tide was expected around 6:00 PM.
Six o'clock had arrived and to everyone's dismay and terror the water had
not receded, it had risen.
By 8:00 PM the Venetians, marooned in their unlighted, unheated homes,
realized that it wasn't just another acqua alta, that was a major disaster.
Then suddenly, shortly after 9:00 PM the water began receding. By midnight
Venice was above water and the Venetians were out in their boots to inspect
the havoc by candlelight.
To some the scene looked like a gigantic funeral: skeletons of boats and
gondolas, mattresses, garbage, dead pigeons and rats were scattered
everywhere, floating in the canals. Damage estimates ranged as high as
$ 64,000,000. Injury to the monuments was all but incalculable.
(On December 2nd of that very same year the then Director of Unesco
called upon for contributions to the safeguard of Venice and Florence.
In 1973, when the Italian government enacted its first Special Law for
Venice, Unesco transferred its emergency office in Rome to Venice.)
The disastrous floods have also resulted in urging a solution to the problem.
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THE MOSE
The solution to the problem should to be some sort of a submerged
barrage system called Mose, after the great manipulator
of waters.
The costly project was to involve laying 80 steel flaps on the
floor of the 3 canals that provide access to the lagoon; in case
of emergency the ballast is released from the flaps and the barrier
rises to protect the city. Yet Mose remains a very controversial issue
and many experts and politicians are definitely against it.
It has been the object of extensive studies and testing, but experts
claim the problems are the deeper effect of a series of neglect and
rushed-in decisions that never showed any consideration for one fact:
that the existence of Venice has always depended on the equilibrium of
its lagoon, something the old Venetians were very much aware of.
In the 13C the government had established a body in charge of all
public and private waters. A proper Magistracy wascreated in 1501.
A plaque dating from the 16th C reads:
"The city of the Venetians, with the help of the Divine
Providence, was founded on water, it is encircled by water, it is
defended by water instead of walls: thus, any-one who attempts
in whatever way to harm the public waters should be declared enemy
of the city and judged as he who violates the sacred walls of
his home country. The validity of this edict is perpetual".
So we finish with this: the testimony of the great love the old Venetians had
showed for their city, a city which is the triumph of a people who turned barren
mudflats into a supreme work of beauty. A city which deserves and demands r
espect from all of us.
written by C. Trevisan and L. Sabbadin
Venice Guide and Boat © 2005, 2006, 2007 All rights reserved
