venice Archivi - Hotel Bucintoro

Mar 08 2018

Cannaregio district Venice

Cannaregio district Venice is the largest and most populated district of Venice after Castello. Cannaregio covers most of the territory on the norther side of the Grand Canal.

The bridge of Guglie in Cannaregio

The name might recall the large cane fields present in this area when still uninhabited.
Another hypothesis, a bit less plausible, is that the name comes from the Canal Regio, referred to the canal of Cannaregio. However, it could actually be an error in some Hapsburg maps. During the Napoleon’s era, some local dignitaries as Antonio Ruzini, Niccolò Vendramin Calergi and Giovan Battista Combi called the canal Canalreggio. Due to this fact, we think that this name was already used in the 19th century and so its origin must be more ancient.

In the Cannaregio district Venice is situated the Jewish Ghetto of Venice. You can reach it walking under a sottoportico, close to the bridge of Guglie. The iron hinges of the doors, who once closed the Ghetto during the night,are still easily visible. In the Jewish Ghetto you can see 5 synagogues, a few open to the public, and the Jewish museum.

If you want to visit the Jewish Ghetto, take boat line 1 and get off at San Marcuola stop.

The main artery of the district is the large walking route that goes from Santa Lucia train station to Rialto. This route starts from Scalzi bridge and it ends in Santi Apostoli square (25 minutes). This street ,which extends for 1.5 km, is called Strada Nova but it is known with the name of Vittorio Emanuele II too.

For information, feel free to ask at the reception.

Feb 21 2018

Dorsoduro district Venice

Dorsoduro district Venice connects itself to San Marco district through Accademia bridge.
The west side of this district is composed by the Mendigola island, one of the first areas of the town that has been colonized, few centuries before Rialto became the center of Venice (810).
In the century XI, on Mendigola island, was built the famous church of San Nicolò dei Mendicoli.
The islands nearby were colonized in the following years until Punta della Dogana , who is named due to the presence of the Custom of Venice.

Outstanding view from Accademia bridge which connects Dorsoduro district with San Marco’s.

Dorsoduro is the second district in Venice town , after San Marco, in which importants museums are gathered: the main museum are the Accademia Galleries, instituted by the painter Giambattista Piazzetta in 1750 and moved to this buildings by Napoleon in 1807.
Another famous museum is the Peggy Guggenheim collection, a modern and contemporary gallery, based in Palazzo Venier Dei Leoni, once private residence of the american patron. One other place that deserves a mention is Punta Della Dogana – François Pinault foundation, opened in 2009 and being part of Palazzo Grassi.
In Dorsoduro district Venice you can find Ca’ Rezzonico, museum of the venetian 18th century, Scuola Grande dei Carmini and Ca’ Foscari, venue of the venitian university.

View from Punta della Dogana, a few steps away from Salute church.

The most important churches are Santa Maria della Salute basilica, already described in one of our posts, Gesuati church, San Trovaso church, San Pantalon church, Ognissanti church and San Nicolò dei Mendicoli.
In Dorsoduro district Venice is situated San Trovaso squero (warehouse of gondolas) and campo Santa Margherita, a rendezvous for students and venetians.

For more information ask at the reception.

Feb 14 2018

Giacomo Casanova

Giacomo Casanova (1725-1798) is one of the most known venetian person all over the world, especially due to his romantic relationships, which are narrated in his autobiography. Giacomo Casanova was not only a charmer but he was also an adventurer: he was the only one able to escape from the Doge’s palace’s prisons of Venice. He was in jail since the night of July 25th 1755 and put in a cell situated under the roof of the palace. This area was called “Piombi”, because the rooms were covered by plates of lead.
The terrible council of X incarcerated him due to his libertine behaviour. They saw this as a threat to the social stability. Casanova was made out as a fraud too. With his fake magic skills, he was famous for robbing to rich elderly people.
He had to stay incarcerated for 5 years, but he studied from day one how to escape. He could break out from the prison on Nov 1st 1755, together with one anothe inmate, Padre Marino Balbi. They could escape the prison through a hole made in the roof and rappeling down in the courtyard of the Doge’s palace. From there, they were able to leave as common visitors.

When he was 58, Giacomo Casanova starts again to travel around Europe and he writes books as “Storie della mia vita”, published in french, “Storie della mia fuga” of 1788 and the romance “Icosameron” in the same year. He died on June 4th 1798 in the forgotten Dux castle, whispering his lasts and famous words: “Gran Dio e testimoni tutti della mia morte: son vissuto filosofo e muoio cristiano”. (I have lived as a philosofer and i die as a cristian.) He thought that death was just a “change of the shape”.

