Comune di Venezia

News

The art of caleghèri, a craft that gave prestige to the Republic of San Marco

Venice, 9 January 2023 - The legend has it that the evangelist Mark, after his trip to Cyrenaica, arrived in Alexandria where he was forced to look for a shoemaker because one of his sandals had broken. He went to the workshop of Aniano who got injured while repairing Mark’s shoes. Mark miraculously healed him and Aniano decided to convert himself and got baptized. Since then, Sant’Aniano has been considered as the patron saint of the Venetian shoemakers.  

The art of caleghèri - shoemakers - has been one of the most relevant craft activities for the Serenissima. Its presence was first documented in Venice in 1268 and bears the date of 17 November 1271, when the statute of the caleghèri - the Capitulare Callegariorum- was written. It contains additions due to the ruling decrees of the old justice – until 6 July 1313.  

The caleghèri gathered in a Brotherhood, which protected their art and craft. Shoemakers who made shoes, boots and other generic shoes, had strict rules regulating their activity. In fact, they could pack shoes exclusively with new leather, supplied by the Magistrate in the Beccarie. In addition to the caleghèri, in Venice worked the ballasts and slippers, who repaired the old footwear and only had to use second-hand leather, the çocholarii - manufacturers of clogs – patitari - who made shoes or wooden soles adapted then to the foot with leather strips – and the solarii - artisans who drew the soles of the shoes on pieces of leather and from these then cut them.  

Since 1446 the art had the school of devotion in a building purchased in Campo San Tomà, in the district of San Polo. The building was entirely renovated to make it more suitable for the needs of the art. The scoletta is now home to the public Library. As evidence of the existence of these important artisans, there are still reliefs representing shoes of the time on the lintel of the door, while above the main portal there is a bas-relief representing Saint Mark’s in the act of healing Sant’Antonio.  

In 1773 in Venice, there were 1172 caleghèri and ballasts – 338 masters, 653 workers and 181 apprentices – who worked in 340 workshops. It was therefore the art with the major members after the marangoni, the carpenters, and the tessitori de seta – weavers . In order to be admitted to the art, they had to be 18 years old male. Moreover, they have to have exercised a period of servitude, pass a test by making three pairs of shoes both for women and men, and eventually pay a common registration fee to the Brotherhood.  

Traditionally, the caleghèri every year gave a pair of prestigious clogs to the dogaressa. These clogs needed to have - at least at the time of the doge Lorenzo Priuli in office from 14 June 1556 to 17 August 1559 – the same value of 22 Venetian liras.  

During the Sensa fair, the Brotherhood exhibited its works in Piazza San Marco, in a specific point that was marked by white marble lists. Also, that of the caleghèri followed the fate of the other schools after the Napoleonic decree in 1807, even if at the end of 1700 the number of shoemakers operating in the city had slightly decreased, falling to 966. 

In Venice still today, there are several traces of this noble art, which over time has moved along the Riviera del Brenta thus influencing the growth of this area. Two shoemakers are present in the archway of the entrance portal of the Basilica of San Marco, one with a shoe and the other with a boot, while in Palazzo Ducale, there is a shoemaker with bib and apron and the instruments of work. And again, in the church of Santo Stefano, the altar of the Blessed Virgin Annunziata is decorated with four small shoe-shaped shields. Here, from the end of the fourteenth century, were found the German caleghèri, who had separated from the Venetian brothers. In Calle de le Boteghe, near San Samuele where the seat of the German caleghères was located, you can still see the bas-reliefs in Istrian stone reproducing men’s shoes used at the time, a clear evidence of a craftsmanship that was able to give shine with his work to the Republic of San Marco. 

 

The shoe museum where every shoe has a history. 1350 women’s shoes on display at Villa Foscarini Rossi

Venice, 2nd January 2023 - Every shoe has a story to tell. A shoe it is not just an accessory to wear, it carries a wealth of curiosity and anecdotes that make it a real work of art. There are the colors of Pucci that were put for the first time in palette photographing the shades of the sea of Capri, its lemons and its bougainvillea, there are the wooden inlays of Christian Dior who had ambitions as an architect and was inspired by the world of furniture. There is the boule jewel heel with rhinestones made for the first time for the German actress and singer Marlene Dietrich. And yet, the shoe “pilgrim”, with oversize buckle inspired by the footwear of the pilgrim fathers and worn by Catherine Deneuve in the movie “Beautiful day” that became the most reproduced shoe in the world and absolute icon of the model maker Roger Viver. Or the anecdote of how it was born from a sketch of Karl Lagerfeld the logo of the fashion house Fendi, the famous FF inspired by the desire to revitalize fur: from here Fun Fur, with double F as the surname of the Fendi sisters. And then there is Yves Saint Laurent who made a social revolution by taking possession of the elements of the male wardrobe such as the Saharan, the trench coat, the tuxedo, the pantsuit and, above all, the boot, which was the prerogative of men and women of ill-repute, giving it to women in a time of struggles for women’s emancipation.  

The 17th century Villa Foscarini Rossi, which next to Villa Pisani stands on the banks of the Brenta River, for almost thirty years has been housing the “Shoe Museum” built by Luigino Rossi, footwear entrepreneur. It was opened in 1993 to testify, through the designer footwear, the evolution of the history of costume from the second half of the 20th century. An architectural complex that leaves you breathless for its frescoes and its majesty and that the shoe entrepreneur, now 86, wanted to dedicate to the history of Rossimoda - its brand - and the entire shoe district of the Riviera.  

Women’s Paradise, showcases 1350 iconic pieces, real pieces of wearable art made in over 60 years of collaboration with the largest fashion houses on the international scene.  

“The museum opened in 1993 thanks to the intuition of Luigino Rossi, entrepreneur of the shoe factory founded by his father Narciso in 1947, who decided to create this good living room where to witness his successes – says Federica Rossi, museum curator – the museum tells the evolution of the costume through this accessory, collecting shoes divided by brands and showing the contribution of each designer to the evolution of fashion in a certain period of time that corresponds to the years of collaboration with the manufacture”.  

The buildings, acquired in 2003 by the financial group of luxury LVMH, now welcome about 6,000 visitors every year. Locals but also shoe enthusiasts comes to discover the word of Rossimoda while in the adjacent Foresteria educational workshops, exhibitions, events and conferences are held. 

Women’s shoes are displayed following a specific geographical criterion: on the ground floor the Anglo-Saxons with the American, English and German fashion houses while on the first floor, the Mediterranean with the French, Italians and Spaniards.  

“This is because footwear is an accessory that must balance aesthetic needs with functional ones and we found out that the geographical origin of fashion houses, favors practical aspects rather than aesthetic. So, on the ground floor there is a more pragmatic atmosphere that fails on the first floor”, continues Federica Rossi.  

On the ground floor there is also a selection of antique footwear from different continents, which Luigino purchased during his travels around the world, witnessing the evolution of an accessory that was designed for practical needs and now has become a way to communicate and a symbol of a social belonging. There are the shoes of the Indians decorated with beads that indicate the tribe of origin and the role within that tribe, the wooden clogs, the disturbing shoes of Chinese women with bandaged feet only 13 cm long, an old Central American sandal of straw woven with a protective function, a ”heel” used by a Venetian noblewoman, or birch shoes woven in use in the cold countries of Finland and Russia that allowed walking on ice.  

And if everything starts from Venice with the school of calegheri - whose existence was first documented in 1268 - the Riviera has become one of the most famous footwear districts in the world for the quality of its products, the professionalism of workers and aesthetic taste.  

“This territory is characterized by two fruits: the civilization of the Venetian villas and the footwear district – concludes the curator – these characteristics influenced the product that comes out of here. We are surrounded by a certain type of architecture that has certain proportions, a certain kind of taste and a certain sense of harmony that shape an archetype in the things we do. We believe that everything that surround us has influenced the refined production of this territory”. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The vogue of “Calcagnini”, the peculiar shoes that raised the feet of Venetian ladies 50cm above the ground during the age of the Serenissima Republic

Venice, 19 December 2022 – Not only to avoid the phenomenon of high water and to dirty one’s clothes with mud, but also to restrict women’s freedom of movement. For over two centuries, the “calcagnini” o “calcagnèti” have been the most popular footwear in Venice and were a statement piece in Venetian ladies’ wardrobes, attracting the attention of foreigners.  

The main feature of these shoes – which resembled stilts – lay in their height, lifting the feet from the ground of many centimetres, up to over half a meter. Certainly, Venetian women were not able to move gracefully: having no stability at all, they could hardly walk alone on the streets and bridges of the city. For this reason, strolling around the city required the help of two servants supporting the lady.  

At the time when the vogue of such unique footwear spread, in the eyes of the whole world the Serenissima Republic was the centre of commerce and of great wealth. Wearing these shoes was a way to flaunt and identify the social class to which noblewomen belonged: the higher the wedge, the more important the Venetian lady, because it took a lot more cloth for the skirt to get to the ground. 

