A Garden in Venice: Venetian Garden Culture

When Spices Were Cultivated in Venice

La Venessiana — Sat, 08 Jun 2024 11:50:00 GMT

Cultivating spices1 in the Lagoon of Venice? Yes, we’re talking of cinnamon and pepper, cardamom and saffron, to name just a few. In this post, a special journey awaits you, back to the year 1500, when spice plants were considered “normal” plants in Venetian gardens.

Sounds incredible, but was possible because of the exceptionally mild climate of the Lagoon, and spice plants being protected in the gardens by larger endemic Mediterranean plants.

Well, this sort of “jungle” was actually normal in more than 400 botanical gardens you’d have seen in Venice in the year 1500!. The formal gardens that one might expect also existed, but they were located next to the house and terrace. The rest of a Venetian garden of the past looked deliberately “wild” imitating “nature”. In Venice, formal gardens all’italiana were only created in the 19th century in Venice.

The images you can see in this post were taken in Venice in late April, in one of the last gardens that have kept the original look and feel. It’s a private garden, that is not open to the public, and in this post, we’re taking you on a fascinating journey back in time, discovering the verdant paradise that Venice was in the 15th century.

The Story of Ombriola, the Garden Island in the Lagoon

La Venessiana — Wed, 05 Jun 2024 23:32:00 GMT

Ombriola is the forgotten name of an island in the Lagoon … Imagine having an island all to yourself, rather large, solid unlike the wetlands and marshes, which are so difficult to build on because always swampy. No, this island, the largest of an archipelago, is just perfect: No need to extend space and build a platform of bricks resting on wooden poles.

Ombriola still exists, just its name has changed1. This island is located in the geographical center of the Lagoon. In the 5th century, its soil was overgrown with erbe alofile - herbs loving the salty environment, like rosemary, nettles, wild hops and bruscandoli.

Ombriola is located in the midst of an archipelago looking south-east, towards a mighty sand barrier2 partly overgrown overgrown with pines, shields the Lagoon from the open sea.

To prepare the soil for orchards and vegetable gardens, the nuns needed to clean nettles and reeds but left the plants on the edges of the island as “natural fortification”, that is to prevent the soil from crumbling and shifting.

Around their little wooden church, built in the 6th century, there’s plenty of space to grow vineyards, while the northern shore of the island is overgrown with osmarin (rosemary), which the nuns use to make ointments and flavor fish soup. And soon, apple, pear and cherry trees were planted alongside vines which the inhabitants of the islands had learned to grow from the Romans:

Ombriola’s inhabitants had originally come from Altino3, a Roman city overlooking the port facilities of the Lagoon, trying to find permanent safety.

First, they moved to the Torcello archipelago (northern Lagoon), but soon, some moved to the group of 118 natural islands in the center of the Lagoon, because those were less exposed to the tides and almost free from swamps and wetlands. Here in the midst of this 550 km²-sized Lagoon, they felt safer from the enemies who had overthrown the Roman Empire in the year 476 AD.

Ombriola was one of the first islands to be settled of the Rivus altus archipelago: These new inhabitants had come to stay, drawn by the fertile soil and mild climate of the Lagoon.

The former inhabitants of the Roman city Altino were not alone on Ombriola, their trading partners (and perhaps ancestors ??) also settled there. These were merchants and officials from Byzantium, deeply preoccupied because of the wars in Europe and the fall of the Roman Empire (476 AD).

At that time, those Byzantine - Greek merchants and their families were looking for a safe place and trading post on the northern Adriatic shores, from where they could monitor events during these unstable times.

This is how Ombriola became the ancient heart and soul of Venice. From here towards Rialto, a chain of islands and canals would lead the way to the market, and boats and rafts packed with fruit and vegetables would slide along the winding canals every morning.

The Gardens of the Seven Seas

La Venessiana — Mon, 13 May 2024 23:04:00 GMT

Had you come to the Lagoon of Venice 2000 years ago, your first impression would have been one of purple sea lavender carpets, spreading everywhere in that shallow stretch of water.

