O, the Wee Gondolas!
On my most recent trip to Venice, I rented an apartment from a pair of Venetian brothers (who happened to live beneath this apartment). Just outside the apartment door was this large, gorgeous painting of an ancient Venetian map. I love it so much! It depicts the city, which hasn’t changed all that much. Wish I knew the date of the map! Notice other great details like the extra-large Bucintoro ship in the canal and many other masted sailing ships, belying Venice’s maritime strength. The orientation of the church of San Giorgio Maggiore is a bit off; I guess the painter wanted us to see its facade, which in reality mostly faces the Piazza San Marco. Also, there are more canals here, which tells us that it’s before the time of Napoleon, who had a number of canals filled in and made into streets. Below, I’ve included some close ups of different parts of the map.
Here at the bend in the Grand Canal (near the black boats), you can see Ca’ Foscari, now the main university building, and across the small canal to its left is Ca’ Dolfin where our Casanova symposium was held. Across the Grand Canal is the church of San Samuele where Casanova was baptized.
Piazza San Marco looks the same then as now! The biggest difference is the lack of vendors selling cheap souvenirs.
This is my favorite section of the map, with all the wee slips of gondolas lined up near the Rialto Bridge.
