Italian Venice: A History

353 Pages·2014·17.416 MB·English

by  R. J. B. Bosworth

ITALIAN VENICE
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Venice will not be worthy of the twentieth century until the Grand Canal is
transformed into the most beautiful road in the world, with a footpath on
each side, two lines of trees and two steam- driven tramways, and a paved road
in the middle. [The old Venice could perhaps be] transported piece by piece
and re- erected in some English park or between a coal mine and a tanning
shop in Chicago. With the Grand Canal buried, the area will be more
beautiful, with five- storey housing adorned with iron- clad attics and concrete
frames, steel balconies, plastered light yellow and with pinkish shutters. We
shall have Piazza San Marco covered in glass. The two columns of the
Piazzetta will be removed and replaced by a sign that recalls their removal.
At the museum, a life- size model of a gondola will be preserved. It will be
made of ebony or silver or gilded copper or black velvet.
Archaeologist nightmare of 1887, as recounted in Giacomo Boni, Il cosidetto
sventramento: appunti di un veneziano (Rome: Stabilmento Tipografico
Italiano, 1887), 5–7
For a Venetian a bridge is a necessary structure for passage across a city built
on water, which you normally cross by foot. For a tourist . . . a bridge is
something else. Every bridge and not just the Rialto. It is a lookout where you
stop to admire the view, and to take ‘unforgettable’ photographs from one side
and then the other, assuming automatically that anyone who wants to pass
will stop and wait. It is also a place where you can stop and exchange
impressions with friends or, especially if you are young, sit on the steps. . . .
Such tourists simply do not see the urban purpose of the bridge, and neither
do the great majority of other tourists who throng around. They only see a
place of beauty, leisure and socialisation.
Enrico Tantucci, A che ora chiude Venezia? Breve guida alla
disneylandizzazione della città (Venice: Corte del Fontego, 2011), 6–7
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R.J.B. BOSWORTH
I TA L I A N
V E N I C E
A HISTORY
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW HAVEN AND LONDON
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For Giovanni Minelli
Copyright © 2014 R. J. B. Bosworth
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form
(beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and
except by reviewers for the public press) without written permission from the publishers.
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Set in Minion Pro Pro by IDSUK (DataConnection) Ltd
Printed in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Bosworth, R. J. B.
Italian Venice : a history / R.J.B. Bosworth.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-300-19387-9 (cloth : alkaline paper)
1. Venice (Italy)—History—1797–1866. 2. Venice (Italy)—History—1866–
3. Venice (Italy)—Social conditions. 4. Social change—Italy—Venice—History.
5. Venice (Italy)—Politics and government. I. Title.
DG678.5.B67 2014
945ʹ.31109—dc23
2014018999
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Contents
List of illustrations and maps vi
Introduction x
1 Awaiting an Italian destiny: Venice to 1866 1
2 The lights and shadows of Liberal improvement in
Venice, 1866–1900 23
3 Venice in the belle époque 51
4 Venice and its First World War 77
5 Peace and the imposition of Fascism on Venice, 1919–1930 105
6 Venice between Volpi and Mussolini, 1930–1940 135
7 Venice, Nazi- fascist war and American peace, 1940–1948 158
8 The many deaths of post- war Venice, 1948–1978 185
9 Death postponed through globalised rebirth (and mass tourism)? 213
Conclusion 244
Notes 250
Bibliography 290
Acknowledgements 311
Index 314
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Illustrations and Maps
Illustrations
page
1. Hotel San Fantin. Michal Bosworth. xix
2. Campo Cesare Battisti. Michal Bosworth. 3
3. Luidi Querena, Explosion of a Mine at San Ghuliano, 1849.
© Cameraphoto Arte, Venice. 13
4. Campo Manin with Cassa di Risparmio in the background.
Michal Bosworth. 25
