Encyclopedia

Giovanni Querini Stampalia's main legacy is his large collection of books which form the core of the library's heritage. This also includes the ancient documents that compose the correspondence of Cardinal Angelo Maria Querini, the historic tenant…

In a city like Venice, which lives on the water and where the boat is the most normal way to use, it is natural that water races take place there. It is presumed that the first rowing races were friendly competitions between the gardeners of the…

The new doge was elected while he was podestà in Fermo, an important strategic point on a hill about 50 km south of Ancona. Upon hearing the news of his election, he arrived in Venice by sea towards the end of February, swore the Doge's Promission,…

Costantino was born on 1 February 1838 in Trieste. His father Alfred Philip is an officer in the Hapsburg army, his mother, Leopoldina Castagna, has noble Roman ancestry; one of her ancestors is Giovan Battista Castagna, who became Pope Urban VII at…

Family from the village of Rezzonico, now the municipality of San Siro, in the province of Como and located on the lake of the same name. The genealogical branch separated around 1550 from the noble Della Torre di Rezzonico. The two brothers Carlo…

The first Rialto Bridge was built around 1180 by the architect Nicolò Barattieri, who was already well known in Venice. Rialto was the nerve centre of Venetian and international trade, in this area merchants would gather to buy and sell merchandise…

The Jacur family, a wealthy Paduan Jewish banker family, revolutionized the town planning of the city of Salzano and introduced an industrial activity of considerable importance for the population: the spinning mill. Moisè Vita Jacur (1797-1877)…

This enormous monumental complex was built approximately at the beginning of the 15th century in a crucial point of the city: in fact, along these foundations, there was one of the main landing places for the boats that brought materials and goods…

The sestiere of San Marco is bounded to the north by the Grand Canal; to the south, where the Piazza overlooks the Venetian Lagoon, by the basin of San Marco; to the west by Rio del Palazzo; and to the east by Rio de San Zulian. The sestiere is…

The origins of the island of San Michele, now commonly called the island of the Cemetery, can be traced back to the presence of the Camaldolese monks on the spot even though there are two versions currently accredited regarding their arrival on the…

San Polo is a very lively and interesting sestiere. The name of the sestiere derives from the ancient church dedicated to St Paul the Apostle, located in the largest square in Venice after St Mark's Square. Located right in the heart of the city,…

The origins and the first settlements It is assumed that the very first settlements on the island date back to the end of the year 600, when a group of Benedictine monks, driven out of the Franks by their first destroyed monastery of Santo Stefano d…