Bosworth - Italian Venice: a history[Electronic book]

Venice will not be worthy of the twentieth century until the Grand Canal is transformed into the most beautiful road in the world, with a footpath on each side, two lines of trees and two steam-driven tramways, and a paved road in the middle. [The old Venice could perhaps be] transported piece by piece and re-erected in some English park or between a coal mine and a tanning shop in Chicago. With the Grand Canal buried, the area will be more beautiful, with five-storey housing adorned with iron-clad attics and concrete frames, steel balconies, plastered light yellow and with pinkish shutters. We shall have Piazza San Marco covered in glass. The two columns of the Piazzetta will be removed and replaced by a sign that recalls their removal. At the museum, a life-size model of a gondola will be preserved. It will be made of ebony or silver or gilded copper or black velvet.

Archaeologist nightmare of 1887, as recounted in Giacomo Boni, Il cosidetto sventramento: appunti di un veneziano (Rome: Stabilmento Tipografico Italiano, 1887), 57

For a Venetian a bridge is a necessary structure for passage across a city built on water, which you normally cross by foot. For a tourist a bridge is something else. Every bridge and not just the Rialto. It is a lookout where you stop to admire the view, and to take unforgettable photographs from one side and then the other, assuming automatically that anyone who wants to pass will stop and wait. It is also a place where you can stop and exchange impressions with friends or, especially if you are young, sit on the steps. Such tourists simply do not see the urban purpose of the bridge, and neither do the great majority of other tourists who throng around. They only see a place of beauty, leisure and socialisation.

Enrico Tantucci, A che ora chiude Venezia? Breve guida alla disneylandizzazione della citt (Venice: Corte del Fontego, 2011), 67

For Giovanni Minelli

Copyright 2014 R. J. B. Bosworth

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bosworth, R. J. B.

Italian Venice : a history / R.J.B. Bosworth.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-300-19387-9 (cloth : alkaline paper)

1. Venice (Italy)History17971866. 2. Venice (Italy)History1866 3. Venice (Italy)Social conditions. 4. Social changeItalyVeniceHistory. 5. Venice (Italy)Politics and government. I. Title.

DG678.5.B67 2014

945'.31109dc23

2014018999

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Contents

Illustrations and Maps

Illustrations

Hotel San Fantin. Michal Bosworth.

Campo Cesare Battisti. Michal Bosworth.

Luidi Querena, Explosion of a Mine at San Ghuliano, 1849. Cameraphoto Arte, Venice.

Campo Manin with Cassa di Risparmio in the background. Michal Bosworth.

Manin's tomb. Michal Bosworth.

Tomaso Filippi, photograph of Corte Soresina, Castello. Fondo Fotografico Tomaso Filippi, I.R.E. Venezia.

Lace makers, L'Illustrazione italiana, 15 March 1914, p. 258. Biblioteca di Archeologia e Storia dell'Arte, Roma.

Archduke Ferdinand in Venice, 1910. L'Illustrazione italiana, L'arciduca a Venezia nella primavera del 1910, 5 July 1914, p. 6. Biblioteca di Archeologia e Storia dell'Arte, Roma.

The Kaiser visits Venice, L'Illustrazione italiana, 29 March 1914, p. 299. Biblioteca di Archeologia e Storia dell'Arte, Roma.

Ambitious plans for the Lido, L'Illustrazione italiana, 5 April 1914, p. 341. Biblioteca di Archeologia e Storia dell'Arte, Roma.

The bombed interior of the Scalzi, 25 October 1915. Giovanni Scarabello, Il Martirio di Venezia durante la Grande Guerra e l'opera di difesa della marina italiana, Gazzettino Illustrato Venezia. vol. 1, 1933, pp. 667.

Sauro slab. Michal Bosworth.

Aerial defence from the altane of the city. Giovanni Scarabello, Il Martirio di Venezia durante la Grande Guerra e l'opera di difesa della marina italiana, Gazzettino Illustrato Venezia. vol. 1, 1933, p.53.

San Marco, without the Quadriga, defended. Giovanni Scarabello, Il Martirio di Venezia durante la Grande Guerra e l'opera di difesa della marina italiana, Gazzettino Illustrato Venezia. vol. 1, 1933, p.32.

Map of the bombed city, 191518. Giovanni Scarabello, Il Martirio di Venezia durante la Grande Guerra e l'opera di difesa della marina italiana, Gazzettino Illustrato Venezia. vol. 1, 1933, p. 61.

Barrage balloons. Giovanni Scarabello, Il Martirio di Venezia durante la Grande Guerra e l'opera di difesa della marina italiana, Gazzettino Illustrato Venezia. vol. 1, 1933, p.55.

Marghera, from Quaderno mensile, Giovanni Giurati (Jnr), Il porto di venezia:aspetti e problemi della sua rinascita. Venezia, Premiate Officine Grafiche, C. Ferrari, 1924.

Giuseppe Volpi, Count of Misurata, Giovanni Scarabello, Il Martirio di Venezia durante la Grande Guerra e l'opera di difesa della marina italiana, Gazzettino Illustrato Venezia. vol. 1, 1933, p. 21.

Colonna Rostrata, Giardini. Michal Bosworth.

Aeroporto Nicelli, Lido. Michal Bosworth.

Interior of Aeroporto Nicelli with aeropitture. Michal Bosworth.

Mussolini, the uniformed Giordano, Il Gazzettino Illustrato, 10 June 1923.

Marghera, from Quaderno mensile, Giovanni Giurati (Jnr), Il porto di venezia:aspetti e problemi della sua rinascita. Venezia, Premiate Officine Grafiche, C. Ferrari, 1924.

Blatas panel. Michal Bosworth.

Holocaust memorial, 2012. Michal Bosworth.

La Partigiana. Michal Bosworth.

The city dedicated to La Partigiana. Michal Bosworth.

Memorial inscription to Roncalli. Michal Bosworth.

The Stucky Hilton. Michal Bosworth.

Pius X bust. Michal Bosworth.

Campo San Salvador during the floods, 1966. FAST Foto Archivio Storico Trevigiano della Provincia di Treviso Italia Fondo Borlui.

San Servolo as asylum, archival photograph reproduced with thanks to Istituto per le ricerche e gli studi sull'emarginazione sociale e culturale.

Advertisement in Piazza San Marco. Michal Bosworth.

Cyclists on the Zattere, Il Gazzettino, 22 May 1978. Fotoattualit, Agenzia Fototgrafica di Venezia.

Piazzetta after Pink Floyd, Il Gazzettino, 17 July 1989. Fotoattualita, Agenzia Fototgrafica di Venezia.

The tankette in Piazza San Marco.

Ferry stop notice. Michal Bosworth.

Maps

Venice and its sestieri

Rialto and surrounds

Piazza San Marco

The Lido

Railway station and surrounds

Frari Church and surrounds

Biennale site and surrounds

The Venetian Lagoon

La Fenice and surrounds

Introduction