And the notion of Seven Seas would have been familiar to you: Just south of Chioggia was the entrance to the so-called Seven Seas, green lagoons interspersed with marshy swamps and lidi sottili (narrow islands), stretching from Ravenna to Aquileia, and bordering upon the Roman merchant hub called Altinum.

Back then, the Romans were living in little villages along the estuary and mainland, and it was them calling the lagoons lining the northern Adriatic sea Septem maria (Sette Mari in Italian, that is Seven Seas). The Adriatic shoreline was further inland than now - in the meantime, the estuary and mouths of the rivers have grown, surrounded by marshes and sand banks.

Salt was extracted from saline (salt marshes), fishermen lived amongs the thick reeds in huts built from canes, reeds and straw. Even the settlers living along the shores ventured into the Lagoon to hunt geese and other water fowl on special flat wooden rafts and boats. So those Seven Seas were a well-known territory to the people living along the rivers and on the shores of the lagoons to find a safe haven when they were threatened by foreign invaders from the 5th century onwards.

Our Lagoon was ONE rich garden for these first soon-to-be-settlers: pine trees were lining the Cavallino and Equilium shores, with wild horses living there (equilium / cavallino means “horse”).

The Roman author Plinius the Elder (23-79 AD) tells us about the ancient lagoonscape, separated from the open sea by sandbanks and “sprinkled” with tiny islets. Lagoons quite different from today’s because they used to be very shallow and thus a challenge to navigate: During those times, the expression “sailing the seven seas” was coined, meaning that special know how was required to cross those marshy lagoons crisscrossed by reeds and natural canals, following water flows surprisingly turbulent especially in spring and autumn.

In fact, those stretches of shallow waters seemed endless, several lagoons connected by natural canals, and covered by mauve colored sea lavender – limonium.

This ancient lagoon actually stretched from Ravenna in the South to Aquileia in the North. The Romans built a road crossing its fringes in northern direction, called Via Popilia, to reach their merchant hub called Altinum (Altino in our times).

From Altino to Aquileia, the Via Aemilia, 62 miles long, skirted the northern lagoons. But parallel to these land routes, lagoon waterways following natural water courses amongs the islands and marshlands had been carved out.

There is also a legend connected to the Seven Seas: Around the year 50 AD, Saint Mark traveling from Aquileia to Rome, when crossing the lagoons he was surprised by a gale and had to find refuge on an island that was to become part of Venice later, and where the monastery of San Francesco della Vigna is located, in the Venetian sestriere of Castello. Here, St. Mark had a dream when an angel told him that he would return to a future city to be built right in that place in the midst of the lagoon and become its patron saint.

Image: The dream of Saint Mark seeking refuge in the lagoon during a gale: Capella Zen, Basilica di San Marco

So well, this is the ancient landscape on which the first settlers of the Lagoon undertook a surprising task: Building settlements and gardens!

Pink summer – sea lavender covering the barene - muddy islands (marshlands) permanently shaped by the tides. They also fulfill the purpose of fortifying the islands, holding up currents and detrimental winds. Sea lavender still thrives in the Lagoon, as you can see in the image below, covering the barene, flooded twice a day by the tides in winter, and once a day in summer. Mostly, limonium grows by the mouths of the rivers discharging their waters into the lagoon.

A Venetian children’s book describes the ancient lagoonscape in a very poetic but useful way:

“At that time, the lagoons were mostly a group of green marshlands, sandy shores, solitary water mirrors surrounded by reeds and ferns, where currents foamed and tides forged meandering canals, large and narrow, cutting through the marshes. Like a liquid plain, filled with bird cries and breaths of wind”. - From: Scolta che te conto, a book by Alberto Scutari

Why is this relevant for gardeners?

I think this poetic introduction explains quite well what a challenge it must have been to build settlements and gardens in such a liquid and eternally unstable environment.

Originally, each island was surrounded by barene, which is why these marshlands have the function to consolidate soil otherwise exposed to wind and water flows.

Also, there are various types of islands in the Lagoon, and not all are ideal for gardens, let alone permanent settlements, because some islands are too low-lying, too unstable, too easy to erode. For example, one could never build on barene (marshlands overgrown with herbs) and velme (sandbanks).