The reason behind this uncomfortable fashion, in vogue since the 15th century among the noblewomen of the Serenissima, was social custom: the height of this type of footwear discouraged women to leave their homes or, at least, to go around too much so that husbands and fathers could count on greater domestic tranquillity.  

Embellished with brocades, gold and gems, these troublesome shoes were also widely used by courtesans and prostitutes, and were turned into weapons of seduction. In short, the “calcagnini” represented a real contradiction because on the one hand they helped to safeguard the feminine virtue by limiting the freedom of movement while on the other, they appeared as an instrument of seduction used by prostitutes and courtesans. 

With time, the “calcagnini” became more and more a luxury object but, given their height, it was not uncommon to witness dangerous falls, followed by serious consequences such as fractures and abortions. The public officials always went against this kind of shoes, both because they were dangerous, and because of their lavishness.  

On March 2, 1430, the Major Council of the Republic of Venice decreed that these shoes should not exceed the height of ten centimetres, a provision that was intended to safeguard the physical safety of women and impose a certain modesty and morality in clothing. 

Limitations to the lavishness of this footwear also came from the Senate, in 1512, and from the Magistrato alle Pompe (the magistrates who had to moderate the luxury of the Venetians,) in 1641. In truth, such prohibitive decrees had no effect on the Venetian ladies, who continued to wear the “calcagnini” disobeying all norms.  

In contrast with these high wedges were the “mule” or “muléte”, light shoes without heel and buckles that in the beginning were used at home. however, between the second half of the 17th and 18th century, they became fashionable to wear on the street, embellished with refined ornaments. 

Nevertheless, the “calcagnini” did not disappear and continued to be worn even in the 18th century, and one of their strongest advocates was the famous sister Angela Tarabotti. 

Among the first to move away from this troublesome vogue and to start wearing more comfortable shoes were the daughters of Doge Domenico Contarini, in office from 1659 to 1675. It is said that on the occasion of a ceremony, when a foreign ambassador was praising the two girls for their beautiful shoes, a councillor of the Republic was heard saying they were “even too comfortable”, confirming that the “calcagnini” were tolerated by the government as a form of power over the freedom of movement of women.  

“Bianco di Venezia”, the first scented soap for personal hygiene was born in the Venetian lagoon

Venice, 5 December 2022 – First, it was used in wool mills to refine the wool, but later it became a cosmetic product, thanks to a Venetian intuition. Famous for its quality and exported by the Serenissima all over the world, the so-called “Bianco di Venezia” was born in the lagoon and was one of the first soaps created for personal hygiene in the world. The Venetians discovered this soap in Aleppo when it was a simple product based on vegetable fats; after bringing it home, they decided to add scented essences and to slowly dry it away from the sun. This was how the first scented soap for personal hygiene was created: made with raw materials of the highest quality, it will be produced in Venice for centuries and exported to all routes of the Serenissima.  

It is estimated that in the 16th century in Venice were active 40 saoneri, namely the artisans that made soap: gathered in a guild, they produced and exported several hundred tons of soap every year, both for “industrial” usage in the wool mills and a scented kind, with a more refined formula, for personal hygiene.  

An art that was jealously kept by the Republic, which over the centuries developed a protectionist policy towards it: in order to preserve the quality of production and protect the category, since 1347 the Venetian authorities prohibited their merchants to export soap that was not produced in the Serenissima’s soap factories. In 1489, the Senate ruled that Venice would be the only soap manufacturer, and prohibited imports of foreign products throughout the territory dominated by the Serenissima. Moreover, all the soap produced in Venice was branded with a unique mark, provided by the competent authorities, and whoever tried to introduce counterfeited products was hit by severe punishment. 

The soap produced in Venice was of excellent quality, because it used olive oil – which came to Rialto from the oil mills of Marche, Abruzzo and especially Puglia – and because the saoneri were very popular and well paid abroad. Due to the materials used, the “Bianco di Venezia” was solid and white, scented with all those essences on which Venice had the monopoly; on the other hand, the soap that was produced elsewhere, obtained using tallow and potash, was softer, darker and foul-smelling. 

In 1550, the Senate criticized the exodus of workers abroad and tried to recall them home, promising them not to apply harsh sanctions, the ban and the loss of all assets, and in 1614 also proposed a pay raise. Nevertheless, it was not possible to prevent the crisis in this sector, conditioned by the changes in oil duty rates that pushed the Venetian soap out of the market. 

In the 18th century, soap production would still be one of the most important items for export of Venetian manufactures with almost 500 tons, for an average value that was around 100,000 ducats, but the destination was almost exclusively constituted by the Venetian Stato da Tera.

 

The muschieri of the Serenissima, perfume alchemists that conquered the greatest courts of Europe

Venice, 28 November 2022 - Seducing while concealing unpleasant odour. To do so, they used to smell wigs, clothes, gloves, body, fans, coins and the environments in which they lived. The musketeers were the holders of these secret recipes, which mixed rose, lavender, orange blossom, musk, ambergris and civet for which they were paid “handsomely” representing the privileged status and flourishing trade of Venice.  The perfumer was the “muschiere”, whose name comes from the word musk, originally called moscado, a very expensive secretion produced by a hairy bag placed near the navel of the cervid that lives in the mountains of the central and eastern Asia. The musk was not only used in the art of perfumery but also as a therapeutic substance and as an ingredient to embalm dead bodies. Substances of animal origin were the most used between the late Middle Ages and the beginning of the Modern Age, at a time when smells had to be strong to conceal poor hygiene conditions.  

The hands and skills of these alchemists created a mixture that conquered the courts of Europe. The scents of the Serenissima's muschieri combined the oily balms of the East with alcoholic substances and fragrant essences. They used to dilute the essences with brandy rather than oil, a revolutionary technique that allowed them to store and market perfumes as never before. The musketeers kept fragrances in small luxurious handmade glass bottles produced by Murano glassmakers. This choice made them available to all rules and nobles, men and women, reachable by sea from the Serenissima.  

In 1568 the shops of the muschieri were 24. Around the area of Rialto bridge there were six shops an many more along the route of the Mercerie, up to Piazza San Marco. The shops had very peculiar names, such as “Al Goglio”, “Alla Fenice”, “Alla Fortuna”, “Al Gatto”, “Alla Ninfa”, “Alla Pigna”, “Alla Sirena”, “Al Serpente”, “Ai Tre Calici”, and there they used to sell musk, amber, waters, oils, scented pasta, civet, ambergris, Cyprus powder and scented leather gloves. The muschieri not only created perfumed waters but also scented pastes, beauty creams and hair dyes to satisfy the vanity of the Venetian noblewomen.  

In 1574, Henry III, King of France, on a visit to Venice, entered the workshop of the perfumer Domenico Ventura, who had his workshop in Merceria under the banner of Giglio, and allowed himself very expensive purchases: he bought moss for 1,125 scudi, a dizzying figure. At that time, Ventura was a muschiere famous for selling “rare things in the world” and serving most of the sovereigns and princes of Europe.  

In 1660 the muschieri were 29 and, according to the documents, it is known that 81 people were employed among workers and apprentices. Among them there were also women who might have inherited the workshops from their deceased husbands and continued their activity. Nevertheless, there were also shops in Ruga degli Oresi, Santa Maria Formosa, San Pantalon and San Giovanni Grisostomo.  

In the 18th century the shops were about thirty and continued to be located within the area of San Marco, especially in the parishes of San Zulian, San Bartolomeo and San Moisè and in the neighbouring areas such as Santa Maria Formosa and Santi Apostoli. 

This profession was in the hands, by a large majority, of perfumers born in Venice, where families have been passed on the handcraft expertise since genereations.  

When Napoleon came, the supremacy of Venice in the art of perfume cesead, with a shift from workshops to factories. 

 

Dressed as Capitana da Mar, the statue of the Virgin Mary on top of Santa Maria della Salute has been watching over Venice and the lagoon for more than three hundred years

 

Venice, 16 November, 2022 – Majestic and solemn, wearing the armour of the “Capitano da Mar”, with one arm she clasps her son to her, with the other she brandishes a sceptre, a sign of power attributed to the commanders of the Venetian fleets. A figure that, for more than three hundred years, has been watching over St. Mark’s Basin, protecting the lagoon and the city with her loving gaze. The Virgin Mary of the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute holds a special place in the hearts of the Venetians because in 1630 she saved them from one of the worst epidemics of plague, which brought the whole territory of the Serenissima to its knees. Commemorating the grace received, on November 21 of each year, on the day of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the faithful of the lagoon go on a pilgrimage to her temple, to pray and ask for protection for themselves and their loved ones.

