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A unique city of art, Venice is known the world over for its amazing bridges overlooking the picturesque canals, its romantic gondolas, the extraordinary Piazza San Marco, the magnificent Ducal Palace and the spectacular Carnival Period.
A minute of History:
Founded in the 5th century, Venice attained a peak of power and prosperity in the 15th and 16th centuries. For 400 years the powerful maritime city-republic had held sway, but after the 16th century the tide changed. The Ottoman Empire blocked Venice's Mediterranean trade routes, and newly emerging sea powers such as Britain and the Netherlands broke Venice's monopoly by opening oceanic trading routes. Like its steadily dwindling fortunes, Venice's art and culture began a prolonged decline, leaving only the splendid monuments to recall a fabled past, with the luminous paintings of Canaletto (1697-1768) and the beautiful frescoes of Giambattista Tiepolo striking a glorious swan song.
General Information:
Entirely built on water by men who dared defy the sea, Venice is unlike any other town. No matter how many times you have seen it in movies or TV commercials, the real thing is more surreal and dreamlike than you ever imagined. Its landmarks, the Basilica di San Marco and the Palazzo Ducale, seem hardly Italian: delightfully idiosyncratic, they are exotic mélanges of Byzantine, Gothic, and Renaissance styles.
Where to go:
You must walk everywhere in Venice (Venezia, in Italian) and where you cannot walk, you go by water. Occasionally, from fall to spring, you have to walk in water, when extraordinarily high tides known as acqua alta invade the lower parts of the city, flooding Piazza San Marco for a few hours. The difficulty of protecting Venice and its lagoon from dangerously high tides has generated extravagant plans and so many committee reports that the city may sink as much under the weight of paper as under water.
Getting Around:
In spite of these problems, Venetians have mastered the art of living well in their singular city. You'll see them going about their daily affairs in vaporetti (water buses), aboard the traghetti (traditional gondola ferries) that ply between the banks of the Grand Canal, in the campi (squares), and along the calli (narrow Venetian streets). And they are nothing if not skilled -- and remarkably tolerant -- in dealing with the veritable armies of tourists that at during the summer inundate their city.
Attractions:
Despite the crowds, you'll see why Napoléon called this "the most beautiful drawing room in all of Europe." Stand at the far end, facing the Basilica di San Marco. CA D´OR: This exquisite Gothic palace was once literally a "Golden House," its marble traceries and ornaments embellished with pure gold. Created in 1434 by the rich and enamored patrician Marino Contarini for his wife, the Ca' d'Oro served as a demonstration of love a second time in the 19th century, when a Russian prince offered it to the celebrated classical dancer Maria Taglioni, who collected palaces along the Grand Canal.
Events:
Imagine going to a Halloween party that lasts 12 days.
Here you will be joined by a global cast of thousands of costumed characters who, like yourself, remain nameless and faceless behind beautiful masks. Anticipation mounts as you are seduced by the mystical, ancient spirit of Carnival in Venice.
Handcrafts:
Maestro Gianni Seguso, the founder of our glassworks, was born in 1951 into the world of glass created by his father Guido Seguso. His first experiments with glass began when he was just a child, when he would play with it and start to learn its secrets.
Gastronomy:
It is said, that Marco Polo, during his journey to China, came across a strange type of food, long strings that were cooked in boiling water and then served with a sauce. When he returned to Venice he propagated this custom.
Today you are incline to beleive that alle the different kinds of spaghetti are a "spontaneous food", created un the various Italians regions, by the fantasy of local chefs.
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