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History walks in Venice - you'll never see this beautiful city in the same way again. Book your history walk in Venice — https://historywalksvenice.com Venetian Stories podcast — https://venetianstories.com
Nobles at the Café
Ever wondered how a barista in the Florian looked in the mid-1750? Wonder no more!
"Nobles at the Café" from the Gli abiti de veneziani (1754) by Giovanni Grevembroch, translated by René Seindal.
#Coffee #VenetianNobility #Venezia #Venice
#Grevembroch
Giogio Vasari on Sanmichele and the Sant'Andrea fortress.
Extract of Vasari, "Le vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori" (1568), related to Michele Sanmicheli and the Fortress of Sant'Andrea. #Venezia #Venice
historywalksvenice.com/translation/...
A lexicographer's lament.
"There, fleeing Austrian bullets, hunger, anarchy and the many other calamities that afflicted the illustrious and unfortunate Venice, in a few hours, by cholera, on the twentyfirst day of August of the year 1849," …
An image of a Venice which no longer exists.
Il Gran Teatro di Venezia — Veduta delle due Chiese di S. Nicolò e S. Giuseppe di Castello, published by Domenico Lovisa, c. 1717.
#Venezia #Venice #VeniceLost #SkyStorians
… "passed away serenely, because supremely pious, the woman of who writes. O reader, it will not hurt you to say a prayer for the peace of her soul."
25.09.2025 16:10 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
A lexicographer's lament.
"There, fleeing Austrian bullets, hunger, anarchy and the many other calamities that afflicted the illustrious and unfortunate Venice, in a few hours, by cholera, on the twentyfirst day of August of the year 1849," …
Today Venice remembered the victims of the tornado of September 11th, 1970.
#Venice #Remembrance
Venetian Stories podcast
Episode 17 — Venice and the plague – part 1
In 1348 — or maybe late in 1347 — a ship arrived in Venice with an unexpected — and unwanted — cargo: the plague.
This episode is mostly about bacteria and miasma.
#skystorians #venice #plague
Detail of some houses and a few churches from the map in the previous post.
I live in one of these houses.
04.09.2025 19:27 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Engraved map of Venice on yellowed paper,with a large legend at the bottom, occupying maybe 40% of the height.
Is it reasonable to feel happy because you've found a map of your city from 1580 you didn't know about before?
#skystorians #venice #maps
Santa Lucia
Why is the railroad station in Venice called Santa Lucia, who was she, and where's her church?
#Venezia #Venice #LostVenice #skystorians
“Veduta della Fondamenta della Croce di Venetia” from the “Gran Teatro di Venezia”, published by Domenico Lovisa, c. 1717.
A bit of casual violence in Rococo Venice.
#Venice #Rococo #Traffic #RoadRage
The game of Pallone
The giuoco del pallone — the game of the big ball — also called palla da pugno (fist ball) or palla al bracciale (ball with arm guard) was the quintessential ball game.
The game of Pallone is a distant ancestor of modern tennis, with emphasis on 'distant'
#skystorians #venice
Venetian Stories podcast
Episode 16 — The game of Pallone
In this episode, we’ll talk about proper ball games: noble games for decent people.
Calcio, as discussed in the previous episode, wasn’t a real ball game.
So what was a real and noble game for decent people?
#skystorians #podcast #venice
I'll wait for the pig under the oak.
Apparently, an old Venetian way of saying: what goes around, comes around.
#skystorians #venice #PigsUnderOaks
A monochrome print from the 1700s on yellowed paper. The composition has three levels. In the back, a Venetian quayside with some multi-storey buildings on the left, a bridge slightly right of centre, and parts of a church on the right. In mid-level is a canal with many rowed boats of different types, in apparent chaos. In the foreground, in the shade, are several figures in silhouette, some running, and several more boats along the canal side.
Rococo Road Rage
As I was browsing a book of old prints, I stumbled over something unexpected. An inconspicuous print from the early 1700s was full of traffic chaos and violence.
