History of Venice Podcast

With the 11th century nearly at an end, Venice’s economy is motoring thanks to her hugely favourable trade deal with Constantinople and the relentless hard work of thousands of ordinary Venetians. But the international situation is volatile for the lagoon dwellers, with their main ally looking increasingly precarious. In the 1090s, Emperor Alexios’s call for western help against the Turks unleashe...

You can see the legacy of Venice's mighty commercial prowess everywhere around the city. This week we look at how those international trading influences helped to shape a couple of her most characteristic foods: the fritole that have become a classic Carnevale sweet treat; and the iconic creamed cod of baccala mantecato -- a dish that is so important that it recently gained its own Ducal Confrater...

This week we talk to historical fiction author Christian Cameron, whose recent novel "The Venetian Heretic" takes place in Venice in 1651. We discuss some of Christian's favourite Venetian characters and stories, and look at how he researched some of the scenes in the novel. You can find out more about Christian's novel here: https://christiancameronauthor.com/book/the-venetian-heretic/ To contact...

In 1082, Venice won valuable trading concessions from Emperor Alexios in Constantinople. We live in a world where leaders often talk up the importance of trade deals without it ever being clear what the tangible benefits are. But this Golden Bull was genuinely significant. This week we look at what it meant not just for the rich and powerful in Venice, but for the whole community. Email us at hist...

A woman meets a charming but mercurial young stranger on a coach trip from Naples to Rome. With the apparent connivance of her husband, their relationship blossoms into a delightful, but fleeting, Roman Holiday before she returns to her daily life back in Naples. As the years go by, their recurring meetings will mark out the passing decades of Casanova’s life. But is any of it true? Or is he just...

The maelstrom of Mediterranean chaos that we described last week comes crashing into Venice, with the Investiture Controversy raging on her doorstep and the terrifying Robert Guiscard threatening to destroy the city’s oldest and most stable ally, the Eastern Roman Empire. The city will need wisdom, skill, and some well timed good fortune, but in the end Venice will emerge from this moment of peril...

Venice’s neighbours on all sides were in various stages of turmoil by the early 1070s. To understand the impact of all this on our little independent maritime Republic, we need to pull the camera back a little and examine this sea of troubles that all of her neighbours seemed resolutely determined to stir up or swim in. The century is boiling up towards a dramatic climax and Venice needs to be rea...

In the spring of 1071, Venice celebrated the appointment of a new Doxe*. And for the first time we have a surviving eye witness account of the event. Today we look at how that election of 1071 went down, and what Domenico Tino’s account tells us about the society that his namesake, new Doxe Domenico Selvo, was now in charge of. *For the time being we’ve adopted an old Venetian spelling, since the...

After a quick recap of Venice’s ups and downs in the 1020s and early 1030s, we watch the city continue to navigate a delicate diplomatic route between her powerful neighbours. With peace and stability returning to the city, renewed trading wealth brings an outburst of church building, including the jewel in the crown, the Basilica of San Marco, which begins to take its final shape under Doxe Domen...

18-year-old Casanova has a job offer as an assistant Bishop (Assistant to the Bishop, that is). But before he can take his first step on this road to the fame, fortune and social prestige that surely await him in a glittering church career, he is desperate to take revenge on his enemy, Antonio Razzetta. Once that is accomplished, he faces a lengthy journey to the south of Italy, which will involve...

At the age of 17, Casanova suddenly lost his grandmother, his house, and his chief patron / stand-in father figure. Feeling rootless, he started to lash out and ended up being sent to a seminary in an attempt to keep him on the straight and narrow. This was a predictably terrible idea. But help was on the way, in the unlikely shape of a Bishop who would soon take Casanova away and set him on the r...

A slighty different episode this week, as we do an outside broadcast from Venice. We look at the sights and sounds of Campo San Barnaba, in Dorsoduro. Like almost anywhere in Venice, you don't have to look very far beneath the surface to discover a rich tapestry of historical stories. To find Campo San Barnaba when you're in Venice, take the Vaporetto No. 1 to Ca Rezzonico, then walk one minute do...

