Life, customs and ways of doing things
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Slavery in Venice
Slavery existed in Venice throughout the history of the republic, and the Venetian profited from the lucrative trade.
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Ink and Rat Poison
Is there a connection between writing ink and rat poison, as some images from the 1700s seem to indicate?
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Daily life and customs
Venice was a buzzing city, full of people and activity, and of course, the Venetian had their particular ways of doing things in their daily lives. Making the city work Food and drink Social relations Crime and punishment The Venetian language
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Feasts, celebrations and ceremonial
The Republic of Venice had its feasts and celebrations like any other state, except most of these traditions are now long gone and very often entirely forgotten.
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Glossary — clothing
Clothing has its own vocabulary, which often makes reading and translating old texts challenging for the uninitiated.
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Street-food in the 1700s
Engravings of people working in the alleyways of Venice in the 1700s can tell us quite a bit about what people ate.
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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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Scuole Grandi
The Scuole Grandi — or the Great Schools — were Venetian medieval charities which due to their wealth became important institutions
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Fornicators of Nuns
“Fornicators of Nuns” were criminals in ancient Venice, and harshly punished, but that didn’t stop nuns from having lovers.
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Prostitution in Venice
In ancient Venice prostitution was considered a necessary evil, where more harm would come from a ban than from a de facto acceptance