Also from the beginning it was clear that the Lagoon, almost entirely covered by marshlands, was too shallow to allow larger merchants cogs to pass: By carving out deeper canals, lagoon morphology would be changed, allowing stronger currents in and eroding the barene:

The barene as core feature of the lagoons were critical to keep the ecological balance, that is to keep the lagoons alive.

The first settlers knew all about this, and thus, in the 11th century AD, instead of digging out deep water canals, they moved the ancient port facilities, out of the Lagoon, next to the inlet of San Nicolò (Lido).

Unstable islands, swamps and shallow waters (knee-deep) were the real reason why Roman and Byzantine Greek settlers gradually moved to an archipelago in the center of the Lagoon, called Rivus Altus. This was to become Venice! Its 118 islands were quite stable and canals were wider and deeper.

In short, Venice wasn’t built on “artificial islands” resting on wooden poles.

This city was built on 118 islands surrounded by barene (salt marshes overgrown with herbs and reeds) - just think of “a reedy area” called Cannaregio (canna meaning reeds) in the northern part of the archipelago. The most stable ground to build on was called Dorsoduro, which could be translated as “solid ground”, another expression we recall today as it is the name of a Venetian sestiere (district).

So yes, to build Venice, wooden poles were used to fill in the gaps between these 118 islands. That’s how the surface of our city was extended in an easy way.

But how and when were gardens created in Venice?

The first settlers being hunters and fishermen were soon followed by monasteries. And here’s where the San Zaccaria monastery comes in, to whom this substack garden magazine is dedicated:

San Zaccaria was the first monastery in Venice, founded by bishop Magnus in the 6th century, as legend has it. It was a monastery where the daugthers of noble families were living. It was a rich monastery as well, whose possessions comprised about one third of the southern Lagoon, as we could make out on ancient maps in the monastery. This included fishing grounds off the Lido and the island Poveglia, and orchards stretching all along to the Grand Canal, to the area where the church of San Moisè is located.

Just imagine what an immense effort this must have been to urbanize these islands. Another challenge was experimenting with growing fruit, vegetables and wine in a salty environment!

Continue reading below how the garden was created, step by step.

Terrazza San Zaccaria

The Story of Ombriola, the Garden Island in the Lagoon

Ombriola is the forgotten name of an island in the Lagoon … Imagine having an island all to yourself, rather large, solid unlike the wetlands and marshes, which are so difficult to build on because always swampy. No, this island, the largest of an archipelago, is just perfect: No need to extend space and build a platform of bricks resting on wooden poles…

4 years ago · 1 like · Iris Loredana

Thank you for reading Terrazza San Zaccaria. This post is public so feel free to share it.

Decoding the Age of Venetian Gardens

La Venessiana — Tue, 07 May 2024 22:04:00 GMT

In this article, you’ll disover the characteristics of the three historical types of Venetian gardens, and how this helps you determine the age of a garden:

Late Roman - Early Byzantine Gardens
Gardens created during the Republic of Venice
Venetian Gardens of the 19th century
Contemporary Gardens in Venice

During the last two decades, another garden type has developed in Venice: Nonna and I call them giardini rivisitati, experimental lifestyle gardens created to learn more about ancient gardening know-how of the Lagoon, traditions and lifestyle. It’s all about re-discovering those times when gardening played a major role, and gardens were necessary for self-sufficient life in Venice.

Just think of terms like “urban gardening”, “guerilla gardening”, “neighborhood gardening”, as this way of making the most of gardens in public and semi-public areas is called in other parts of the world.

The Wisteria on Campo San Provolo

La Venessiana — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 09:17:00 GMT

It happened in the early 1970s, one day in early September, grandfather told me, when a famous guest entered the little pensione located on the grounds of an ancient monastery near Piazza San Marco. Grandfather did recognize him but offered coffee and a glass of spritz, as it was past 11 am.