5. Manin’s tomb. Michal Bosworth. 27
6. Tomaso Filippi, photograph of Corte Soresina, Castello.
© Fondo Fotografico Tomaso Filippi, I.R.E. Venezia. 32
7. Lace makers, L’Illustrazione italiana, 15 March 1914, p. 258.
Biblioteca di Archeologia e Storia dell’Arte, Roma. 38
8. Archduke Ferdinand in Venice, 1910. L’Illustrazione italiana,
‘L’arciduca a Venezia nella primavera del 1910’, 5 July 1914,
p. 6. Biblioteca di Archeologia e Storia dell’Arte, Roma. 57
9. ‘The Kaiser visits Venice’, L’Illustrazione italiana, 29 March 1914,
p. 299. Biblioteca di Archeologia e Storia dell’Arte, Roma. 58
10. Ambitious plans for the Lido, L’Illustrazione italiana,
5 April 1914, p. 341. Biblioteca di Archeologia e Storia dell’Arte, Roma. 61
11. The bombed interior of the Scalzi, 25 October 1915. Giovanni
Scarabello, Il Martirio di Venezia durante la Grande Guerra e
l’opera di difesa della marina italiana, Gazzettino Illustrato
Venezia. vol. 1, 1933, pp. 66–7. 79
12. Sauro slab. Michal Bosworth. 80
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ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS vii
13. Aerial defence from the altane of the city. Giovanni Scarabello,
Il Martirio di Venezia durante la Grande Guerra e l’opera di difesa
della marina italiana, Gazzettino Illustrato Venezia. vol. 1,
1933, p.53. 89
14. San Marco, without the Quadriga, defended. Giovanni Scarabello,
Il Martirio di Venezia durante la Grande Guerra e l’opera di difesa
della marina italiana, Gazzettino Illustrato Venezia. vol. 1,
1933, p.32. 90
15. Map of the bombed city, 1915–18. Giovanni Scarabello, Il Martirio
di Venezia durante la Grande Guerra e l’opera di difesa della
marina italiana, Gazzettino Illustrato Venezia. vol. 1, 1933, p. 61. 97
16. Barrage balloons. Giovanni Scarabello, Il Martirio di Venezia
durante la Grande Guerra e l’opera di difesa della marina italiana,
Gazzettino Illustrato Venezia. vol. 1, 1933, p.55. 98
17. Marghera, from Quaderno mensile, Giovanni Giurati (Jnr),
Il porto di venezia:aspetti e problemi della sua rinascita. Venezia,
Premiate Officine Grafiche, C. Ferrari, 1924. 101
18. Giuseppe Volpi, Count of Misurata, Giovanni Scarabello,
Il Martirio di Venezia durante la Grande Guerra e l’opera di
difesa della marina italiana, Gazzettino Illustrato Venezia.
vol. 1, 1933, p. 21. 107
19. Colonna Rostrata, Giardini. Michal Bosworth. 110
20. Aeroporto Nicelli, Lido. Michal Bosworth. 112
21. Interior of Aeroporto Nicelli with aeropitture. Michal Bosworth. 112
22. Mussolini, the uniformed Giordano, Il Gazzettino Illustrato,
10 June 1923. 121
23. Marghera, from Quaderno mensile, Giovanni Giurati (Jnr),
Il porto di venezia:aspetti e problemi della sua rinascita. Venezia,
Premiate Officine Grafiche, C. Ferrari, 1924. 123
24. Blatas panel. Michal Bosworth. 138
25. Holocaust memorial, 2012. Michal Bosworth. 139
26. La Partigiana. Michal Bosworth. 159
27. The city dedicated to La Partigiana. Michal Bosworth. 160
28. Memorial inscription to Roncalli. Michal Bosworth. 186
29. The Stucky Hilton. Michal Bosworth. 187
30. Pius X bust. Michal Bosworth. 199
31. Campo San Salvador during the floods, 1966. FAST Foto Archivio
Storico Trevigiano della Provincia di Treviso – Italia – Fondo
Borlui. 204
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viii ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS
32. San Servolo as asylum, archival photograph reproduced with
thanks to Istituto per le ricerche e gli studi sull’emarginazione
sociale e culturale. 215
33. Advertisement in Piazza San Marco. Michal Bosworth. 216
34. Cyclists on the Zattere, Il Gazzettino, 22 May 1978. Fotoattualità,
Agenzia Fototgrafica di Venezia. 219
35. Piazzetta after Pink Floyd, Il Gazzettino, 17 July 1989.
Fotoattualita, Agenzia Fototgrafica di Venezia. 224
36. The ‘tankette’ in Piazza San Marco. 232
37. Ferry stop notice. Michal Bosworth. 241
Maps
page
1. Venice and its sestieri ix
2. Rialto and surrounds 2
3. Piazza San Marco 29
4. The Lido 60
5. Railway station and surrounds 78
6. Frari Church and surrounds 106
7. Biennale site and surrounds 109
8. The Venetian Lagoon 188
9. La Fenice and surrounds 227
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