One-hundred-and-fifty are the steps that, going through the backbones of the church, lead up to the terrace of the major dome, accessible from his year thanks to the completion of maintenance work on the walkways. Telling the story and anecdotes of this masterpiece of 17th-century architecture is Don Marco Zane, Director of the Social Communications Office of the Patriarchate of Venice and Vice-Rector of the Patriarchal Seminary of Venice.

It was April 1, 1631 when, in the area behind Punta della Dogana, the first stone of the church of Santa Maria della Salute was laid, commissioned by the Serenissima as a vow to the Virgin Mary for having preserved Venice from the terrible plague of the 17th century, which throughout the territory of the Republic had taken the lives of more than 700 thousand people. Fifty years later, the church was solemnly consecrated by Patriarch Alvise Sagredo. Designed by the famous architect Baldassarre Longhena, who was inspired by the Crown of the Holy Rosary, the building’s main body has an octagonal shape.

“The concern of Longhena”, reports Don Marco, “was to have a slender building, with volumes that would invite to imagine a sort of lightness, but also that was statically robust and capable of adequately supporting itself”. More than three hundred years later, its sobriety, its modernity and its elegance are still able to leave breathless visitors and faithful who bring a candle to the Virgin Mary.

On the central body of the temple rests the monumental hemispherical dome, which rises above St. Mark’s Basin and is the largest that can be found in Venice. Almost 40 meters high, this dome fearlessly looks at its neighbours, the bell tower of San Giorgio Maggiore and the famous “Paròn de casa”, the bell tower of St. Mark’s Basilica.

“From an engineering point of view, the dome has a particular feature”, reveals Don Marco, “it is mainly made of brick and stone, but its sphere, which makes up the fundamental part, is entirely made of wood and only its external cladding is in lead”.

Above is placed a lantern, with at the base a balustrade with columns from which rise eight obelisks, symbolizing the tips of a crown. The structure is closed by another small dome on top of which there is a statue with a peculiar meaning.

“Above the dome, is represented the Blessed Virgin Mary. With one arm, she holds her son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the other, a sceptre”, tells the Vice-Rector of the Seminary. “It is not a sign of power, Mary is not simply depicted as Our Lady, but carries with her the insignia of command: in fact, under her mantle, she wears an armour, she is dressed as a Capitana da Mar”.

A role comparable to the one of an admiral, the Capitano da Mar had his own headdress, which had a cylindric form, and a scepter that was given to him by the Senate of the Republic of Venice as a symbol of power. “So, it is as if the Virgin Mary, with her powerful intercession, continues to pray for us, defending Venice, which wanted to rise again after the 17th-century pestilence, and at the same time it is as if the statue wants to be an allegory of the city that rises again”, adds Don Marco.

To support this masterpiece of architecture are the buttresses that embrace the structure. They have the shape of spiral scrolls, with a stylized rose in the center, a recurring element in the entire Basilica and which alludes to the prayer that Christians traditionally offer to Our Lady. “It is as if the whole building was a sort of great rosary, a great rose that the city of Venice wanted to offer to the Blessed Virgin Mary”, concludes the priest.

If you want to admire a spectacular and little-known view of Venice, you can climb on top of the dome of the Santa Maria della Salute in groups of up to 5 people, after having paid a contribution aimed at supporting the restoration of the building.

To check visiting times and days, see the relevant webpage https://basilicasalutevenezia.it/prodotto/la-cupola/

The Serenissima as the capital of perfumery: it was in Venice that the concept of modern perfume was born

Venice, 22 November 2022 - At the end of the 13th century, the famous Venetian merchant and traveller Marco Polo returned home from China, bringing with him the glands of the musk deer, the animal from which the fragrant substance is obtained, as well as the description of how to extract it and use it. For Venice, it was the beginning of a great love story and a flourishing business that would continue for centuries. 

In order to understand how the laboratory of a Venetian “muschiere” of the 16th century would have looked like, the place where the ancestors of modern perfumes and eau de toilette were born, we should travel back in time, at least with the sense of smell.  It is for this reason that, on the main floor of Palazzo Mocenigo in San Stae, a section of the Costume Museum is dedicated to perfumery, an art which includes cosmetics, medicine, science and, why not, a bit of magic. In the past, Venice played a central role in the production of perfumes: they developed during the 16th century thanks to the “mude”, the naval caravans that allowed the merchants of the Serenissima to reach the eastern Mediterranean ports, where all the precious essences, spices and raw materials - necessary for the production of fragrances of the highest quality - arrived. 

The Republic of Venice thus asserted itself as the top importer of such materials. Every day at the customs offices were unloaded shipments of grey amber, musk, civet, sandalwood, aloe, and fragrant spices, bought by the Venetian muschieri for the creation of new preparations. And it was in Venice that the modern concept of perfume as a liquid mixture was born, thanks to the intuition of diluting into spirits the oily balsam that was used until the Middle Ages.  

“A master of techniques and recipes for the manufacture of oils, powders, pastes and liquids, the profession of muschiere was born in Venice around the 15th century, and it is the first perfumery corporation in the history of the West – says Marco Vidal, a well-known entrepreneur in the field of perfumery – The musk, the raw material of animal origin that is extracted from a gland of an Asian cervid, has a particularly sweet smell, and it is used as a fixative of the perfume, so it gives shape to the fragrance. For this reason, the category of Venetian perfumers that worked with this product was called “muschieri”. When analyzing the inheritance left by Marco Polo to his two daughters, we discovered that the value of this gland, which was worth three gold rings with a precious stone, was about 20-30 thousand euros”.  

Heir to a family that took its first steps in this area with the great-grandfather Angelo, Marco Vidal tells a story of ladies and noblemen, ships and spices, beauty creams, bottles for fragrances and of all the places where these workshops were located - mainly between Rialto and San Marco. The reconstruction of a perfumer’s workshop, alembics, precious bottles of Murano glass, the map that describes the “Routes of the spices” travelled by the ancient Venetians to obtain rare and exotic raw materials, a distiller and ancient recipes books: at Palazzo Mocenigo visitors are immersed in a path that illustrates how much Venice has carved into what has become, over the centuries, a must-have product for men and women. 

“The raw materials arrived in Venice through the commercial routes, then the “spezieri di fino” and “spezieri di grosso” (which were the Venetian grocers) sold spices and raw materials to the “muschieri”, who in turn made the perfumes. The production system worked like this, but the ladies could also produce it in their own homes – explains Vidal – Clearly, the perfume was costly, there were perfumers of different levels and there was also a lot of counterfeiting, especially on the most expensive raw materials”. 

In Venice, the passion for perfumes burst during the 16th century: everything was scented, from coins to gloves and rosaries, which were made in perfumed pastes. 

“Even the use of soap for personal hygiene was invented in our city – adds Vidal – The Venetians learned the recipe in the Middle East, in Aleppo, and they studied a new way to dry the soap, without exposing it to direct sunlight. First, they used it for cordage or washing wool, then they started experimenting with it for personal hygiene and added scents: this is how the first soap, perfumed with essences and called “Bianco di Venezia”, was created”. 

Having the monopoly of raw materials and the technical ability to create new perfumes, through absolutely innovative extraction and production techniques: this was the combination that made Venice the capital of perfumery for many centuries, long before it flourished in the rival state of France.  

 

Half-meter high and decorated with nests, fruits and sculptures: wigs, a symbol of power and vanity in Venice during the 18th century

Venice, 14 November 2022 - It was 1668 when the Venetian nobleman Scipione Vinciguerra di Collato, returning from a trip to Paris, took a walk in Piazza San Marco sporting on top of his head an accessory that, for the following century and a half, would dominate the Venetian fashion scene. It was the first appearance of the wig in Italy. Born to cover the baldness of the French king Louis XIII, this item soon became a sign of wealth and power, to show off on all worldly occasions. During the 18th century, the fashion of the most bizarre wigs exploded: for example, in 1723 they became not only for the exclusive use of men but also of women, who gave free rein to creativity and vanity. Magnificent hairstyles, more than half a meter high, that completely transform the head. Ribbons, nests of birds, artificial flowers, fruits, portraits, jewellery, wire and miniature ships decorated these fashion accessories.  

The Council of Ten of the Serenissima immediately tried to stop such trend, to the point that it established an annual tax in 1701, which, however, was ineffective. Historical records even report that a nobleman from the Erizzo family disinherited his son Nicolò because he often wore the controversial headgear. However, in 1709 the doge Giovanni Corner started to wear the wig, legitimizing it as an accessory of the Venetian nobleman.  

At first created with real hair sold by young women that wanted to earn some money, they were later made of the hair of different animals, from horses to goats, and even yak. The colour for men was usually white or grey, but women were more daring and covered them with blond, pink, blue and purple powder.  