The guest liked what he saw, gathered his belongings from the train station as he realized he was falling in love with the city - and the secret garden terrace hiding between hanging gardens filled with fragrant pelargonium, laurel, and sage. And while he was there, our grandparents told him the special story of the neighborhood. Friends and neighbors arrived to talk, lunch and dinner was served in the garden, and finally, the guest started painting.

What's blossoming now in Venice: Easter Week & Early Spring Round-Up

La Venessiana — Sat, 30 Mar 2024 00:22:00 GMT

What’s blossoming in Venice in early April and during the Easter Week: Here’s what you will see in our neighborhood, and the latest glimpses of the garden.

Can you imagine which herb blossoms first in Nonna’s herb garden?

It’s the classic μίνθα = mentha longifolia = mint, and it has tiny purple blossoms. Grandmother’s mints thrive simply everywhere in the garden: Some love the humid corner next to the mimosa tree. Others prefer to live next to the fig tree and a small olive tree. Others chose greyish terracotta pots on the sunny terrace. And another menta aquatica - water mint that should grow in the little water basin, actually “moved” and now lives amongst the dry stone wall on the sun-drenched terrace! And, there will always grow mints in the nursery, next to young geranium and hemp palms.

“In theory” this menta aquatica - water mint should grow in the water basin. But as you can see, it chose itself a sunny spot on the dry stone wall.

Mint leaves also go into Easter cakes by means of sciroppo di menta - mint syrup that’s used to flavor the two cakes Nonna likes best during the Easter Week and in April: Crostata di polenta al sapore di menta (a rich mint-flavored polenta cake, sweetened with white cane sugar and mint syrup), plus an orange-blossom flavored fugassa (focaccia) which she used to eat as a child when colomba pasquale, the Italian Easter cake, wasn’t available.

We’ll share the recipe of her mint polenta in a post telling you more about the Greek Orthodox Easter Feast and its culinary traditions here in Venice.

In the Lagoon, mint grows everywhere, wild and untamed, a favorite of Nonna’s and which she used to forage on the island Sant’Erasmo and Le Vignole. From there, she’s brought a few wild plants into her garden.

The Easter Week brings many visitors to our neighborhood, and I love to recall a story in which Nonna, exceptionally, showed a visitor around. Incredible how lush everything looks by the first week of April - in my opinion, late March and April are the most colorful months in Venice:

A Garden in Venice

A Venetian Easter Story & Neighborhood Walk

In a few days, the Easter week will begin, which always makes me recall a special story, of how Nonna showed her little part of Venice to a guest who had been dreaming of visiting the city for decades. So you’re now in for a little walk outside the garden…

3 years ago · Iris Loredana

This year on Domenica delle Palme (Palm Saturday) we noticed the first blossoms of the ancient wisteria growing next to a fico d’India on the terrace. And there’s still mimosa blossoms, they will be around for another two weeks at least, until mid-April.

Thank you for reading A Garden in Venice. This post is public so feel free to share it.

If you have the opportunity to walk around Venice these days, you’ll discover lots of yellow blooming plants in window boxes: These are actually succulents blossoming from late March to early May, very popular here because they are the only ones able to survive those parching days of summer when not even watering the plants three times a day would help.

That’s why you can notice so many window boxes in Venice exposed to the south and overgrown with sedum palmeri, the only plants that “somehow” make it through summer. Right now, their blossoms look lush and bright, what a contrast to those blue and greyish foggy mornings in April.

See how these blossoms of sedum palmeri illuminate the neighborhood? These are succulents growing to form a lush “cushion”, you can see their thick leaves if you look closely - and you can see the rain drops as it often drizzles in Venice on a morning in April. I love the contrast the yellow color makes especially on a morning when Venice is enveloped in fog, like you can see in the image above on Fondamenta de l’Osmarin, just around the corner of the garden.

As the first three months of the year were rather sunny and mild in Venice, wisteria blossoms opened about two weeks earlier than usual. Just like mimosa, the number of glicine (wisteria) in Venice has been growing over the past decade, so in April we’ll dedicate two articles to them.

