Piazza San Marco
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Brick pavements at St Mark
Current digs in the Piazza San Marco reveal the ancient brick pavings of the square, as we know them from paintings.
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An Englishman in Venice — the diary of John Evelyn — 1645
Excerpts of the diary of the English gentleman John Evelyn from May 1645 to March 1646, covering his stay in Venice and Padua.
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Slaves in Venice
Slavery was not a large part of Venetian culture or Venetian history, but there were slaves in Venice.
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Feasts and Celebrations in Venice
The calendar of feasts and celebrations in Venice was full of events which are now largely forgotten.
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Archaeological digs in St. Mark’s square
Archaeological digs in the Piazza San Marco have uncovered parts of the ancient church of San Giminiano and a grave of four persons
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Sestiere San Marco
The Sestiere San Marco is the central part of the city, bounded by the Grand Canal on three sides and a line from the Rialto to the Doge’s Palace on the last. It is one of the smallest of the sestieri, but probably the most important. The vicinity to the economic centre at Rialto and…
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List of fires in Venice
Fires were a very real preoccupation of the Venetians, and there have been many fires in Venice over the centuries
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Why are there so few statues in Venice?
The Venetians didn’t do statues of great men in public spaces. In over a millennium only one such statue was erected in Venice.
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Cocciopesto
Cocciopesto is a dark red colour commonly used for short-lived writing on walls – but sometimes they survive.
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Postcards from the 1950s
Some old postcards from the 1950s give us a glimpse of how the city has changed dramatically within a single lifetime.