In the beginning, the Venetian wig was low, but year after year it increased in height, volume and trimmings. The hairdressers of the Serenissima Republic were not only advisers holding the secrets of fashion, the latest trends and secrets of the noblewomen themselves, but also hair experts and astrologists, able to shorten the hair at the time when the moon was most propitious. Called “Illustrissimo” or “Monsù”, which derived from the French word “Monsieur”, they owned real shops but also went from palace to palace to provide their exclusive services to the richest and most influential ladies. They had been incorporated to the barbers’ guild since 1435 and, according to a 1762 census, it appears that their number was close to a thousand. 

The most famous hairdresser in Venice during the 18th century was Monsieur Galibert, also known as “Sultano”, who had a salon in Piazza San Marco and coordinated a group of apprentices: to get an appointment in his shop, it was necessary to subscribe to a long waiting list and his creations had prices affordable only for extremely rich ladies.  

The use of the wig waned completely after the arrival of Napoleon, because it became one of the symbols of a decayed aristocratic lifestyle, and natural curls and hats became more fashionable for women. 

 

The moschete, baits of love used by Venetian women during the 18th century to communicate without words

 

“The last touch of a woman’s toilet is to look for and find the location for those in niches shaped like heart, moon, comet, crescent moon, star, fuzz. And what an attention to arrange gracefully these baits of love”. With these words Edmond and Jules de Goncourt described, in the book ‘The woman in the 18th century’, one of the many faces of the everyday life of women on the 19th century, the application of the mosques, the fake neo. Produced with the most precious fabrics, with extravagant shapes and a rich history behind, from a functional stratagem to conceal skin imperfections, this Baroque style has become the privileged means of communication of the love language.  

Few people know that the mole is a thousand-year history. Already the poet Ovid told, in his famous Ars amateur, how the matrons of ancient Rome had a habit of applying in different points of the face, carefully studied, pieces of canvas or tanned, colored and cut animal skin. But it is during the 17th century, a century of love for luxury and eccentricity, that this practice is taken to the extreme. 

We are at a time when smallpox epidemics, but also poor nutrition and hygiene, are the order of the day, and the lucky survivors find themselves dealing with obvious scars throughout the body. To hide at least those of the face, they begin to use fake moles. But soon from the useful it passes to the pleasure, and once this small fragment glued on the skin, seemingly harmless, arrives in the hands of women who do not enjoy sufficient freedom, it also becomes a powerful weapon of seduction. 

Diffused at the beginning in France, where it was called “mouche”, fly, or “tâche avantageuse”, advantageous spot, the fake mole has secured in a short time a place of honor on the toilet tables of the rest of Europe, being kept in precious gold containers, silver, porcelain, ivory, enamel, wood or papier-mâché. In Venice, a port in the Mediterranean where the latest news and the best raw materials have always come, it depopulated with the name of moscheta, literally “small fly”, and was adored by both noblewomen and courtesans. The success is such as to inspire even the birth of the workshops of the so-called “manufacturers of Moschete”, specialized in the production and sale of these singular elements of beauty. Even today in the Castello district, a few steps from Campo San Giovanni e Paolo, in what is called Calle de le Moschete remains the indelible trace of the indispensable Venetian fashion accessory of the 17th and 18th centuries. 

The niches were cut into satin, taffeta or silk, all black, in order to make the whiteness of those who wore them even more extreme. In the late 18th century, the peak of extravagance was reached with the realization of in the precious, very large, with in the center a diamond ready to sparkle in the twilight. 

Shape, size, position. Every aspect of the mosques is a message waiting to be deciphered, which gives Venetian women a way to communicate without having to express themselves in words. In the beginning, typically round, this strip of cloth has gradually assumed more eccentric features: and here appear on the faces of the ladies of the 18th century hearts, moons, comets, stars and crowns. The dictates of fashion would establish that up to fifteen could be carried at the same time, and their size mattered as much as the shape: for example, small moles were indicated for intimate occasions; large and elongated ones, on the other hand, for dancing receptions, where their size made them visible at a great distance. 

But it was the position, carefully studied in the mirror, that most allowed to communicate with the opposite sex their intentions, emotions and desires. If the moscheta was placed under the lower lip, one wanted to express discretion; on the cheekbones one trusted to be joyful, on the chin silent, in the middle of the majestic forehead, and so on. Other messages included marital status instead: a women engaged put a heart-shaped mole on her left cheek, while if the same heart was on her right cheek, it meant that the woman was married. 

The code of symbols was therefore precise and rigid, but if used properly it could bring unimaginable results, guaranteeing the Venetian woman a freedom and a power that, although not comparable to the present day, could hardly be achieved in any other way.  

A journey through the tricks and beauty rituals of Venetian ladies

Venice, 17 October 2022 - It is a new day in 18th-century Venice, the sun has risen and its rays light up the calli and canals of the lagoon city. In some far-away salon of a palace, a Venetian lady sits at her dressing table, carefully inspecting every inch of her face in the mirror. A long and complex ritual is about to begin, between powders, wigs, ceruse and fake beauty marks. Perfection is the goal. It is not well-known that, during the 1600 years of the history of Venice, a crossroads of cultures, fashions and commerce, the production of cosmetics and products for the care and beauty of the person was another speciality of the Serenissima. Calle dello Spezier, Sotoportego De Le Moschete, Corte de la Polvere: even today the city of the Doges remembers its particular history of makeup.

An expert on the subject is Joan Giacomin, a professional makeup artist, passionate about cosmetics and perfumery, as well as the author of “Piccolo libro del make up a Venezia” (in English: “The Little Book of Makeup in Venice”), a project born years ago from a curiosity.

“I realized that there was not something that explained what the beauty rituals of the Venetian lady were like – says the author – So I started my research at the library when I had some free time, putting the material together in a way that it could be true to reality, without being a college essay. While studying, I realized how unique Venice was in terms of female beauty and how women could assert themselves”.

Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, the concept of beauty followed very lavish and complicated canons. The rigid precepts of fashion and cosmetics were imported from Versailles, but in Venice – renowned to be a Mediterranean port where there were all the raw materials used for the creation of products for the care and beauty of the person – such rules were less coded and there was more freedom of choice. Following more class differences than gender, makeup became a social symbol of belonging to the more affluent classes and crept into the daily routine of ladies, gentlemen and all those who wanted to be in the latest fashion. A porcelain face was synonymous with nobility.

“You had to look young and beautiful – explains Giacomin – but since you were no longer young at 15, appearance was fundamental. First of all, the pallor: before Coco Chanel, tan did not exist, so at the time being as white as possible meant that you did not have to work, that you stayed at home embroidering. In those days, many diseases could be seen from the look of the skin, and having perfect skin meant not having any kind of disease. Same with being fertile: a beautiful complexion and beautiful skin represented an attractive woman able to have children”. 

To achieve the most snow-white complexion possible, the Venetian ladies had a vast arsenal of scented-water recipes and beauty wraps. Among all these remedies was the cerusa, a compound based on lead white, a highly toxic and corrosive pigment that eliminated any imperfection, ensuring exceptional coverage and adhesion. This 18th-century “foundation” was then combined with rouge, a blush to colour the cheeks obtained with natural pigments or minerals. Lipstick, on the other hand, was not particularly loved.

“Some of the first tube lipsticks, similar to the ones we use now, were made with grease and coloured pigments: they were rolled up like cigarettes, and were used moderately because they had a very unpleasant taste”, says the professional makeup artist.

The favourite place of these preparation rituals was the dressing table, which very often had its own dedicated area inside the house. Here, helped by their maids, the Venetian ladies dedicated themselves to the creation of perfumes and mixed ingredients for cosmetics, previously purchased at their own trusted spezier.

A lady with porcelain skin, embellished with rosey cheeks: this was therefore the image, unique in Europe, of the Venetian woman, visible in many paintings of the time. A woman who had more freedom than her European contemporaries, and who, thanks to the power of makeup, found a space to be the absolute protagonist, not only as a consumer but also as a creator.

All around the Basilica of Saint Mark, archaeological investigations are bringing to light an ancient cemetery of the 14th and 15th centuries

Venice, 13 October 2022 – History, politics, culture, and art are constantly intertwined in Saint Mark’s Square, which has always been the beating heart of the Serenissima. With its riot of domes, arches and sculptures, even the Basilica dedicated to the city's patron saint has had a long and rich life since the laying of the first stone, in the distant 832 AD. During the last year and a half, archaeological investigations related to the preservation works of the church have added another important piece to its history puzzle, thanks to the discovery of an ancient cemetery dating back to the 14th and 15th centuries. On the occasion of the European Heritage Days and as part of a cycle of informal meetings called “Stories of Piazza San Marco”, the very first results of the excavations around the Basilica of Saint Mark were presented at the National Archaeological Museum of Venice.

