Social Module: Venice
1) What is the name of your city, town or village and where did this name come from? Note, there may also be an informal name, that is a name that local people refer to it. You may also discuss any name changes over time and the reasons for these name changes.
In that case, if the word Veneti has the Indo-European origin, it means “famous”, but if we consider this word with the pre-Indo origin, it means “foreigners” or “new comers” (nuovi venuti). Perhaps the name of the Veneto is from the word “new comers”. In this case, the name of Venice has appeared (Cities of Europe).
Venice also has another name, “Serenissima”, which has appeared from that its government in all its actions has guided by a clear conception of justice. Supreme Master, that is not associated with any groups or parties, has been able to solve with the highest serenity different public affairs. In this case, we can see on the allegorical paintings the Republic with the justice symbols (a sword and scales) (Culture of Venice).
It should be noted that St. Mark’s Square is a “brand” sign of the city. It is the place, where tourists usually start sightseeing around Venice.
2) When was your city, town or village settled/discovered? You may describe the circumstances regarding its discovery, including where did the occupants come from and why did they migrate.
In 466 the first local government body, the Council of Representatives, has existed in Venice. After the particular time, the city becomes the part of the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire. The new wave of refugees began to settle in Venice, when the invasion of the Lombards started in Italy. In the same year, the Patriarch of Aquileia has fled to Grado (Province of Gorizia) from the barbarians, and the population of the Venice lagoon has become a part of its canonical territory. This event was of great importance for the inhabitants of Venice because the Patria del Friuli was considered the second most important in Italy. The patriarchs of Grado have played a major role in the political life of Venice since that time (Venice and Venetian Riviera Culture).
The settlers gradually inhabited the island, numbering more than a hundred, located in the Venice lagoon. There are more than 150 channels and ducts between the islands. The settlers used powerful piles over the water, they erected decking, knocked them together, and built the houses. Food, water and timber arrived on the island from the mainland. The main occupations of the settlers were fishing, salt production, and short sea shipping. While the barbarian invasions ceased to disturb northern Italy, the first colony of the islanders, known as Domini Di Terraferma, appeared on the mainland part of the Venetian lagoon (Culture of Venice).
This next set of questions deal with the cultural evolution of your city, town or village, that is how it has changed, developed, or evolved due to cultural influences.
3) What is the settlement history of your city, town or village? Include in your discussion what groups have existed or utilized your landscape, when they used it, and how they used it.
Shortly after the establishment, the city, Venice, became a major trading center, which connected continental Europe and Byzantium. In the Middle Ages, Venice developed as Thalassocracy. It is the kind of state, the power of which is based on the success of navigation. The inhabitants of Venice called their own state as a duchy initially, then as a commune and then the official name “Glorious Republic” appeared in in the documents (Angermann).
Becoming captive islanders, people have not returned to “terra ferma”, solid ground, on the mainland, because the water that surrounded them was a true salvation. While all cities of medieval Italy and took refuge behind strong high walls, but at the same time suffered from wars and sieges, the Venetians on the water were inaccessible for the enemies. Having grown rich, Venetians became more aggressive. They hired generals with troops and conquered a vast territory, both in Italy and outside. But the islanders lived peacefully, because water remained an insurmountable barrier for the military equipment in the Middle Ages (Womack).
4) Discuss any philosophical, religious, or political, ideological beliefs/values of those that settled/discovered your city, town or village. Specifically address how these beliefs/values affected how the landscape was used, manipulated and maintained. You may develop this answer based on a single group or include a comparison between groups.
The city experienced the influence of different cultures over the centuries. It is reflected in the interweaving of different styles of art. Painters and sculptors left their mark on the life of the city for centuries, filling it with bright colors and a variety of forms of majestic buildings.
Venice is a city not only of unusual architecture, but also an unusual history. The first and the second are intertwined and are inseparable from each other. The place, where the modern Venice is, fenced off from the mainland by a long spit. It separates the Adriatic Sea from the shallow lagoons and abundant shoals. These shallows are not all the pieces of land. They are formed by rivers, mud and sand. They are quite shaky and insecure (White).
Religious beliefs have come quite early in Venice. In this case, there are many churches on the islands of the Venice. Many of the former islands, on which the city stands today, were the separate places earlier, completely surrounded by water. Each of them had a church, and the houses of the most generous parishioners surrounded the churches (Culture of Venice).
