Broglio
A garden with fruit trees, of which there was one at St Mark’s, where the Procuratie Nuove stands today. There, the Venetian nobility met before the sessions of the Maggior Consiglio, to discuss matters more privately. The broglio was also where the poor nobles, the barnabotti, gathered to offer their votes to the highest bidder. Later the broglio was under the portico of the Palazzo Ducale.
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La scopa privilegiata — The privileged broom — Grevembroch 4-57
“La scopa privilegiata” (The privileged broom) from the Gli abiti de veneziani (1754) by Giovanni Grevembroch, translated by René Seindal.
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The Venetian Nobility
The Venetian nobles were in principle all equals, but in practice there were differences within the nobility, and even important inequalities.