During the Late Middle age and early Renaissance, the most popular church in Venice underwent an intense transformation and embellishment. The existing domes were raised thanks to the use of Byzantine construction techniques; the golden mosaic decoration of the interior of the church was completed; the external appearance of the facade was defined. With the sack of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade, and later thanks to the ships of Venetian merchants arriving from the East, the lagoon city saw the arrival of columns, friezes, marble artefacts, sculptures, and gold objects that provided the church with furnishings of great prestige, contributing to give it today’s appearance.

However, such a sumptuous image lacks a relevant element, which has not survived the passing of the centuries except in historical sources. It is an ancient cemetery of the 14th and 15th centuries, developed along the sides of the Basilica of Saint Mark, which is slowly re-emerging as a result of the preservation works that have affected the subsoil and the foundations of the church itself.

In Venice in the past, it was not uncommon to bury the body of loved ones next to a church; on the contrary, until the collapse of the Serenissima, it was the norm. However, during the last two o three centuries, the entire Saint Mark Square has been the subject of numerous interventions that have made the discovery of ancient burials more uncertain. 

Already in November 2021, near Piazzetta Dei Leoncini, the first mass grave containing bones belonging to several individuals was intercepted. Following the work carefully are Dr Sara Bini, the official archaeologist of the superintendence, and Dr Maria Letizia Pulcini, the official archaeologist of the Regional Directorate of museums in Veneto. They hypothesized that, as part of the construction of the sewer pipe, already in the mid-19th century the workers came across the most superficial layers of the cemetery of the Basilica and, as a form of respect, decided to relocate the remains next to the foundations of the building.

At the beginning of this spring, however, a leg was also found between the Piazzetta’s well and the sewer collector, and from there a series of burials, one behind the other and at several levels, were discovered. Similarly, excavations on the southern side of the Basilica, near the Acritanian pillars, unearthed the remains of a further part of the cemetery.

It is not yet known with certainty who these individuals buried near Saint Mark were, but preliminary analysis carried out by anthropologists, specialized in stratigraphic excavation and the study of human remains, has given the first clues. For example, by examining the pathological profile it turns out that the burials found so far are mainly of elderly men, even if the jaw of a child and the remains of some adolescents were also uncovered. In addition, the stress of the bones indicates that they were not people who carried out very strenuous work, so it can be assumed that they were personalities related to the church and religious services or Venetian citizens who had financed the execution of a fresco, the restoration or the construction of a chapel in the Basilica.

Many are the mysteries about the underground of the Basilica of Saint Mark waiting to be revealed, but the archaeological investigations carried out to date, and which will continue in the coming months, promise to shed light on an unprecedented side of “the most beautiful living room in Italy”.

 

Palazzo Mocenigo, where the history of fashion in Venice is told

Venice, 10 October 2022 – Talking about fashion means touching transversally all those aspects that affect the life of every person. And talking about fashion in Venice means investigating a story of commerce, of distant routes, of sea and ships, of customs, of society, of pomp and laws to limit them. The museum of Palazzo Mocenigo – Centro Studi di Storia del Tessuto, del Costume e del Profumo is only venue in Italy and Europe where the visitors can catapult into the magnificent atmosphere of the 18th century Venetian on the first floor, deepen some issues in the library of the mezzanine dedicated specifically to fashion and possibly have the opportunity to see 20 thousand artifacts preserved in the warehouse on the third floor.

 

“Fashion has a huge meaning for Venice, when the Serenissima is able to obtain the monopoly of silk from Byzantium understands from the beginning that silk is easy to carry almost like perfumes and is a material of great value that everyone desires, because with silk we make clothes and it represent us, identify who we are in the immediacy, identify our role – explains the director of the Museum, Chiara Squarcina – today we entrust this task to social networks, but in the past clothing was crucial and indispensable”.

 

This story developed in the early 1300s, when the skilled weavers from Lucca came in large numbers to the lagoon and brought with them the processing of velvet, of which they were authentic masters.

 

“This means that Venice not only produces the fabrics that are required by the market but also produces fabrics that have a characteristic that others do not have, durability – continues Squarcina – it should be remembered that at the end of the fourteenth century the outfit of a nobleman and a noblewoman was identified in 4 or 5 dresses, no more”.

 

Also, Venice protected its workers, the category and the production with mariegole that set the standards of the quality of the fabric that, if they did not correspond, was publicly burned in Rialto.

 

“The Sun King revolutionizes everything and invents so to speak “consumerism”, with him in fact the kit will go from 4 to 240 dresses – continues Squarcina – it’s a tremendous gap, it means that I no longer care to have a durable fabric and Venice, which will always remain granite in its position, will support this trade towards Cyprus and the East where the fabrics have their durability and consistency. While in the West it becomes almost bulimic respect for Fashion, styles, colors, to give more and more an image of his nobility that was to represent wealth through clothing”.

 

And if the dress represented, especially in the past, a distinctive element of recognition, the Serenissima will try to contain as much as possible, through the suntuary laws, the abuse of pomp and economic investments for the purchase of women’s and men’s clothing both out of respect for the poorest and because it was wanted that the nobles invested in something else instead of the voluptuary.

 

On the first floor of the museum are exhibited, in rotation, the artifacts preserved in the deposits.

 

“It is a great heritage that we keep in the deposits, which are open and can be visited precisely because we cannot expose everything, we give the opportunity to anyone to view the clothes, to study the seams, the cut, the sleeves – concludes Squarcina – keeping them sheltered is a way to prolong their life, even if we then cyclically expose them following the concept that the museum is the place where I teach what has been and where I learn for the future. The restoration of textiles and the preservation of fabrics, moreover, is a very recent approach because it is only at the end of the nineteenth century that it is understood that to tell a story there is a need for the visual context”.

Named the most beautiful ship in the world, the 91-year-old “Amerigo Vespucci” docks in Venice for the 27th time. It is the oldest ship belonging to the Italian Navy

The historic ship “Amerigo Vespucci” has docked for the 27th time in Venice, on the occasion of the thirteenth edition of the "Trans-Regional Seapower Symposium of the wider Mediterranean" (XIII T-RSS), an international maritime forum to be held from 5 to 7 October at the Venice Arsenal, with an attendance of over 60 navies and 80 international organisations interested in maritime issues. Unicef ambassador since September 2007, the “Vespucci” was described by the Americans in the 1970s as "the most beautiful ship in the world".

Designed in the late 1920s by Francesco Rotundi, engineer and Lieutenant Colonel of the Naval Engineers, the “Vespucci” was set up in the Castellammare di Stabia shipyard on 30 May 1930, launched on 22 February 1931 and delivered to the Italian Navy on 2 July of the same year. At 91 years of age, the “Vespucci” is the 'oldest' ship in the entire Italian Navy.

It is a powered sailing ship with three vertical masts plus an oblique bowsprit at the bow, which acts as a fourth mast. The crew normally consists of around 260 military personnel, 40 of whom are women. Still, in the summer period - with the arrival of students and staff from the Naval Academy - the crew exceeds 400 people. From 2014 to 2016, the ship underwent modernisation works, which improved its operational capabilities and logistical arrangements. The power generation and propulsion apparatus were also completely replaced with technologically advanced, more efficient and strictly environmentally oriented components.

Indeed, it is a ship with an ancient flavour, because sailing on the “Vespucci” is like cutting through the waves aboard a 17th-century sailing ship. As a matter of fact, it is an exact reproduction of a sailing ship from the Reign of the Two Sicilies: from the captain's quarters to the most secret and elegant rooms, from the hammocks on which the Academy students sleep to the historic helm that requires eight crew members to move it one degree.

“The peculiarity of the helm is that it has no hydraulic or electrical components but transmits motion to the tiller through gears, it has four wheels on which eight people operate," explains its captain, Luigi Romagnoli. "This is the oldest ship of the Navy, and its added value is its slowness, because every activity here is done by hand by many people, with the strength of their arms and passion. This is where the new generations are taught to go to sea”.

“I like to say that in this ship there is an excellent combination of technology, tradition and innovation," says Sub-Lieutenant Federico Messini, who has been on board for four years. "The Naval Academy students come aboard the “Vespucci” for about three months and what they find here is their “baptism of the sea”: here, they learn to navigate with traditional instruments, the sextant, the compass, the nautical chart, compasses and a pencil, and to follow the stars. But, above all, when we go sailing everything we do is completely manual, nothing is mechanised. Like the opening of the sails which, unlike other traditional sailboats, do not go up but come down. Therefore, dozens of people climb to the top of the masts to untie the knots in the sails, and then to pull them back up".

The “Vespucci” predominantly employs 24 sails, 14 of which are square-rigged on the spars, and the other 10 are trimmed, for a total sail area of more than 2,700 square metres. The largest sail is 250 square metres, which is the size of a basketball court, and it takes the strength of the arms of many young people to furl it.

