Category: Curiosities
Venice is full of curiosities that — if you see them — leads to lots of questions and very often not to as many answers.
-
The Legend of the Fisherman
The Legend of the Fisherman was part of the national narrative of the Venetian Republic, but it is now largely forgotten.
-
Oranges and straw hats
Once a year — on February 2nd — the Doge of Venice received a gift of two oranges and two straw hats from the guild of the box-makers.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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
-
The Blue Door
In Venice, near Santa Maria Formosa, there’s a blueish green door everybody photographs.
-
The journeys of a dead saint
Seventeen centuries of adventures – the incredible post mortem journeys of Santa Lucia of Syracuse
-
Honest woman and loving friends
The Bridge of the Honest woman and the Love of friends Alleyway are some of the odder street names in Venice
-
Odd names in Venice – what were they thinking?
Big Eyes, Honest Women and the Love of Friends. There are some odd place names in Venice, which pose many questions with few answers.
-
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