A Garden in Venice

Spring Awakening: The Venetian Flower Walk (Part 1, March)

March in Venice brings collective memories of spring festivities: Did you know that during the times of La Serenissima Republic, that is until 1797, the city used to celebrate New Year’s Day (anno nuovo, more veneto) on March 1st? All during a time when the first blossoms of spring in March envelop in the city in such colorful hues: In my opinion, the…

3 years ago · Iris Loredana

We’ll soon take you on a virtual wisteria walk around Venice, discovering some of the most lush wisteria plants! Last year, I started a wisteria map, so it’s time to publish it :-)

Another favorite plant now blossoming in the neighborhood is alberi di Giuda - Judas trees: In a few days, they will be in full bloom at the Giardinetti Reali1 next to Piazza San Marco.

As our neighbor says, sedum palmeri, together with Judas trees, violets and wisteria, are the sentori di primavera - a sure sign that spring is finally here to stay in Venice.

Now blossoming in Venice in early April: Judas trees in the Giardinetti

Coming in the next post: Discover the story of the forgotten calissoni di San Zaccaria, a special cake that wrote history and that was made for the Doge of Venice exclusively at the San Zaccaria monastery bakery.

Of course, cakes like thes are flavored with garden herbs, mint and calendula blossoms in the case of calissoni, so we’ll show you the lush mint garden in April in another post online soon.

Magical plants in Venice: A Botanical Exhibition at Biblioteca Marciana

La Venessiana — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 15:29:00 GMT

An exhibition we’ve been waiting for was taking place last spring, at Biblioteca Marciana until 2 April 2023: All about Venetian gardening culture and botanical heritage in a book series written in the 16th century:

Pietro Antonio Michiel (1511 - 1565) is the autor of this book series called I Cinque Libri delle Piante, a treasure trove for everyone interested in Venetian garden history, and the plants Venetians used to make medical remedies and beauty products. These books were partly written in Latin, and a few chapters in Greek.1

A few years ago, I was lucky to have been invited into what has remained of Michiel’s own botanical garden in the Venetian sestiere Dorsoduro:

To this day, this garden plot, although much smaller than it was in the 16th century, looks like a tropical paradise: one is welcomed by a jungle-lined path, creating a thick barrier protecting sensitive exotic plants from the sun.

Below you can read my article about this visit to Michiel’s giardino orto botanico:

A Garden in Venice

When Spices Were Cultivated in Venice

Cultivating spices in the Lagoon of Venice? Yes, we’re talking of cinnamon and pepper, cardamom and saffron, to name just a few. In this post, a special journey awaits you, back to the year 1500, when spice plants were considered “normal” plants in Venetian gardens…

4 years ago · 2 likes · Iris Loredana

I was so excited when the exhibition Giardini e virtù medicinali, salute e bellezza tra passato e presente, curated by Sabrina Minuzzi (Università Ca’ Foscari), was opened in Venice on 11 February 2023, at the Sale Monumentali of Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana.

Also 29 - 30 March 2023, a scientific conference was held at Biblioteca Nazionale about gardens and their remedies: Matera Medica: Health and Beauty in the Early Modern Age.

In short, this exhibition presents Venetian botanical heritage in an inspiring manner and grand environment: You’ll discover the notion of piante magiche - magical plants, alchemia, and the incredible plant variety of gardens Venice boasted in the 15th and 16th century.

And there’s even a “plant game” to discover, created by a well-known Venetian artist studio, explaining the concept of “magical plant” and which plants (or rather, spices!) Venetians used to produce health and beauty products for centuries.

A Venetian Easter Story & Neighborhood Walk

La Venessiana — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 23:48:00 GMT

So you’re now in for a little walk outside the garden around our neighborhood, taking in the fresh spring colors. It’s a walk towards the ancient church and campo San Lorenzo, which until the 12th century was closely connected to the San Zaccaria monastery. You must know that the San Zaccaria gardens were quite large at first, stretching from Campo della Bragora (Castello) far into today’s sestiere di San Marco, to the Grand Canal and the San Moisé area.