"Life on board follows a tight and well-defined schedule," explains Aurora Esposito, a marine guard aboard the “Vespucci”, who will soon become an officer of navigation. "My job is to advise the captain in choosing the routes, giving him my opinion on the best ones to follow according to the weather conditions in the stretch of sea where we are going. We are divided into teams that take turns on watch. Our day, therefore, revolves around the watches we make”. Waking up, participating in the assembly, cleaning the ship, sharing meals, but also sports and free time to read a book or watch a film. "I'm from Naples and when I was younger I used to see the students of the Nunziatella Military School and the Air Force Academy passing by in uniform. So, I asked my father, who also is in the military, what they did and he explained the course of study to me. Then, I attended military school and the academy because I became passionate about it”. Women have been in the Italian Navy for about 20 years, and today there is no distinction between the two sexes, not even in the tasks to be performed. "As in all the other areas, women bring added value," Esposito concludes, "because they see things differently from men, so multiple perspectives and moments of confrontation are created”.

The Vespucci can also be visited today from 7 to 10 PM, and on Thursday 6 October from 7 to 11 PM.

But the historic ship is not the only one in Venice: the San Marco, the Navy's amphibious assault unit, has docked in Riva Sette Martiri. It can be visited on Thursday 6 October 3-6 PM, and 9-11 PM, as well as on Friday 7 October 3-6 PM. All visits are free of charge and no booking is required.

Also present at the Symposium will be the Italian Navy band with 50 of its 102 elements, conducted by Maestro Antonio Barbagallo, who will perform on Thursday 6 October at 4 PM in Campo San Rocco with a concert featuring music from Verdi to Morricone.

A journey through the spectacular Venetian villas in the Riviera del Brenta, ancient guardians of the Serenissima's greatness

Venice, 28 September 2022 – With many tender words, in 1667 Giovanni Sagredo exalted the beauty of the Riviera del Brenta, with its placid waters and villas with lush gardens. Indeed, it is a place that was able to fascinate writers of international fame - including Michel de Montaigne, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Ernest Hemingway - and offered refuge to the royalty of Europe. Even today, it continues to bewitch like few others. As the autumn season approaches, we metaphorically set sail with the burchiello, the large river boat that once connected Venice to its hinterland, and begin the ascent of the Naviglio Brenta to discover the most beautiful Venetian villas and their history.

Being an incredible concentration of art, nature and genius of man, the Riviera del Brenta has been for centuries the other side of the noble and aristocratic Venice with its patrician families. It was here, in fact, that from the second half of the sixteenth century the Serenissima concentrated its efforts on territorial enhancement, reorganizing what were uncultivated and abandoned lands and making them more productive. Already owning vast territories in the area, many noble Venetian families saw the potential of such projects and decided to establish their agricultural estates along the river, also building a residence where they could live and control the correct progress of the crops. Thus, the concept of “villeggiatura” (the habit of living in the county side) was born.

Although rural, the home of a patrician family had to be adequate to the living standards of its owners. Therefore, like the city palaces lined up along the canals of Venice, also on the Riviera del Brenta villas were built with the disposition of the traditional Venetian house, composed of a central room with an entrance at both ends, and rooms of almost square shape located on both sides. To the central body of the building were then added other structures necessary for the management of the agricultural land, such as the barchesse, suitable for storing food and goods, but also shelters, stables, as well as farmhouses.

However, the boundless space and the green fields of the Venetian hinterland quickly proved fertile ground for the creative inspiration of great sixteenth-century architects such as Palladio, Sanmicheli, Sansovino and Scamozzi, who tried their hand at designing homes with increasingly bold volumes, playing with the verticality of the environments and with horizontal extensions.

No longer limited to the performance of an administrative function, the residences on the mainland began to be enriched with decorative frescoes, sculptures and lush Italian or English gardens, so much so that overlooking the Brenta’s Canal there was a continuum of noble settlements, resembling the typically-Venetian relationship between water and architecture. Up to the eighteenth century, the concentration of Venetian residences on the mainland was so high that the Riviera began to be considered the natural continuation of the Grand Canal, almost like a “village of Venice”.

The burchiello, a large wooden river boat equipped with the best comforts of the time, was the favourite means of transport to face the long journey on the Brenta’s Canal to the villas. Starting near Piazza San Marco, the route sailed across the Venetian lagoon, including an initial stop at Lizza Fusina, where the custom was located, and then continued along the entire waterway until arriving near Stra.

The villeggiatura’s periods on the Riviera del Brenta were generally two: from 12 June of St. Anthony of Padua, at the end of July for the summer season, while in autumn from 4 October, Feast of St. Francis, until the end of the harvest, which usually took place in the first days of November.

From the spectacular Villa Pisani, also known as "La Nazionale" and Villa Foscari in Malcontenta, to the most collected such as Villa Fattoretto and Villa Tito, through the beauty of Villa Widman and the barchessa of Varmarana: the Riviera del Brenta is still shown today, centuries away, as a place of charm and the ancient guardian of the Venetian greatness. 

 

From shawl to lace, as the clothes of Venetians change over the centuries

Venice, 26 September 2022 – It’s one thing to cover yourself and another to dress. Fashion,
understood as evolution and changes in clothes, changes end evolves over the centuries, since
the birth of Venice, which celebrates 1600 years since its foundation. A long path, in ancient
times linked to climatic conditions and later to the general conditions of life, to change of these
conditions, to the influence of political and social events, to the development of civilization and
its spread.
And clothing is constantly changing, depending on the epochs and social classes: long skirts that
are getting shorter and shorter, cloaks, shirts and corsets narrow and wide, tight or puffed
sleeves, lace and wigs. Everything changes, from colors to shapes, from footwear to hairstyle.
The common thread in Venetian clothing, still in the Paleo-Venetian era, which continues to
recur over the centuries is a shawl, called fazuolo and then cendale, ninzioletto, tonda, sial, that
women use to cover their heads. The shawl persists in the fashion of sixteenth-century
handkerchiefs and in the fires and in the eighteenth-century trinkets; in the nineteenth century,
with the emergence of the bourgeoisie and proletariat following the French Revolution, the
shawl – black and with very long fringes – becomes the coat par excellence of the Venetian,
which will bring it with so much grace to become a symbol, along with the lion and the gondola,
of the city itself.
Very used, over the centuries, are the furs, especially of lamb and squirrel in the middle class,
while in the popular classes the furs of fox, cat, hare, dog spread. The patricians in general, and
the magistrates in particular, wear a toga lined with ermine and vaio with the hair facing
inward. In the fifteenth century, fur has its maximum development: in Venice, caps and cloaks,
gloves and hats are trimmed and lined, but also night caps.
But if in Roman times the Venetian commonly wore the cucollo, practical hood, welcomed not
only but ordinary people, but also by the wealthy class during trips or to protect themselves
from the weather, it is Byzantine ancestry to influence the clothing of the time: men wear a
short white robe and a long blue or purple overcoat, whole women adorn their hairstyles with
fake bandages, ribbons and braids. In the thirteenth century were born the buttons called
knobs or pillows, which make possible a greater adherence of the garments and immediately
find a wide spread. During this period, women’s clothing increases in the width of the neckline
and becomes adherent the hips to be then flowing up to the feet.
But we will have to wait for the Renaissance to rediscover all Venetian styles. In the second half
of 1400, Venetian fashion began to break away from European fashion. Venetian women give
up the widespread habit of shaving their foreheads to gather their hair in a “mushroom”, on
top of the head, leaving others, short and curled to frame the face. On the dress with tight
sleeves, detached from the lap-shoulder and cut at the neckline, wearing an upper coat with
bib, with very wide sleeves and train. The first notches of needle lace or bobbins begin to
appear on the edges of shirts or dresses, which many worries will give in the centuries to come
to the magistrates involved in curbing the luxuries and pumps of the Venetians.

Even for men there is a certain originality: nobles, dignitaries, doctors, lawyers wear the toga
that can be peacocks, crimson or black, lined or not fur depending on the season. Women tend
to wear very high wedge footwear, the so-called heels, and they will do so for the whole of the
following century despite the suntuarii prohibitions.
Over the centuries, the Magistrate at the Pumps will have to intervene continuously to limit the
pomp in the costumes. Its roots can be traced back to the second half of the thirteenth century,
but it was officially established on 17 November 1476 and in 1514 it was surpassed by the
College of Pumps, an organization formed by three Superintendents to which are added, in
1559, two superintendents. This judiciary had only executive powers, while legislative powers
were always at the head of the senate. The aim was containment and moderation in dressing
and flaunting precious and luxurious items and clothing. The laws in this regard even concerned
gondolas and the Magistrate at the Pumps imposed that all were painted black, including felze
and other covers.

