Venice, a city with an outlet to the sea, has always shown a strong interest in weaving relations with peoples from other countries by building a wide network of exchanges. Particularly after the seizure of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks (1453), Venice became a free port, a place where people with diverse knowledge converged, promoting fruitful economic developments and significant cultural intertwining.
Venice, formed in turn under the impetus of a need to escape the invader, it knew how to welcome and manage the various opportunities that the new refugees could offer. In some cases it allowed them to settle freely in the city, in others it defined limits or control measures, yet left, over the long period of the Republic’s rule, ample room for integration. Venice adopted a shrewd diplomacy that allowed “outsiders” to settle in the city and also created places of aggregation, thus leaving to each Community the opportunity to fulfill functions of mutual assistance and to preserve habits, customs, religious practices. Even today, evidence of the presence of “foreigners/foreigners” is distributed in different areas of the city; we are going to discover them by identifying the traces still evident, admiring the buildings still in use, having an unusual experience.
Proposed itinerary
We will meet under the clock of the Railway Station to head to Lista di Spagna, a name derived from the presence of Spaniards including the wealthy Labia family, who had the imposing palace built, now home to RAI-Tv , which preserves the cycle of frescoes created by Giambattista Tiepolo. We will enter the Ghetto of the Jews by passing through the gate once guarded by Christian guards and recognize the areas assigned to them at different times: first the New Ghetto, followed by the Old Ghetto, then the Brand New Ghetto. We will get to identify synagogues and learn how Jews lived conditioned by the rules imposed by the Serenissima.
After leaving the picturesque Ghetto area we will push on toward campo San Marcuola (who could that be? We’ll find out) to admire right there across the Grand Canal an imposing building built in the thirteenth century as a private residence, which later became the Fontego dei Turchi, remodeled in the nineteenth century and now houses the Museum of Natural History.
I will take you to see some places inhabited by Lucchese silk weavers and some houses inhabited by Armenian merchants; I will surprise you in a secluded field to tell you the story of stone figures wearing exotic headdresses and holding curious chests in their hands; and then again an ancient house-fountain with an unusual camel placed there as a lookout.
In this area was active the Merchants’ School also attended by Armenians, and next door stood the Fountain of the Arabs. In short what can I say: you will take a route that crosses the different cultures between East and West, which will give you access to some bàcari where you can taste the typical cicchetti or Venetian cuisine, but also, for those who like to discover new flavors, the dishes of exotic cuisine.
Customizable
For those who wish, it will be possible to visit the interior of the Church of Our Lady of the Vegetable Garden to admire the canvases by J. Tintoretto and other wonderful works created by other extraordinary artists including Cima da Conegliano and Titian Vecellio.
Visits to the church are by request and require an entrance fee.
This itinerary is proposed by:
Donatella Gibbin – tour guide
Qualifications: Italian, French
Tel: +39335212249
Email: donatella.gibbin@goguide.it
VAT number: 04526030277
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