Feb 04 2018

Venice carnival – The flight of the Angel

The second Sunday of the venetian carnival, everyone gathers in Saint Mark’s square to assist at the famous Flight of the Angel. What is this? The winner of the contest of the Marias, of the previous edition of the Venice carnival, jumps, attached with a rope, from the tower in Saint Mark’s square to reach the Doge’s palace.

The flight of the angel takes place the second Sunday of the Carnival. The winner of the contest of the Marias, of the previous edition of the Venice carnival, jumps, attached with a rope, from the tower in Saint Mark’s square to reach the Doge’s palace.

Not everyone knows that this flight has an ancient tradition, and tragic in some ways. In the 16th century, during the carnival, a young turkish acrobat, just with a barbell, was able to reach the bell cell of Saint Mark’s tower walking above this long rope from a boat anchored at the dock of the Piazzetta. Going down instead, he was able to reach the Doge’s Palace, paying homage to the Doge. After this, named the flight of the Turkish, this event became official for the next editions and took place on Thursday before Lent. In 1759, this event turned intoa tragedy: the acrobat fell down into the scary crowd. After this accident, this event was banished. Since the next edition, the acrobat was replaced by a wood dove who , during the journey, released flowers and confetti to the crowd.

The flight of the Angel.

The winner of the Marias contest in 2017, Elisa Costantini, will be the angel of the 2018 edition.

Elisa Costantini will have the honor to fly down in Saint Mark’s square.

For more info, ask at the reception.

Feb 04 2018

Venice Carnival – Festa Delle Marie

The Venice Carnival – Festa Delle Marie was a tipical celebration in Venice that took place every year from 9th century during Venice carnival. It has been suspended in 1379 but it came back recently as historical reenactment. The traditional “Festa Delle Marie” recalls the homage of the Duke to twelve beautiful young and humble ladies, of jewelry for their wedding. The occasion, an unique moment to admire the venitian costumes, lasted more than one day. The celebration included the couples’s blessing and the raffle of the most beautiful twelve girls of the poorest families in town. Every girl was assigned to a rich family, who had to give them clothes, jewelry and dowry in order to get married. In the following days were celebrated few civil and religious cerimonies that ended with a boats’s parade along the Grand Canal. During this parade, the “Marie” (this is the name of the twelve girls) flaunted their beauty and jewelry. Dances, banquets and parties came along with the cerimonies. Participate to this parade was considered of good omen and a joy to the men’s eyes. A lot of people, from all over the world, came to Venice to admire these girls. The celebrations could last more than a week too!

The traditional “Festa delle Marie” recalls the homage that the Duke brought every year to twelve venetian beautiful young ladies, endowing them for the wedding with jewelry.

This celebration created disorder and confusion: it happened often that these beautiful ladies, ready to get married, were courted and even raped by men from all over the world. Besides, the raffle for the “Marie” caused a lot of conflicts between the families, between the poor (in case of defeat they complained for the missing victory) and between the rich (who did not want to spend the money for the assigned girl). For this reasons, the girls were substituted by wood statues called Marione or Marie de tola (Wood Marie). They were dressed with costumes and jewelry, but they didn’t get a dowry. With this change, the celebration lost its original sense and the approval of the venitians, who reacted trying to sabotage the celebration. In 1349 the Republic issued a law in which, who were caught throwing vegetables to the Marione, would have been punished with jail. After that, the celebration lost all the prestige and 30 years later was abolished. In the last years, Bruno Tosi instituted again the Marie celebration to the Venice Carnival: it recalls the original celebration in which twelve venetian girls parade in medieval costumes in Saint Mark’s square. At the end of the parade, the most beautiful girl becomes the Maria of the year.

The historical parade starts in San Pietro di castello island, through Via Garibaldi and Riva degli Schiavoni, ending in Saint Mark’s square.

The parade, with the twelve girls, selected few weeks before, is on Saturday February 3th. The historical parade, along with historical groups in costumes as C.E.R.S, the associations Amici del Carnevale di Venezia and the Associazione Internazionale per il Carnevale di Venezia, starts from San Pietro di Castello around 2.30 pm and it will go through Via Garibaldi and Riva degli Schiavoni, reaching Saint Mark’s square around 4 pm, where Carnival will be presented officially to the public.

Ask at the reception for further information!

HOTEL BUCINTORO SRL