The golden age of Venice began in the thirteenth century, when it skillfully took advantage during the Fourth Crusade. The territory of Venice gradually increased.
5) Describe the general attitude concerning environmental protection and conservation in the area. How had this influenced the development and growth of the area?
Environmental protection of the territory of the Venice is not popular until the twentieth century. The former state of Venice only used the natural resources and built new palaces. At the same time, the Venetians treated with reverence to the lagoon waters and protected them. Some edict, which protect the lagoon water, was inscribed on the black slab of stone with golden letters in Latin in the sixteenth century. Nowadays, this edict is located in the museum of Venice and reminds about the Venetians’ attitude to the environment, especially, sea water (Venice World).
At the same time, almost no one paid attention to the environmental issues of Venice that has started to sink. In this case, destructive processes have activated. They include the lagoon, as a geological factor, on the one hand and the atmospheric influence on the other hand. The level of the city fell to tens of centimeters in comparison with the eighteenth century as a result of the pumping of ground water and gas from sedimentary rocks in the vicinity of the city. In accordance with the lowering of groundwater levels the periodic flooding occurs. They are caused by the onset of the Adriatic Sea and now cause significantly more damage than one hundred years ago. Oak piles of buildings are at serious risk. As a result of the termination of pumping groundwater, soil subsidence slowed from six millimeters to less than one per year. At the same time, sea winds, saturated with salt water and the objects of the chemical industry cause the significant processes of weathering of the palaces walls and monuments in Venice (Venice and Venetian Riviera Culture).
6) How are the local cultural characteristics displayed or articulated in your city, town or village?
The cultural characteristics are displayed in the buildings, in the interior decoration of houses, pictures, occupation of people and even in the their clothes. At the same time, the most interesting part of the Venetian culture is the palaces, houses and canals, which plays the role of the city streets. But Venice is famous not only the architecture and painting, but also refined musical taste. The musical traditions of Venice played an important role in the development of its culture. A genre of songs as Barcarolle has arisen here. This style of music inspired Chopin, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Tchaikovsky and other musicians.
Nowadays, Venice is considered as a major center of international conferences and festivals, including the prestigious Biennale in Venice and the Venice Film Festival. The list of Venice attractions includes also the Carnival of Venice (Venice and Venetian Riviera Culture).
7) What transportation, agricultural or urban technologies where used/developed by those that occupied your city, town or village landscape site? How do these technologies relate to the cultural background of the occupants?
Agriculture is not presented on the islands of the Venice. Only fishing was popular earlier, but nowadays the coastal waters of the islands are so polluted that fishing became even dangerous. Urban technologies, which are in Venice, can be considered as the unique, because even buildings, which have been built in the thirteenth century, remain in the good state (Venice World).
In Venice, houses have been built almost exclusively on the wooden stilts. Venice suffers from floods, especially during the spring tide, but the principle of building houses on the reinforced stilts withstood the test of time. The height of such buildings allows protecting the house wiring and interior decoration from moisture, and provides the safety of people living in them. Entrance to the majority of the houses is from the water side. It is designed so that visitors can enter their houses directly from the boats. It should be noted that nowadays, houses on the water, are the main attraction for foreign tourists in Italy (Venice and Venetian Riviera Culture).
The public transport network is called ACTV and includes a water bus, water taxi and “vaporetto”. There is no road transport in the Venice. Once gondolas were the chief means of transportation around the city, but now they are only used as a tourist attraction. All above mentioned technologies related to the cultural background of the settlers (Cities of Europe).
8) What is (are) the architectural style (s) of your city, town or village? This may include landscape architectural or landscape design styles. How did the culture of the occupants influence the style?
The local cultural characteristics are well embodied in the different buildings in the city.
For example, vain Venetians gave full rein to their passion for external splendor and made their city the most beautiful in Italy. Around two hundred palaces with the majestic facades reflected in the calm waters of the Grand Canal by the middle of the fifteenth century. The former Byzantine tastes were replaced by the Gothic style: buildings with the colonnades and balconies with delicate marble bindings (Venice and Venetian Riviera Culture).
The most elegant of all the Gothic palaces of Venice is the so-called Ka’d’Oro. It is the “Golden House”, the marble facade of which was decorated with gold leaf. This palace belonged to a noble family of the Contarini. The remarkable Gothic façade was built in the palace in the first half of the fifteenth century. Palazzo Foscari is another example of the buildings in the Gothic style. Now the University is placed in this building. The small Palazzo Contarini-Fa with high lancet windows and openwork balconies attracts attention of each tourist, because, according to legend, Desdemona lived here before Othello kidnapped her (Culture of Venice).
