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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 22/10/2026

**Episode 35 — Patriarchs galore** Just as Venice gradually grew politically independent as an unintended result of the interactions with, and between the surrounding powers, the church organisation within _Venetia_ also acquired some level of independence both from the papacy, and from the […]

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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 02/09/2026

**Episode 34 — The Duchy of the Venetians** As the Byzantine presence in northern Italy waned, and vanished, the Duchy of the Venetians was the only Byzantine territory left. Outside direct imperial control, the Venetians had to find their own way, and it wasn't easy. Early Venetian politics […]

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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 19/08/2026

**Episode 33 — The Demise of the Exarchate** The events around the demise of the Exarchate of Ravenna only marginally involved the Venetians. It is nevertheless important to the history of Venice. Without the Exarchate, the empire was more distant, and _Venetia_ was therefore less protected […]

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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 05/08/2026

**Episode 32 — The first doges of Venice** If you thought fake news is a recent invention, think again. The traditional story of the first Venetian doges is little more than that, a made up story. Several of them probably didn't even exist, and if they did, weren't what we're told they were […]

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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 15/07/2026

**Remembering the plague** The _Redentore Feast_ , which is held this weekend, commemorates the end of the plague epidemic, which savaged Venice in 1575–77. In those two disastrous years, between fifty and sixty thousand persons died, in a city with a […] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 23/06/2026

**Episode 31 — The world of Venetia** The Venetians fleeing the Lombards migrated into the lagoons along the Adriatic coast. Lagoons in the plural, as there were several, but what kind of environment was that, why was it there, and how did the Venetian settle in? #600s #700s #900s #EarlyVenice […]

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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 03/06/2026

**Episode 30 — Venetia Maritima** The invasion of the Lombards in 568 set in motion another migration. A part of the people of the Byzantine province of _Venetia_ fled the Lombards, and headed for the areas which remained under the control of Constantinople. A century later, the only […]

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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 13/05/2026

**Episode 29 — The Lombard Invasion** The Lombard invasion of Byzantine Italy in 568 was a pivotal event in Venetian history. The invasion and the conquests that followed, led to an increased importance of the lagoon settlements, to a slow demise of Byzantine control in north-east Italy, to the […]

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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 22/04/2026

**Episode 28 — The early sources** What we know about the early history of Venice comes almost entirely from a dozen or so medieval chronicles, which were copied from each other in ways which are difficult, if not impossible, to disentangle. Moreover, the chronicles come to us as copies of […]

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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 02/04/2026

**The Blood of Christ** Easter is _the_ most important event in the Christian calendar, and that was no different in the times of the Republic of Venice. It should therefore be no surprise that several events took place during the week of Easter, and […] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

A detail of the previous painting, showing the head of the procession. The great guardian of the Scuola della Passione walks under a canopy carrying the relic of the blood of Christ, between two lines of officials of the Scuola della Passione, each with a very long candle.

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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 25/03/2026

**Episode 27 — Cassiodorus** March 25th is supposedly the birthday of Venice. That might be true, or it might not be because we have no primary sources for such an event, and no archaeological evidence. The oldest written source we have, which mention the earliest residents of the lagoons, is […]

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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 04/03/2026

**Courtesans** The ancient Venetians had a rather ambiguous relationship with prostitution. It was both rejected and accepted. Prostitution was rejected because it was seen as immoral and dishonest. However, it was also accepted because the alternative […] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

A monochrome print of a street scene with two bulls. In the foreground, a woman (on the right) with her dress hitched up and wearing flat shoes, holds a rope tied to the horns of a bull, while a man (on the left) drags away a large, agitated dog. Behind them, two other men hold ropes tied to the horns of the same bull. In the background, a man and a woman, her skirt hitched up, run after a bull, holding on to ropes tied to the bull's horns. A dog is attacking the running bull.

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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 25/02/2026

**Episode 26 — Sewage** One of the most common questions I get on my walking tours, is about sewage. Where does it go? Are the canals open sewers? What about Katharine Hepburn? Now, Venice does have a sewage system, sort of, and it usually works, until it doesn't. The reason for this — […]

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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 18/02/2026

**An almost unknown painter** Venice in the 1700s had its fair share of great and famous painters, but just as in any other craft or art, only a few became famous. There were painters, even in the 1700s, of whom we don't even know the names, and many […] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

Oil painting for a boat race. In the foreground, a wide canal, crossed by two bridges, lines with spectators. On the other side of the canal, a line of multi-story houses. On the canal, numerous gondolas, each rowed by two men, with a central cabin, where one or two women sit.

