Tag: 1500s
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The Blood of Christ
A particular Venetian Easter tradition, and a forgotten Venetian charity, and some special relics.
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Episode 25 — The Venetian Carnival
Pigs and bulls lose in the alleyways, wooden castles smashed with maces, human towers and funambulists. The Venetian carnival was quite unlike the modern replica.
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Beheading bulls
During carnival, on Fat Thursday, the Venetians executed a bull in front of the Doge’s Palace. It was beheaded by sword.
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Thomas Philologus Ravennas
The statue on the façade of the San Zulian church is not of a saint. It is of a physician who got rich selling remedies for syphilis.
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Episode 21 — The Plague Doctor
The well-known image of the plague doctor with the beaked mask doesn’t really have a lot of support in our sources. Did he even exist?
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Episode 19 — Venice and the plague – part 3
During the 1400s, Venice had created defences against the recurring outbreaks of the plague, and they kept Venice mostly safe for the following centuries. Mostly safe.
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The Battle of Lepanto
The Battle of Lepanto was a great victory for Venice and its allies, but even if Venice won a battle, it still lost the war.
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Episode 16 — The game of Pallone
Proper ball games for decent people? Not all ball games are equal; some are more equal than others.
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Episode 15 — The game of Calcio
The Venetians played a ball game (or maybe two different) which was called football, or kicking ball, but it was more rugby-ish, but also not really.