In the quiet of San Francesco della Vigna, the heart of the Castello district, an ancient Venetian wine tradition is handed down from the distant thirteenth century

Venice, 22 September 2022 – For eight hundred years an area north of Venice, hidden between
the streets and squares of the Castello district, has been the guardian of a centuries-old
treasure. Surrounded by silence and quiet, the urban vineyards of the convent of the Franciscan
Friars Minor of San Frencesco della Vigna boast the primacy of being the oldest in the lagoon
city and, today as then, continue their wine production. Since 2019, moreover, the work of the
friars is personally followed by the agronomists of the Santa Margherita winery and, by mutual
agreement, it was decided to replace the old vines of Teroldego and Refosco with Glera and
Malvasia, in an attempt to recover the historic Venetian vines.
The history of the vineyards of San Francesco dates back to the 13 th century, when they
belonged to the Venetian patrician Marco Ziani, son of the illustrious Doge Pietro Ziani. It was in
his will, dated 25 June 1253, that the noble established that the land, the church and some
shops were left to the Friers Minor, who settled there permanently. Therefore, the parish of
San Francesco della Vigna owes its name to the fact that the place where it stands, originally,
was cultivated with vineyards, the most extensive and fertile in all of Venice.
The vineyards are therefore part of unique architectural complex, which also houses the
convent of the Friars Minor and the Church, one of the most impressive in Venice, the work of
Sansovino and Palladio, in addition to the Institute of Ecumenical Studies, which each year
offers first-level university masters on interreligious dialogue, and the library, a reference point
for theological scholars with over 200 thousand volumes, including 45 thousand ancient, from
11 funds of various convents suppressed in the Veneto, among which San Michele in Isola
stands out, where the last remaining copy of the first Quran printed in Arabic was found in
Venice.
It is in the cloisters of the convent that the treasure is among the treasure: one of them has
been used to collect rainwater for irrigation, while the other two are dedicated to the
cultivation of aromatic herbs and vineyards. In particular, the vines today occupy 1600 square
meters of land, of which 400 are Malvasia, and the remaining Glera prosecco. However, until
2018 Teroldego was cultivated, a pretty rustic grape typical of Trentino, and Reforso dal
peduncolo rosso, originally from Friuli, because they are plants that resist well the heat and
drought of the Lagoon.
“In a cloister we have the classic Glera, because we want to try to make a Venetian prosecco,
but we are still in the testing phase”, said Friar Antonio Pedron, who for years has been
following the production of wine in San Francesco, “whereas the choice of Malvasia is because
the Zians had possessions in Istria and Candia, and consequently the grape that may have been
in Venice is a grape that they took home from these territories and that they transplanted
here".
The one cultivated in the convent is still a young grape, with an undefined identity, and only
next year, that is third one from the change of type of vineyard, can be considered a real
harvest. The premises, however, are promising, and already this summer the vineyards of San
Francesco have produced well.

There have been many measures taken for the cultivation of vineyards in the spaces of the
convent, starting from the choice to conduct the production in an organic way, made out of
respect for the place. This entails a ban on the use of pesticides: only natural treatments such
as copper and sulfur are allowed.
As for Glera, moreover, the technicians and oenologists of Santa Margherita winery decided to
adopt a breeding system that would recall the tradition of the cultivation of vineyards, focusing
on a simple guyot with a pole each vine and setting the plants about a meter away. And the
type of branch that was created is curiously reminiscent of the pastoral, the curved end stick
used by priests. Malvasia, on the other hand, has an espalier guyot, and even here the vines are
closer, with a distance of about 80cm between one and the other, because we chose to focus
on quality.
The brackish air blowing from the Venetian lagoon as never been a problem. Indeed, when
combined with the properties of the cultivated space, it can help to give the grapes a unique
taste.
“The characteristic of the soil is what determines the taste of grapes, and here we are subject
to have a soil with the influence of the salty water, which comes from below”, explains the
Franciscan friar, specifying that the area where Glera is cultivated, for example, it tends to be
sandy and therefore easier not only to water, but also to dry. Although this year has suffered a
lot from drought, it is nevertheless a very generous soil, also because over time the friars have
committed themselves to regenerate it biologically.
On the contrary, Malvasia is produced in a cloister with different peculiarities. “Here the
advantage of grapes is that it is also sheltered from the sea winds and is less subject to
brackish”, says Don Antonio, “even the soil is slightly different from the other cloister: it is more
land, it takes more time to absorb water and more time to dry”.
Until al 2012 the production of vines was for the friars’ convent, and what little was produced
was drunk. But for ten years it has been decided, also to revalue the territory and open it to the
outside world, to put even more attention, more work and more commitment to maintenance.
Hence, the partnership with the winery Santa Margherita.
“It’s a way to reclaim out territory and make it known to people. Once the convents were
cloistered, and no one could enter; now we require openness, the times have changed, the
friars also, so the mentality and the modalities also changed”, concludes the Franciscan friar.

Fashion in Venice, a journey through perfumes and tricks, precious fabrics and footwear, quality manufacturing and the seduction of the ladies of the Serenissima

Venetian fashion has long roots and has been for centuries the mirror of the dominion and
power of the Serenissima Republic. City capable of anticipating trends has been able to express
the excellence of local artisans who have become one of the cornerstones of the economy of
the Republic.

Here were born the guilds of arts and crafts, protected by the government that
guarded the secrets and quality of its manufacture, and from this heritage of knowledge, along
its 1600 years, Venice has always been able to express the best in customs6 in perfumes, shoes,
in the idea of elegance that has dictated for centuries the rules of living in the lagoon.
And if economic and social change and politics are fundamental stages in the history of fashion
and customs, it is the development of trade that makes Venice the center of irradiation of
technical knowledge and skilled workers.

Since the twelfth century Venice has played an
important role in the development of European fashion. The maritime traffic with the East
allows the women and men of the Serenissima to discover fabrics and brocades never seen,
fabrics and soft velvets, which are then processed in Venice and traded in the rest of Europe,
making throat even the richest courts, like the French. The lace, produced at home, becomes a
manufacture required throughout the West to adorn the robes and shirts of kings and nobles.
Venice follows the fashion that are imported mainly from France, but it does not standardize
and remains libertine. Women and men of the Serenissima, despite the prohibitions and
attempts to stem the ephemeral and ostentation of luxury, seize the novelties from distant
worlds and compete to have the most beautiful fabrics, the most skilled hairdressers, the best-
equipped pharmacists.

The dresses are sumptuous, accompanied by wigs, 50 cm high shoes,
jewelry and white makeup to look beautiful and young. In Venice comes the modern perfume,
which will be stored in precious bottles and transported to the richest courts of all Europe.
In the sixteenth century, the Venetians, instead of closing themselves in stiff and glued clothes,
as the Spanish trends wanted to show themselves with lowcut dresses and an open bust on the
decollate.

In the eighteenth century, Paris continued to dictate the rules of fashion, but the only
one Italian city which had its own style was Venice, with its fabrics, its silks and embroidery.
And so, a journey begins from here among perfumes and beauties, fabrics and heels, to tell the
game of seduction and power of a city that was also a pioneer in the fashion industry.

Sunday, September 11th in Pisa, the 67th edition of the Palio of Ancient Maritime Rebublics

Venice, September 8th 2022 – A week after the traditional Historical Regatta, on Sunday, September 11th at 18 o’clock, in Pisa will take place another highlight of the annual calendar of the rowing season: the 67th edition of the Palio of the Ancient Maritime Republics. The event recovers the 2020 edition, which was cancelled due to the pandemic Covid-19.

After a race concluded at the photo finish behind the triumphant Amalfi in the last edition of June, the Venetian athletes are ready for the rematch, and are back, ready to compete in the fresh waters of Tuscan River Arno.

Same crew, same hunger for victory, fueled, in part, by the recent victories of two athletes of the Venetian galleon, the brothers Jacopo and Mattia Colombi who triumphed in the last edition of the Historical Regatta. Winner in the queen of the gondolini with two oars Jacopo, who achieved the prestigious red flag together with Andrea Ortica. Red flag also for Mattia, who defeated opponents in the competition of caorline six oars, wearing the t-shirt of the City of Caorle.

The Venetian crew will descend into the waters of Pisa to conquer a victory that has been missing since 2019, when Venice triumphed for the 34th time at home, and especially after the second place in Amalfi. Once again at the helm Stefano Morosinato, followed by Davide Stefanile, Sebastiano Carrettin, Pietro Cangialosi, Mattia Colombi, Nicola Zorzetto, Gustavo Ferrio, Tommaso Santi and Jacopo Colombi. Ready to take over in case of need Davide Menegazzo, Gabriele Bastasi, Lorenzo D’Ambrosi and Giovanni Poli.

