Ndial's Year in Europe: Venezia!!!

I spent the last four days in Venice, the floating city of masks, bridges, and canals.

No one is exactly sure when the islands in the Venetian lagoon were first inhabited. The first church was dedicated in 421. The first central government of the city was in 568, but it was the election of the first Doge and the creation of The Most Serene Republic of Venice in early 700’s (tradition says 697) that launched Venice on an upward spiral of trade, riches, and prestige that it never truly fell from until 1797 when Napoleon arrived. During the one thousand year reign the Serenissima, as it was known, was one of the most stable and admired forms of republican governance in all Europe. The government of Venice had the elected Doge at its head. He was elected for life, and as a result was not usually elected until he was very old. The average age at election was 72. The Doge was elected by the Maggior Consiglio, the Major Council; this was the Council that every member of Venice’s aristocracy was a member of. There were other governmental structures like the Senate, the College, and the Council of Ten which were all tasked with different elements of governing the Serenissima.

What amazed me most about the city was its tiny size. For a city that had so much wealth and importance for so long, it takes maybe forty minutes to cross all the islands forming Venice proper. Doing that is actually a lot of fun, it is a fairly repetitive routine of small street…

Smaller side street…

Bridge...

But you never really get tired of the character of the town…

There are not many “sites” to see really. One historian put it this way, “In Venice, more than any other place, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” If all you do is visit the big places you are going to miss the heart of Venice. Don’t get me wrong, you need to go to the Rialto Bridge built in 1181…

It was actually the only bridge crossing the Grand Canal until the 19^th century. It provides and impressive view of the Grand Canal…

The other big sites are around the Piazza San Marco…

As you can see, I was here for a holiday. It was the Festa del Redentore, Festival of the Redeemer. It commemorates the end of a plague that caused the deaths of around fifty thousand Venetians in the 16^th century. The big part of the festival was the forty five minute fireworks show over the lagoon. That was a lot of fun since I got to spend the evening with one of my friends from law school and her colleagues from the summer program in Venice she was wrapping up.

My own touring of Piazza San Marco included the Basilica of St. Mark…

The current Basilica was built over the top of the old one to house the remains of St. Mark the Evangelist. The Venetians are very honest about stealing his remains from Egypt in 828. The two Venetian merchants packed him in a basket of bacon so the Muslim authorities wouldn’t inspect it…

The Basilica was consecrated in 1094 and is unlike any other Catholic Church in the world. You have to remember that Venice was a Byzantine possession for a long period of time before its independence was granted. Even after Byzantium gave Venice its freedom the Venetians maintained strong ties with the Greeks. In fact, the Basilica does not have a bishop. The head man for this church is one of the five men given the title of Patriarch in the Catholic Church. It is common in eastern churches, and when you look inside St. Mark’s you would think you were in the east…

The most amazing thing about this Basilica was the fact that the decorations you see in those two photos aren’t paintings, they are mosaics. The entire interior of the church which is not a figure of a Saint or some other biblical scene is covered in gold tiles. To give you an idea of what that looks like up close I took this photo…

The other little piece of history on the façade of the church are the Horses of St. Mark…

Actually these are replicas. The originals are just inside the church but they don’t want you taking pictures of them; I really have no idea why. Anyhow, the original place for these horses was the hippodrome in Constantinople. They were stolen when the Venetians blackmailed the Fourth Crusade into sacking the Christian capital of the Byzantine Empire in 1204. The Venetian fleet was critical for the crusade, but the crusaders could not pay for passage, even though they already were loaded and embarked. Doge Enrico Dandolo had the crusaders capture Zara (owned by the Christian Hungarians) and Constantinople in exchange for clearing their debt. Interesting and amazing solution, but then again, they could have just dropped them off on some deserted island. It is said that Dandolo directed the operation from the front and actually stormed the walls. You could probably take that with a grain of salt since he was 90 at the time and damned near blind.

My next stop was the Campanile of St. Mark which provided some awesome views of the Basilica, the Piazza, and the cityscape…

A couple of other odds and ends in the Piazza before we move on: the pigeons…

Some people have way too much fun with the little “rats with wings.” I agree with the Egyptians and the French. They eat the little buggers.

Another thing is the Winged Lion of St. Mark, standing with a book. It is everywhere in the city…

The last story I have is about the Columns of Justice…

Those probably aren’t the columns, but it will give you a good backdrop for the story.

Punishments in Venice, like with most other medieval governments were often swift, brutal, and public. For example, a thief in Venice would have his hand lopped off and then that thief would carry his hand first through the streets to the scene of the crime, then on to the columns of justice in the Piazza for his hanging. All the while he would be shouting his crime and punishment and his remorse so all the city would hear. My other story is about the Council of Ten; the watchmen and defenders of the Republic. The Council of Ten would investigate any threat to the government of Venice from within. No member of Venetian society was above the will of the Council. One story is that a maid overheard a conspiracy between several noblemen, and the next morning they were strung up between the Columns of Justice.

Intense story and it brings me to my next destination, the Doge’s Palace…

It was actually the seat of the entire Venetian government; the Doge had only a small set of apartments. Actually, when you consider the other palace’s I have visited, this one is fairly small and unfortunately they don’t allow you to take pictures inside. Here is the picture from inside the courtyard…

That is it for sites actually. As I said, the most important part of Venice is walking the streets, or perhaps floating on a gondola if you could afford it…

Actually some of those gondoliers were somewhat dubious looking. Tattoos, piercings, and camaraderie were very common. I suspect mafia, but I’m biased when it comes to looking at profitable and well run parts of Italy.

Just walk, don’t do what all these people are doing…