Venice
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Happy New Year – but not yet
While we celebrate New Year on January 1st, for entire period of the Republic of Venice the Venetian state celebrated New Year on March 1st.
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When you could hang for wearing a fake beard
A spate of killings in the 1100s in Venice by assassins wearing false full beards, led a ban under capital punishment for wearing fake full beards.
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Ghetto – A Venetian word
The now almost extinct Venetian language was once widely spoken around Europe, and some Venetian words have survived.
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Bad air will get you sick
Bad air was believed to be a major cause of sickness in the past, based on Aristotle’s idea of miasma as the cause of disease.
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Runes in Venice
Who would expect to find runes in Venice? Yet, in central Venice a statue of a lion is covered in runic inscriptions
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Mezzo — Curiosità Veneziane
“Mezzo (Calle di) in Ruga Giuffa, a S. Maria Formosa.” from Curiosità Veneziane by Giuseppe Tassini
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St Nicholas — protector of sailors, virgins and reindeer
St Nicholas is celebrated on December 6th in much of Christianity. Associated with sailors and gift-giving, he is the origin of Santa Claus.
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A Drawing of Venice from c. 1350
Dr Sandra Toffolo of the University of St Andrews has found a drawing of Venice from the 1300s in a manuscript in Florence
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A day in the Lagoon
What do you see when you go shopping for ninety kg of dog food in Venice? The Venetian Lagoon is full of overlooked small wonders.
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Festa della Salute
The Festa della Salute each year on November 21st is an important holiday in Venice. The event celebrates the end of the plague in 1631.