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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 11/02/2026

**Episode 25 — The Venetian Carnival** The Venetian carnival was famous, and was so already in the Middle Ages. Kings travelled across Europe to see the Venetian carnival. It was one of the must-see things for travellers to Venice. The carnival […] [Audio] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

Painting from the 1490s of a religious procession in Piazza San Marco, with the words Venetian Stories across

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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 04/02/2026

**Beheading bulls** Lent, leading up to Easter, is a period of abstinence and repentance. Forty days, where the basic rule is that if it's fun, it's probably not allowed. Carnival originated, at least in part, as a reaction to the meagre forty days […] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 28/01/2026

A tale of pirates, maidens, box-makers, oranges, and ancient promises being kept for centuries, but others not so much. [Audio] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 21/01/2026

**Miracle cure or snake oil?** When the English gentleman John Evelyn left Venice in 1646, after almost a year in Venice and Padua, he had more stuff than when he had arrived. From his diary for late March 1646: Having packed up my purchases of books […] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

Workers pounding the ingredients for theriac in large mortars

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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 14/01/2026

Venice produced and exported Theriac, an ancient wonder medicine for just about every ailment imaginable. It was a flourishing business for centuries, and an important part of the Venetian economy. [Audio] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 07/01/2026

**Thomas Philologus Ravennas** There's a statue of a bearded man on the façade of the church of _San Zulian_ , above the entrance. Yet another saint, one presumes, before walking on towards the main sights at St Mark's. Well, no! That's Tommaso […] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

Statue of Tommaso Ravenna on the façade of San Zulian, by Alessandro Vittoria.

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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 31/12/2025

Happy New Year, even if two months early. [Audio] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 17/12/2025

The well-known image of the plague doctor with the beaked mask don't really have a lot of support in our sources. Did he even exist? [Audio] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 03/12/2025

The plague slowly diminished during the 1700s, even if it didn't disappear, and Venice reorganised the Lazzaretti. [Audio] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 22/10/2025

During the 1400s, Venice had created defences against the recurring outbreaks of the plague, and they kept Venice mostly safe for the following centuries. Mostly safe. [Audio] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 08/10/2025

**The Battle of Lepanto** Yesterday, October 7th, was the anniversary of the Battle of Lepanto, fought in 1571 between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy League, which included all the states of the Italian peninsula, including the Spanish Empire. A […] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 01/10/2025

Without a cure for the plague, the only way forward was prevention, and during the 1400s, Venice figured out how to govern the plague. [Audio] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 17/09/2025

**Campo Santa Giustina** The _Campo di Santa Giustina_ in Venice appears empty and uninteresting to the casual passers-by today. I write passers-by because nobody in their right mind would bother to stop there. There's nothing in the square, except a […] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

In the foreground an almost empty square with a well-head in the middle. There are only two persons walking across the otherwise deserted space. Behind the square, connected by a bridge, stands a grimey off-white Venetian palace of four or five storeys, noticeably taller than the surrounding houses. All the windows have closed shutters. To the left, a smaller three storey yellow house, and to the right, a well-kept white building of three storeys, also with a bridge in front.

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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 10/09/2025

The plague arrived in Venice in 1348, but what is the plague, and how did our ancestors understand it? [Audio] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 03/09/2025

**Santa Lucia** Why is the railroad station in Venice called _Santa Lucia_? Venice is, of course, much older than the railroad station, and where the station is today, there was something else before. There was quite a bit, actually. On the area, which […] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 28/08/2025

Proper ball games for decent people? Not all ball games are equal; some are more equal than others. [Audio] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 20/08/2025

**Road rage** Traffic has always been bad in Grand Canal in front of the Santa Lucia railroad station. It is one of the main point of entry for the many millions of tourists, who come to Venice every year, and for the many commuters, who often live on […] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

A monochrome print from the 1700s on yellowed paper. The composition has three levels. In the back, a Venetian quayside with some multistorey buildings on the left, a bridge slightly right of centre, and parts of a church on the right. In mid-level is a canal with many rowed boats of different types, in apparent chaos. In the foreground, in the shade, are several figures in silhouette, some running, and several more boats along the canal side.

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Venetian Stories @venetianstories.venetianstories.com.ap.brid.gy · 13/08/2025

The Venetians played a ball game (or maybe two different) which was called football, or kicking ball, but it was more rugby-ish, but also not really. [Audio] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

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