Today’s story is about a guest from southern Italy, who had arrived late on Friday, practically disappeared on Saturday, and on Palm Sunday in the morning, he finally came up to us and said: “I’m done with Venice. Everywhere I go, I’m surrounded by crowds, pigeons, sea gulls, and cheap eats. Waiters call out to me forever, stopping me five times between here and Piazza San Marco. Living in this town must be a nuisance. I’ve been longing to visit Venice for more than twenty years, and now I’m just so disappointed.”

True - on Palm Sunday morning, Venice was “booked out” and Piazza San Marco really crowded. The quiet and healing time of Lent, always a most welcome break and balmy breeze after a couple of fast-paced Carnival weeks, was drawing to a close. Our guest felt trapped and discouraged by the noise and the crowds, brought on by the start of the “cruise ship season”.

I think there aren’t many hosts like Lina when it comes to explaining Venice. She can become totally absorbed in a topic, talking with guests for hours. What I hadn’t seen her do in decades!! was show guests around the neighborhood. But then, Lina was already working full-time at her hotel and restaurants. I only recall her showing the city to visitors once, friends from Tel Aviv in the late 1990s. And on Palm Sunday in 2016, she did just that, despite having turned 93 and all her difficulties walking and crossing bridges.

So, Lina said to our guest: “Come along, I’ll show you the real Venice. You’ll now see the city we really live in.” She opened the door and turned right when the guest stopped her: “This is not the direction to San Marco??” Lina just waved him to follow her, and I was very curious and came along as well.

Fondamenta de l’Osmarin, two minutes from Nonna’s home.

Lina was walking very slowly along our fondamenta that you can see in the image above, always a familiar and comforting sight. We went past people drinking coffee and eating fragrant brioches in the cafes on this misty and warm morning in late March. Actually, we made very little progress as Lina stopped at every door and window, telling the story of each building, courtyard and secret garden that may hide inside.

Slowly, we were enveloped by a magical atmosphere and the sounds of water lapping against the fondamenta when a gondola was passing. We were blinded for a few moments by sun rays trying to make it through the mist. Finally, we arrived at Rio dei Greci and watched the water rippled by a vegetable boat delivering fresh greens to a restaurant next to the bridge Ponte dei Greci. These vegetables looked so lush and green, like they had been harvested this morning in the Lagoon.

Walking along Rio de l’Osmarin with Nonna. And yes, the last week of March in Venice is already very colorful and springlike! We do have geranium outside in little boxes on windows and along the canals all year long, so it doesn’t take long for them to start blooming.

After crossing the bridge, we were smelling the water and listening to the voices of blackbirds and merlins coming across from the courtyard of San Giorgio dei Greci, the Greek church of Venice.

Turning left, we were walking along Fondamenta di San Lorenzo when I noticed our guest drawing his breath the moment another sight came into view: It was a mighty wisteria just coming into bloom, growing on a terrace overlooking the water, so we could smell its fragrance across the canal. Yes, plants are much loved here, and they do play a major role as landmarks!

Lina said to her guest: “Stand on the top of the bridge and take in the view. This is the gift Venice gives to the turista frettoloso (hustling and stressed visitor).”

The wisteria growing next to Ponte di San Lorenzo

Standing on Ponte di San Lorenzo, a massive bridge in white Istrian stone built in the year 826 AD, our guest took in the view of San Giorgio dei Greci in the distance. To the left, he could see the wisteria-overgrown terrace on the canal and a boat anchored at its doorstep. To the right, our guest could see a window sill on which a purple-blooming lily and young wisteria were growing.

The purple lily and young wisteria, growing in window boxes

Behind our visitor, on the left, was the church and campo of San Lorenzo. Lina left him to watch the scenery for a few minutes, and then told the story of a miracle which had happened exactly here, on the bridge, in the year 1369, during a time when the Genoese fleet appeared in the Lagoon, almost conquering Venice.

