italian#Testo sostitutivo
Historic
Founded around 450 BC by populations escaping the mainland because of Attila's barbaric invasions, Venice was
built on more than 100,000 piles embedded in mud to lay the solid
foundations on which the magnificent buildings are built. A wood turned
upside-down whose trees in absence of oxygen have with time become like
stones and exactly its unique mysterious conformation and
precariousness of such fearless work have made few parties announce for
centuries its imminent end but Venice has still survived intact for centuries...
So, built of stone and water, Venice is according to Le Corbusier "the most prodigious urbanistic event in the history of a man".
The creations and development of a city in the most hostile situations
up to making it one of the European powers and a magnificent open-sky
museum is one of the most beautiful lessons for humanity. Venice has
changed little since the times of grand tour until today and it gives
us that sense of consolation knowing that the modernity doesn't destroy
nor cancel at least in some places of the world. In fact, the lagoon
city is still composed of an intact mirror where the old Europe
contemplates its pre-industrial past and therefore its youth. To wind up the memory threads of one city so rich in history, art, culture and traditions is a difficult task but it's obligatory if we don't want to blend everything and lose the culture of the past and of the men who made this prodigy possible.
This research of historic itineraries which we present helps a traveller careful not to fall in the pre-manufactured image of an organised bite-and-go travel and packaged product that reduces the travelling experience according to sheer consumption.
Today, we always expect more discovery, knowledge
and understanding from a travel. So, it becomes crucial to choose "non
touristy" routes, not foreseen nor overcrowded and so the
interpretations can be given by various historic characters who had
lived in Venice, famous worldwide for a particular feature.
We'll make Goldoni lead us by hand into his house and into the place of his comedies, the "red priest" Vivaldi into his church to see his instruments and the halls where his operas were performed, Marco Polo into the places from where this youngster, with his Ulysses' and commercial spirit, left in 1260 to push himself towards the farthest world then known. And there are the merchants' places: stores, centuries old Rialto market, with the same stones and rings where boats and horses used to be tied up, measures of bits of saleable fish, wooden benches consumed by bags where money and bills used to be exchanged.
Venice, in a word, is the ideal
place for trafficking and then the products imported from the Orient
like spices and precious silks that Venice for centuries used to trade with and impose the ways of customs in the gastronomic culture in Europe.
Finally, Venice has been a welcoming crossroads of population from all over the world that would find a safe hotel in Venice and here is an itinerary of faiths of these populations that used to run into one another and console in an experiment of multicultural continuum, of ecumenical dialogue between faiths ahead of their time. But, above all, Venice is a bridge between Islam and Christianity and a meeting, exchange and dialogue point between the Jews, the members of the Orthodox or Protestant church, the Waldenses, the Armenians etc. Their places are still visible today as an important testimony of this past as if nothing or almost nothing has changed for centuries…
Finally, Venice has been a welcoming crossroads of population from all over the world that would find a safe hotel in Venice and here is an itinerary of faiths of these populations that used to run into one another and console in an experiment of multicultural continuum, of ecumenical dialogue between faiths ahead of their time. But, above all, Venice is a bridge between Islam and Christianity and a meeting, exchange and dialogue point between the Jews, the members of the Orthodox or Protestant church, the Waldenses, the Armenians etc. Their places are still visible today as an important testimony of this past as if nothing or almost nothing has changed for centuries…
- 1
Venice and faiths: crossroads of people and cultures
by Roberta Nalesso | MV editor
Itinerary that we propose here is a route which will, through art and history of Venice, take you on a discovery search of various religious traditions which have for centuries participated in the political and social life of the city and which are a live testimony of its past, even today.
Discovering Jewish Ghetto
A city in the city, with its five synagogues, the museum and very tall houses. This itinerary on the discovery of the ancient Jewish quarter of Venice and its particularities, will take place in a secluded area full of charm, far from the most frequented touristic routes, in an area of the lagoon city all to be re-discovered.
Cuisine and culture in Venice through centuries
It's common knowledge that Venice has for centuries been an authentic door of the interchange between the Far East and the West; this opens a series or arguments and a long walk backwards that plaits the history of art, religious gatherings and the presence of many communities in the city which enrich our culinary culture.
Arts and crafts in Venice: traditional fabrics
This itinerary will take us on a discovery of one of the most ancient crafts in Venice: the art of manufacturing traditional Venetian fabrics. The weaving: art amongst the most noble and ancient ones. Interweaving of threads and colours. Sophisticated manufactured articles like tapestries, carpets and precious textiles already sought after in Medieval Europe.
Art and Crafts in Venice
by Vega Partesotti
Next to one Venice with its restaurants offering “touristic menu” at fixed price, cheap-looking shops selling masks and pseudo Murano glass, there is another Venice which shows its vitality through its traditions and creativity...
- 1
