Rialto Bridge

The Ponte di Rialto (Rialto Bridge) is the true heart of Venice. The current structure was built in just three years, between 1588 and 1591, as a permanent replacement for the boat bridge and three wooden bridges that had spanned the Grand Canal at various times since the 12th Century. It remained the only way to cross the Grand Canal on foot until the Accademia Bridge was built in 1854.




The Rialto Bridge's 7.5-meter (24-foot) arch was designed to allow passage of galleys, and the massive structure was built on some 12,000 wooden pilings that still support the bridge more than 400 years later. The architect, Antonio da Ponte ("Anthony of the Bridge," appropriately enough), competed against such eminent designers as Michelangelo and Palladio for the contract.



The bridge has three walkways: two along the outer balustrades, and a wider central walkway leading between two rows of small shops that sell jewelry, linens, Murano glass, and other items for the tourist trade.

The Rialto area was the first part of Venice to be developed, and it soon became a centre for commerce. The town's principal market was transferred here at the end of the eleventh century. Trading of all kinds took place, and this would be where Venetians and merchants could buy and sell exotic imported goods just unloaded from ships. In the sixteenth century, after a destructive fire, a complex of squares and porticoes was constructed to the west of the Rialto Bridge, with areas dedicated to different products. These are still recorded in the names of the local lanes and squares: Erberia (fruit and vegetable market), Naranzeria (oranges), Speziali (spices) and Pescaria (fish). Fish, fruit and vegetables are still sold here, from a colourful array of stalls where you can buy provisions or just admire the spectacle. The fish market is housed in a covered hall, the Pescheria, with fishy decorative features.

 

The Ruga dei Oresi was called Drapperia or Drapparia (Drapery) since the ancient 14th-century market. The area was named after the shops selling precious fabrics along the porch connecting the Rialto bridge to the Church of San Giovanni Elemosinaro in Ruga Rialto.


Campo San Giacometo was the core of the textile trade, with a variety of fabrics and clothes on display. Afterwards, business would expand to other goods attracting more craftsmen, including goldsmiths (oresi in Venetian). The so-called “botteghini” (small shops) were born in the early 16th century, probably due to the fire that devastated most of Rialto’s insula in 1514. Reconstruction helped enliven trade and social life in the area and the government of the Serenissima began to rent the porch of the Drapperia, offering the possibility to set up removable stalls for trading. The original look of the Drapperia lives on in the prints of the time and in Canaletto’s paintings. The presence of the “botteghini” was a matter of constant discussion among the merchants, until the Senate decided to legalise the properties in 1720.



The Ruga dei Oresi changed in time: food and products targeted at the Venetian residents replaced artisan merchandise. Typical Venetian products and souvenirs of Venice began to be marketed in the 1960s. The present-day market blends souvenirs, leather goods and shoes, thus meeting the needs of the tourists and the residents.

Though the city’s economy underwent great changes, the Ruga dei Oresi maintained its 16th-century structure and the typical aspect of the traditional market, with the shops one after the other to form a single row in the same atypical fashion of the “botteghini”. Though Ruga dei Oresi is visited by tourists from all over the world, the cosmopolitan spirit that has distinguished Rialto’s market for centuries lives on through the goods on display, the people going to and fro, the exchanges, the inns and the osterie.

 
 
 But after the day is done, don't forget to view the bridge at night. 
 
 



Venitian Masks and Carnivale

In 1162 Doge Vitale Michieli triumphed over Ulrich II of Treven and an annual celebration to commemorate the occasion was commenced. The first documented usage of Venetian masks in conjunction with the annual celebration was in 1268.

The merchants don't like you to take pictures of these Masks but I sneaked one in.

As Venice grew in popularity as a tourist destination through the middle ages the city became known as a pleasure palace. During this period the popularity of masks grew as prominent social figures dawned disguises to conceal their identities as they performed unscrupulous and immoral acts in pursuit of carnal pleasures.



During the 16th through 18th century Venetian Masks became the signature of the Commedia Dell'arte. The Commedia Dell'arte were popular plays in the form of improvisational theater that were performed by theater companies that traveled the Italian peninsula producing comedies involving the topics of adultery, jealousy, and love.



Several of Venice's popular mask forms such as the Capitano, the Paglianccio(clown), the Pulcinella (the mascot of Naples), and Zanni (the threadbare old servant of Venice) were shaped in character in the traveling road show known as the Commedia dell'arte.



On October 17, 1797 Venice became part of the Kingdom of the Lombardy-Venetia (Austria). When the Austrians took control of the city masked celebrations were outlawed. :-( Venetian masks faded into obscurity.



The tradition of mask making was not rekindled until 1979 when some undergraduate art students revived the tradition in an effort to profit from the tourism trade in the city. And a successful endeavor it turned out to be. In less than 30 years the artisan profession has flourished and now masks and Venice are synonymous.



The history of the Venetian Mask is nearly as colorful as the masks themselves.  For more information go http://www.venetianmasksshop.com/history.htm

History of Murano Glassmaking

 


It is believed that glassmaking in Murano originated from 9th century Rome, with significant Asian and Muslim influences, as Venice was a major trading port. Murano’s reputation as a centre for glassmaking was born when the Venetian Republic, fearing fire and destruction to the city’s mostly wooden buildings, ordered glassmakers to move their foundries to Murano in 1291. Murano glass is still interwoven with Venetian glass.



Murano's glassmakers were soon the island’s most prominent citizens. By the 14th century, glassmakers were allowed to wear swords, enjoyed immunity from prosecution by the Venetian state and found their daughters married into Venice’s most affluent families. However glassmakers were not allowed to leave the Republic. Many craftsmen took this risk and set up glass furnaces in surrounding cities and as far afield as England and the Netherlands.



By the end of the 16th century, three thousand of Murano island's seven thousand inhabitants were involved in some way in the glassmaking industry.



Murano’s glassmakers held a monopoly on quality glassmaking for centuries, developing or refining many technologies including crystalline glass, enamelled glass (smalto), glass with threads of gold (aventurine), multicoloured glass (millefiori), milk glass (lattimo), and imitation gemstones made of glass. Today, the artisans of Murano are still employing these century-old techniques, crafting everything from contemporary art glass and glass figurines to Murano glass chandeliers and wine stoppers.



Today, Murano is home to a vast number of factories and a few individual artist studios making all manner of glass objects from mass marketed stemware to original sculpture. The Museo Vetrario or Glass Museum in the Palazzo Giustinian, which holds displays on the history of glassmaking as well as glass samples ranging from Egyptian times through the present day.



Murano Glass was produced in great quantities in the 1950s and 1960s for export and for tourists [excerpted from Wikipedia]

Venice, sweet Venice

How can one describe Venice?  To say it is a city on water doesn't fully describe the beauty of Venice. The name is derived from the ancient tribe of  Veniti that inhabited the region in Roman Times. The city historically was the capital of an independent city state. Venice has been known as the "La Dominante", "Serenissima", "Queen of the Adriatic", "City of Water", "City of Masks", "City of Bridges", "The Floating City", and "City of Canals".  Venice has also been described as being one of Europe's most romantic cities.  I can only describe it in pictures

To see more pictures of Venice visit my photobucket page

http://s389.photobucket.com/albums/oo332/janreynoldsphotos/Venice/