And this is Lina’s story:

“On Domenica delle Palme (Palm Sunday), a priest was carrying the reliquary of la Santa Croce (Holy Cross) across this bridge, during a procession of the parishioners to the monastery of San Zaccaria. All of a sudden, the reliquary fell into the canal. In 1369, this wasn’t a fortified canal like it is today, surrounded by stone and brick-clad fondamenta, but a muddy garden area, where the nuns of the San Lorenzo and San Zaccaria monasteries were growing vegetables, rosemary, wine and fruit.”

“The parishioners were looking on in dismay, but the reliquary didn’t sink and was still floating on the water. The priest jumped and was able to retrieve it. In 1500, Giovanni Bellini recreated this scene in Il Miracolo della Santa Croce, you can see his painting in the Galleria dell’ Accademia”.

“Here we are in the oldest part of Venice”, Lina continued, “on the ancient island Ombriola consisting of two parts, or rather, heart-shaped twin islands, overgrown with rosemary when the nuns of the monasteries San Zaccaria and San Lorenzo first cultivated it in the year 360 AD. Ombriola became the first commercial center of Venice, where Byzantine cogs were anchored and Greek diplomats and merchants were living.”

“The family of Doge Partecipazio built the church of San Lorenzo in 825 AD, and Romana, another member of the Doge’s family, founded a monastery for suore benedettine in the year 853, on the former grounds of the San Zaccaria monastery.

Today, the monastery of San Lorenzo houses a Casa di Riposo next to the church: A chapel of the original church was built where the Casa di Riposo, is located today, and if we can belive Marco Polo’s Last Will, he and his family were buried in this chapel1. The island Ombriola represents the center of the Lagoon, it is located exactly between Fusina, where the Lagoon ends in the south-west, and Torcello, the ancient harbor island where the Lagoon ends in the north-east. While the Rialto area was populated by Eneti, Ombriola is the heart of Byzantine Venice.”

“The church was dedicated to the martyr San Lorenzo, doing charity work in Rome around the year 257 AD. San Lorenzo died aged 33 on 10 August, which is why La Notte di San Lorenzo, the night of the shooting stars, is called after him. We call these falling stars le lacrime di San Lorenzo, the tears of San Lorenzo.”

The view from Ponte di San Lorenzo - in the distance, you can make out the Greek church, San Giorgio dei Greci, and its campanile pendente (leaning bell tower).

The spell was broken all of a sudden when two shoppers were approaching us with their bags. As our guest wouldn’t move, Lina waved to me and we left him in his own dreamy place on top of the bridge. This time, seeing Venice with the eyes of Lina, a very special Venetian grandmother.

Spring Awakening: The Venetian Flower Walk (Part 1, March)

La Venessiana — Tue, 26 Mar 2024 12:45:00 GMT

All during a time when the first blossoms of spring in March envelop in the city in such colorful hues: In my opinion, the protagonista (main character) of the life in Venice right now is mimosa pudica, the yellow mimosa tree. But then, the vegetable gardens are also “wearing yellow”: Broccolo fiolaro (winter broccoli) is blossming. Dandelions grow just anywhere, and there are the first yellowish blossoms of silene in quiet corners of gardens and on the sand dunes in the Lagoon.

And now we’re taking you for a short walk around Venice, with tips for you where to spot those bright blossoms of March: Gardens, flower shops, and we’ll also share the secret of a special cake made with spring blossoms.

When was the Real Birthday of Venice?

La Venessiana — Sun, 24 Mar 2024 23:54:00 GMT

Legend has it that Venice (or rather, Venetia) was founded on 25 March 421 AD, so the 365 days beginning on 25 March 2021 are all dedicated to celebrating the 1600th “birthday year” of our city.

I think it’s time to pause and travel back to this little known world of Venetia so we know who we’re talking about.

You may have heard that in the 5th century, the inhabitants of Altino, following the onslaught of the “barbarian invasions”, took refuge in the Lagoon.

This is one part of the story, but if we look at the original text of the best-known founder legend, it contains a few interesting hints.

The birthday legend of Venetia was passed on by Marin Sanudo (1466-1536), an official historian of the Republic of Venice. His book on “De Origine, situ e magistratibus Urbis Venetiae” was re-published in 2017 by a Venetian research center on medieval history, Centro Cicogna.