#skystorians #venice #roadrage
A few days ago, a taxi hit a gondola near the Rialto Bridge because nothing ever changes.
venetianstories.com/venetian-sto...
The same monochrome print from the 1700s, with a circular area enlarged and emphasised. The enlarged area is in the lower left, showing four men in silhouette, running towards the right. The two men in the front seem more affluent based on their dress. The first is running fast, holding on to his hat, while pointing towards the gondola incident. Another well-dressed man follows his indication. Two servants, one carrying a stick, are right behind them.
Some finely dressed persons are running towards "their" accident, while completely ignoring the larger incident, which, however, involves lower class people.
20.08.2025 09:03 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
The same monochrome print from the 1700s, with a circular area enlarged and emphasised. The focused area is in the lower right, where two gondolas have crashed, one ramming the other. There's a man in the water swimming away, probably from the boat hit, while the other rower from that same boat is using his oar like a spear to knock over a man who's in the other boat
As if this isn't sufficient, there's another accident going on too, in the lower right corner. Here one rower is in the water, and his mate has pushed over a guy in the boat, which has just rammed them.
20.08.2025 09:03 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
The same monochrome print from the 1700s, with a circular area enlarged and emphasised. The detail is of two men in the water. One is trying to climb back into the boat he fell from, which another is swimming towards the shore for safety. He's looking backwards, at the two men fighting with their oars
Two men from the boats have been knocked overboard. One is trying to climb back up, while the other is swimming towards the shore.
20.08.2025 09:03 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
The same monochrome print from the 1700s, with a circular area enlarged and emphasised. The area is of three workboats in the middle of the canal. They have crashed into each other, there's a man in the water, and two men from different boats have their oars raised high in the air, as they're about to strike each other
Three workboats have crashed in the middle of the image,and two rowers, in a fit of rage, have their oars high in the air to hit the other.
20.08.2025 09:03 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
A modern photo of the same scene as in the 1700s print, where little has changed, but the church buildings in the background are gone, and replaced by a garden behind a brick wall.
The print is "Veduta della Fondamenta della Croce dì Venetia" from the well-known "Il Grande Teatro di Venezia" published by Domenico Lovisa around 1715–1720.
It depicts an area which is now where the Santa Lucia railroad station is. It looks like this today.
A monochrome print from the 1700s on yellowed paper. The composition has three levels. In the back, a Venetian quayside with some multi-storey buildings on the left, a bridge slightly right of centre, and parts of a church on the right. In mid-level is a canal with many rowed boats of different types, in apparent chaos. In the foreground, in the shade, are several figures in silhouette, some running, and several more boats along the canal side.
Rococo Road Rage
As I was browsing a book of old prints, I stumbled over something unexpected. An inconspicuous print from the early 1700s was full of traffic chaos and violence.
#skystorians #venice #roadrage
A podcast of Venetian Stories — episodes from the History of Venice from the time of Augustus until today. It is not a chronological narrative, but a series of freestanding episodes from the two millennia of Venetian history.
14.08.2025 19:13 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Venetian Stories, episode 15 — Venetian football, or something.
The ancient Venetians played 'calcio' for Lent, always a bit more civilised than beating each other to a pulp on various bridges in the city.
"I am a game for the amusement of others,
And often from the thoughts of those who detain me,
I swiftly evade the boundaries."
Ball games in Venice as seen by a rococo artist.
There's a bit more about the _barnabotti_ here:
historywalksvenice.com/article/the-...
Beggar in mask — destitute Venetian nobility begging on the streets.
"As Mr Giambattista Gropelli always disapproved of this occult proceeding, so the Gentleman desired, that here his antipathy be marked."
#skystorians #venice #barnabotti
The Venetian nobility was formally egalitarian, but in practice not so much. There were many differences within the aristocracy.
The nobles never more than a few percent of the population, but they always dominated the republic, and after 1297, they were the republic.
#skystorians #venice