A challenge that will stretch over 2 thousand meters, which will see the Venetian green galleon compete against Pisa, Amalfi and Genoa. The calm water of the Arno River hides though many pitfalls. The four galleons in the race, in fact, will not start from a common starting block, but rather from slightly staggered positions at the height of the Aurelia Bridge, in order to run equally the final curve, which is a few meters from arrival in Scalo dei Renaioli. Moreover, on Saturday, September 10th at 16:30 along the Arno River will be held the competition of the rowing Palio with mixed crews, where the City of Venice will be represented by the all-female crew of the Venetian Universities – CUS Venice. 

 

 

 

 

St.Mark’s Bell Tower crumbled 120 years ago. The wrecks of the “Paron de casa” sunken at the Lido island

Venice, July 11th, 2022 – A dull noise, a cloud covering the square and an unusual emptiness that changes the skyline of the city. The Bell Tower crumbled, making room to rubbles and ruins. It’s July 14th, 1902, one hundred and twenty years ago, when the Venetians witnessed the collapse of St. Mark’s bell tower. Just a few seconds, and the bell tower – with the Angel Gabriel on top, protecting the city – collapsed, without affecting monuments nearby nor killing people.

“Tiny pieces of column collapsed from the top together with ledges and sculptures. Stones and rubbles fall, yet without affecting the Basilica. Nevertheless, the façade of the Marciana Library”.

With these words the archaeologist Giacomo Boni described what he saw and how people had lost, in a few seconds, their main landmark.

The bell tower crumbled on itself, leaning towards north-east due to wrong masonry works, as it had been proved later. The original tower was in fact raised and modified, yet without strengthening the foundations. In the rebuild of the tower, different techniques, and criteria according to the new century were followed. Where originally laid a watchtower, a nearly 100-metres high bell tower was first built in the XII century. Later, between 1511 and 1514 it was rebuilt. Research following the collapse revealed structural problems and the use of low-quality materials which facilitated the erosion through years. Among ruins and rubble, not only ancient and solid roman bricks with different shapes from Aquileia, but also low-quality bricks used to fix damages. White mortars turned into dust under the flowing of bells and wind blowing, whitening roofs and the floor, as if snow had fallen all over Venice.

How was it and where was it. It was the Municipality of Venice that decided, a few months later, on April 25th, 1903, placing the first stone. On that very same day, later in 1912, on the day of St.Mark’s, the new bell tower was opened.

The building, faithfully reproduced on its outside, was completed by some new parts to fix the damages. Two new Lions in Istrian stone replaced those destroyed with the fall of the Repubblica. On top, the original statue was reassembled with some pieces of the previous one in copper, a faithful reproduction of the 1822 model.

The rubbles of the bell tower was thrown into the sea three miles away from the coast of Lido. Gigeta Alessandri, daughter Angelo, a painter who used to work for John Ruskin, was the first one to throw into the sea one of the 1.2000.000 pieces of bricks of the old bell tower. A funeral that begins from St. Mark’s and ends at the Lido, with the first rubbles transported by barge. To that sea, Venice gave a part of herself and among those bricks, venetians collected a “sad white cargo, resembling to cremated bones”. The crowd, gathered along the shores, silently watched the last journey of what remained of one of the most important landmarks of their city.

Nevertheless, the story of the bell tower continued. Some years ago, the sea began to give back some bricks of the old bell tower and, in 2021, the cultural project “El paron de casa '' had been launched, putting in the spotlight a symbol of rebirth.

 

 

On Sunday September 4th will take place the Historical Regatta, Venice most ancient rowing competition

Venice, 29th August 2022 – Regatta, Venetian Regatta, Royal Regatta, and finally Historical Regatta. An event that over the centuries has often changed face but that continues to be one of the most prestigious and awaited events in Venice, capable of drawing to the sides of the Grand Canal thousands of curious, fans and Venetians. The appointment this year is for Sunday, September 4th at 16, when along the Grand Canal historic boats with costumed figures, gondolas and boats of rowing associations of Venetians will parade. Later in the afternoon the races of the eight categories in the race will follow.

History tells us that the tradition of regattas in Venice dates back at least to the thirteenth century, as reported by the first written evidence that in the “Splendor magnificissime Urbis Venetorum, die 16 septembris” comes “indicta regatta cum navigiis habentibus remos viginti”. First, organized as a military exercise or as a choreographic exhibition in honor of rules or personalities visiting Venice, with relative ostentation of luxury and wealth, this is soon added to the connotation of sporting event.

If in the Renaissance they were usually organized by the various “Compagnie della Calza”, or societies formed by young Venetian nobles to revive the city festivals, from the seventeenth century it was the government of the Serenissima that took care of it in person, to celebrate an important visit, a military victory, the election of a Doge or some particularly heartfelt city festival.

The last regatta organized by the Republic of Venice is in 1791, in honor of the Emperor of Austria, Leopold II of Habsburg, the King of Naples, Ferdinand IV, and the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinand of Austria. Then, a regatta was organized in 1807. On the occasion of the arrival of the French Emperor napoleon Bonaparte. After the annexation of Veneto to the Kingdom of Italy, the regattas of “standing rowing” resumed with vigor, not only in the traditional waters of the San Marco Basin and the Grand Canal, but gradually, in the last quarter of the nineteenth century also in Murano, Mestre, Castello and, since the beginning of the twentieth century, in Burano, Pallestrina, Giudecca, Lido, Sant’Erasmo.

Therefore, despite the complex historical events that Venice went through after the fall of the Serenissima, the culture of the regatta has remained a tradition to which the Venetians have not renounced and which they have managed to preserve until today.

The 1841 is generally considered as the year of birth of the modern regatta, and consequently of the Historical Regatta: it was at this time in fact that the Municipal Congregation of Venice submitted a request to the Austrian authorities for an annual “boat race along the Grand Canal at the care and expense of the City to encourage gondoliers to keep in honor their praised dexterity”. The application was granted and the event was held on 20th June of the same year.

However, it will take many years for the Historical Regatta to take on its current contours: the annually, for example, is respected only in short periods (1941-47, 1874-81, 1889-93) the event often remains linked to an important arrival in the city or is the crown to a significant cultural or scientific event, and in addition to the the municipality, also the trade associations organizes it(The Union exhibitors in 1904 and 1905) or even some press (Il Giornale d’Italia in 1920). The number of participants also changed several times: eight in the first two editions (1841 and 1842); only seven in 1843 and from 1857 to 1874; nine from 1844 to 1856, and from 1875 to the present.

Since 1922 it has been held annually and has been organized by the City Administration, whilst the tradition of holding the event on the first Sunday of September has begun in 1946. The water parade in memory of the Queen of Cyprus Caterina Cornaro, who in 1489 had given her crown to the Serenissima in exchange for the lordship of Asolo, took place for the first time in the mid-1950s.

To the traditional Historical Regatta, that is the competition reserved for men on two-row gondolini, over the years various races have been added, always very felt by the Venetians: that of the Caorline with six oars (since 1951); of the Giovanissimi (since 1976); of the Women (since 1977, although two races had already been run, in 1952 and 1954). To each competition access, after the qualifications that take place throughout the year, nine boats compete for the “flags”: the winners are awarded with red flags, the second with the white, the third with the green and the quarter with the blue one.

There are three topical moments that every year fill with emotion the spectators of the Historical Regatta crowding the banks of the Grand Canal: the “cavata”, the tour of the “paleto” and the arrival at the “machina”.

Although it is a long race, which lasts from 35 to 40 minutes, one of the highlights of the sport event is right at the start. For this reason, it is essential, for each crew, to make the best “result”, or progression immediately after the start, at the beginning inside each of its lane, and then in the open field, where you try to gain the best position of entry into the Grand Canal. But the outcome of the first part of the cavata is also determined by good luck, since the allocation of the lanes is carried out by draw, and the same movement of the currents determines a better or worse position. In the second part of the cavata, the one on the open field, instead emerges the strength and the talent of the various crews, in choosing even the most advantageous route.

The “paleto”, instead, is the bricola that is placed near the railway station and that the sailors must pass before making the inversion maneuver of their boat and embark on the return route on the Grand Canal, until the place arrival at Ca’Foscari. It is traditionally one of the most delicate and spectacular moments of the race, because it is one of the last opportunities you have to gain positions in the standings. Moreover, it is a moment of maximum attention also for judges, since they must detect eventual infractions committed from the participants.

The ”machina”, finally, is par excellence the place where the finish line is and where there are the flags that are assigned to the winners (red for the first, white for the second and green for the third, in honor of the Italian tricolor). Rectangular in shape, with a sloping roof, and located near the Ca’Foscari University, over the years it has also been established itself as the most sought-after place to attend the Historical Regatta, as well as a social meeting place, with the possibility of sitting a short distance from the authorities and personalities of the political world and culture.

For more information on the Historical Regatta, visit the official website www.regatastoricavenezia.it/