Venetian Stories

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  • Playing at ball

    Ancient Venice had ball games, but they weren’t like the ones we play today.

  • The Plague Stone of Poveglia

    The island of Poveglia in the Venetian lagoon is one of the most haunted in the world. This has been well-known since the early 2000s.

  • Jacopo Tiepolo

    Doge Jacopo Tiepolo (1229–1249) left marks on Venice which we can still see today, eight centuries later.

  • Daughter of the Republic

    Bianca Cappello was created “daughter of the Republic” because Venice didn’t have princesses.

  • Venetian Stories update

    A short update on the recent irregularities, their causes and the plans for the future.

  • Elephanticide

    The Church of Sant’Antonin in Castello still carries the sign of an unfortunate episode with an elephant.

  • Spring-summer 2025 schedule

    For the spring and summer of 2025 I will try to maintain a schedule with two episodes each month, or every second week. The reason is not a lack of desire to do more, but sometimes life plays games with you. As I started work on the podcast in the late autumn — planning episodes,…

  • A Catalogue of Courtesans

    The famous courtesans of Venice were so famous somebody made a catalogue, with prices.

  • Giuseppe Tassini — a human giant

    The “Curiosità Veneziane” is an unmatched treasure trove of titbits of Venetian history, and the result of decades spent in the archives and libraries.

  • The Castle of Love

    In 1215, Venice and Padua fought a war for one of the silliest reasons imaginable: a brawl during a game of Castle of Love.