The construction of the exterior facades of the palace Doge has been completed in the fifteenth century. It is really the most amazing building, in which the European motives are harmoniously merged with the oriental ones. South facade opens to the lagoon. Thus, Venetians created a huge number of beautiful buildings. All of them are the part of the UNESCO heritage today (Venice and Venetian Riviera Culture).
These final two questions focus on the resultant landscape. You have now explored the physical, economic, political and cultural dimensions of your landscape. Consider how each of these has influenced or directed landscape use, management, design and planning for your site.
9) Describe the community structure of your city, town or village landscape site. Is it a small close-knit community, or a large city, or a dispersed/sprawling suburb?
People, who live on the islands of Venice, can be considered as a small close-knit community. At the same time Venice is well-known by the former powerful Venetian Republic. Its territory was divided into six sestrieres (districts).
Heads of the sestrieres began to enter the Council of the doge, membership of which was strictly limited since the end of the twelfth century. So the government decided to emphasize the importance of the sestriere as the main administrative unit of the Republic. Piazza San Marco was the political center of the city and the Rialto was the economic center. Many theaters, cafes and restaurants were in the district of San Marco. The slaughterhouses, vegetable gardens, orchards and vineyards were concentrated in the district of Cannaregio. The customs and port area were located in the district Dorsoduro (Cities of Europe).
The initial population of Venice was quite diverse. The population was divided into three classes in the eighteenth century:
the nobles, patricians;
the Cittadini;
the commoners.
The nobles were those who, according to the changes made to the constitution in 1297, ranked as “lords”. The share of lords was around 4.5% of the total population at the end of the seventeenth century, in 1642 – 3.7%. In 1766, the percentage of aristocrats reduced to 2.5% and remains at that level until 1797 (Venice and Venetian Riviera Culture).
It should be noted that special policemen conducted relentless supervision for the maintenance of order on the streets of Venice. At the same time, the huge number of bridges was even dangerous for people and many of them fell from the outdoor terraces or roofs (Cities of Europe).
The modern community structure of Venice includes descendants of the indigenous Venetians, who have many privileges in the city, foreign quite reach persons, who usually have a summer villa in Venice and move to this city on the holidays, and the ordinary tourists, a number of which increases from year to year. It should be noted that the total population of indigenous settlers reduces constantly. The majority of venetians moves to the mainland part, because the life on the islands becomes more expensive from year to year (Venice World).
10) Write a conclusion paragraph for this project. You may include a summary of what you have learned, what you anticipate about the future, what else you would like to learn, or what makes the city, town or village landscape important, unique or valuable.
During the project I’ve learned the following aspects of the city Venice:
cultural features of the indigenous Venetians and how they changed during the Middle Age;
the administrative structure of the City and the whole Venetian Republic, its political system and the community structure;
the religion and its place in the life of the Venetians;
the architecture of the city, that now is considered as the greatest example of the quite complicated construction technologies.
Venice is amazing and one-of-a-kind city with the beautiful poetic name “serenity”. But nowadays, many people call the city as a perishing place. The oldest city in Italy, the city of tourists – such statements we can often hear about this place. It should be noted that the city, Venice, is sinking, it is gradually disappearing under the water, and although throughout its history the city has struggled with water, now an offensive disaster occurs faster than usual. Thus, the projects to save Venice are quite interesting for me for further study.
REFERENCES FOR SOCIAL MODULE
Angermann, Chris. "In Venice, An Island Of History And Charm". Sarasota Herald Tribune (2013): n. pag. Web. 26 June 2016.
Cities of Europe,. "Culture Of Venice. Europe-Cities". Europe-cities.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 26 June 2016.
Culture of Venice, Idea. "City Of Venice. Culture.". Comune.venezia.it. N.p., 2016. Web. 26 June 2016.
Venice and Venetian Riviera Culture,. "Culture In Venice And Venetian Riviera". Monarch.co.uk. N.p., 2016. Web. 26 June 2016.
Venice World, "Venice History And Culture". Veniceworld.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 26 June 2016.
White, Dale. "Saving Venice History". Sarasota Herald Tribune 2016. Web. 26 June 2016.
Womack, Christi. "Venice's History, Through One Lens". Sarasota Herald Tribune 2016. Web. 26 June 2016.