St Theodore, or Tòdaro, stands on a crocodile-dragon at the top of one of the two huge columns on the picture-postcard San Marco waterfront. He’s usually described as the original patron saint of Venice, before the arrival of St Mark. But what’s the story behind the man himself, his very unusual statue, and his connection with a city that he never went anywhere near in life? This week we investiga...

After last week's adventures with Patriarch Poppo, we go back to look at what was happening inside Venice. Neither a fully fledged hereditary state nor a recognisable Republic, the city's future political structures could go in either direction. But as internal divisions abound and external pressures multiply, the city emerges from the crucible of the 1020s with a clearer view of her future politi...

Venice was moving confidently into the new millennium when we last checked in on her. But with a powerful and resurgent Holy Roman Empire on her doorstep, danger lurks around every corner. When the ambitious and amusingly named Patriarch Poppo turns up just across the border in Friuli, the city's ongoing independence hangs by a thread, as the unresolved conflict between the rival Archbishoprics of...

Casanova's reputation is often more of a hindrance than a help in understanding the character of the man himself. In the third part of our series marking the 300th anniversary of the birth of Venice's most notorious son, we look at his formative teenage years. Giacomo is back in his home city, with minimal parental supervision. The highs and lows of his experiences, and the habits and attitudes th...

We've reached the year 1000 in our story, so it's time to take a breath and think about what sort of society Venice is right now. The traces of the city's future stone-and-marble elegance are there, but it's a very different place from the Venice that we know and love today. What were their houses like? Where did their food and drinking water come from? And why did they keep bringing holy relics b...

We reached the first millennium in the last episode, and that means that it's time to look back at the Doges of the past 100 years and think about how we rate them. We've got three guys with the same name; four guys who leave office to become monks (including one actual Saint), and an extremely valuable Golden Bull. Who will come out as our favourite? Will it be Inferno Doge? Pirate-slaying Doge?...

As the new millennium dawns, the Venetians take a decisive step that will be commemorated for the next 800 years in the increasingly elaborate and spectacular Marriage to the Sea ceremony. The episode also paves the way for the city to become the recognised Queen of the Adriatic -- a waterway that she would dominate so completely that foreign mapmakers referred to it as the “Gulf of Venice”. And t...

Young Giacomo Casanova has been sent away to Padova at the age of 9 to cure his nosebleeds and get an education. He soon starts enjoying his schooling, and finds himself particularly fascinated by his teacher’s teenage sister, Bettina. What are these strange new emotions that he feels for her? And how will he feel when an older boy takes an interest in her? Stand by for an ogress, a rat-infested b...

When you're walking a political tightrope you need strong nerves, good judgement, and sometimes a bit of luck. But with the resurgent Holy Roman Empire on her doorstep, Venice is politically divided between those who want to cosy up to their large and acquisitive neighbour, and those who want to keep a safe distance. The city's independence is on the line as the millennium approaches. Find out how...

On a hot August afternoon in 976, the city of Venice burst into flames, both politically and literally. After spending most of the century trying to steer a delicate but serene course between the competing interests of her much larger friends, neighbours, and rivals, the young republic could no longer contain its political tensions. If cleansing by fire was the only way to cure the sickness at the...

We begin our investigation into the life of the original Casanova -- a famous name whose popular reputation tends to obscure the much more interesting man who lies underneath. We start by looking at his earliest memories, and his relationship with his parents. We've got a mysterious witch, an alleged indiscretion by the Prince of Wales, copious nosebleeds, and much more. https://histvenicepod.podb...

We're back in Venice this week with a couple of local legends set in the 8th and 9th centuries. First, we look at the story of the 12 Marias, featuring pirates, wedding calamities, sea battles, and the etymology of the marionette. Then we explain the supposed origin of the Venetian practice of giving a "bocolo", or rosebud, to your beloved on St Mark's Day, to commemorate the sad love story of Vul...

We conclude our four-part investigation into the life of our own local heroine, Margaret Marshal, first Duchess of Norfolk, and we find a couple of unlikely connections to our main subject of the city of Venice in the process. Margaret and Walter are now a serious power couple, but the Golden Age of Edward's Arthurian court is slowly starting to fade. Find out what happens to them both as the 14th...