The Building The huge prisons were made of large marble and Istrian stone blocks and were intimidating and frightening. Still today we don’t know how they were assembled. The palace was constructed in 1500 to create a more hygienic prison for the inmates and certain judicial functions of the Doge’s Palace were also transferred there….
The Guards The guards were called the Lords of the Prisoners because of their brutality and corruption towards the treatment of the prisoners. The guards allowed improvements to be made to the treatment of the prisoners but only for a bribe. This meant that prisoners could receive food from outside or get out of the…
Pleas of prisoners After the sentence was passed, prisoners could make pleas to the magistrates to improve the hardships of prison life. The approval of such pleas was subject to the payment of pezaria, an amount decided by the Magistrates in charge. In their pleas, prisoners often requested to serve their sentence at home, to transfer to more sanitary…
The history of St. Mark’s Bell Tower The building of St. Mark’s Bell Tower (once used as a lighthouse) begun in XI century under the Doge Pietro Tribuno but the current look was reached only between 1511 and 1514. It is 98,60 mt. high and is made of a brick base measuring 12m per side and 49,50m in height. The upper…
The history of the feast It was the day of the Ascension in 997 when Doge Pietro Orseolo set sail against Istria and Dalmatia, conquering them. To commemorate this fortunate feat, which ensured the Doge the title of Duke of Dalmatia, the most solemn of the Venetian feasts was established, the famous Ascension Day, Sensa in Venetian. This feast acquired greater pomp and solemnity after Alexander III, Pontiff, both for the…
On the origin of the name many pages have been spent, we report here that of Prof. Siega, “Dictionary of the Veneto lexicon etymologically and curiously commented” Finegil editorial, which seems to us the most accredited; the name would derive from Buzon, Bonzonus which stood for navis; Buzon d’oro or golden ship from here became the Bucintoro….
Venice: the “City of Bridges” Venice has four bridges that cross the Grand Canal: the Rialto Bridge, the Accademia Bridge, the Ponte degli Scalzi Bridge and the Constitution Bridge known as the Calatrava Bridge. The Rialto Bridge is the oldest and was the only connection between the two banks of the Grand Canal. The origins of the Rialto Bridge It seems that already…