Venetian cook book

The first printed cookbook was published in Venice in 1475, but the first Venetian one only in 1908. Why so late, given that Venice was one of the most avant-garde cities of the time and that it had also distinguished itself for the spread of publishing? The reason deals with its culinary tradition too rooted in its culture that the city did not need to pass it on.

Saor

However, a Venetian manuscript called the Cook’s book from the 1300s is still preserved in the Casanatese Library in Rome. It reports the recipe for ‘saor’. It is a condiment or dressing typical of the Venetian cuisine, ideal for seasoning fish and vegetables. There are 134 recipes listed in the manuscript dealing especially with meat dishes. It is precisely this manuscript that inspires the first printed book of 1475, which emphasizes that sea fish is unhealthy and makes you very thirsty. It also explains how to clean it by removing the entrails not from the belly, but from the gills. If fish were roasted the entrails were left.

Fish broth

In 1570 broth made with fish and meat was already known. Sea bass was preferred to other types of fish and mutton, kid and veal were used for meat broth.

At the end of the 1600s the French cuisine took hold in Venice and became a fashion. It influenced the way Venetians prepared desserts. The most appreciated one was zabaione, served early in the morning to hunters.

Zabaione

Venetian Rice soup and liver were introduced at the end of the 1700s and were very popular as well as ‘peoci’ that is mollusks were prepared starting from the 1800s.

Peoci

The recipes we still know today they come about just in the beginning of the twentieth century when finally the first Venetian recipe book was written and published by an anonymous person.

Burano, the island of artists

Remigio Barbaro’s home on Burano island

Burano is not only the island of fishermen, lace-making and houses painted in bright colours. It has also given birth to many artists including Remigio Barbaro, born in 1911 and died in 2005. He taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice for a while and was given a professorship in New York that he refused. He met internationally prominent people such Ernest Hemingway and Peggy Guggenheim.

His courtyard full of works

He worked in his studio house where he found the right ambiance surrounded by an amazing garden. His works are in terracotta, bronze and clay and preparatory drawings, studies and sketches. He mainly dealt with religious subjects.

The terracotta work representing the famous composer, Baldassare Galuppi

Not everything he did, however, is housed in his house museum. There are many works such as the monument to Baldassare Galuppi located in the main square on Burano island.

The adulteress

Waiting for peace, that was presented at the Biennale of 1956 under the name of Adultera is installed near the boat station and many more in the surrounding areas.

Houses on Burano island

Furthermore, he was commissioned by the Superintendency of Venice to take care of the restoration of the facades of the houses on the island. He analysed the pre-existing colours and decided which intervention was best done.

Before dying, he expressed the desire to turn his home into a permanent museum. Unfortunately, his wish has not yet been fulfilled.

A little touch brings good luck

Venice has a lot of secrets and some have not been discovered yet. Some artefacts have been recycled and inserted into buildings, so it is difficult sometimes to clarify the reason why they are there.

The Hooks at San Canciano

What about the hooks you can see while you are crossing the bridge near Campo San Canciano attached to a wall facing the water? Their meaning might not be clear to all the people who walk past them and kiss them because they think they bring good luck.

The bridge of the Quartered

Those hooks are the only ones left in Venice, There were some more in the district of Santa Croce, at the ponte dei Squartai (the bridge of the Quartered).

They are made out of iron, and have the shape of an anchor like the hooks you find in a butcher shop to hold meat. They were put in at least four different parts of Venice referring to the cardinal points of Padua, Mestre, Chioggia and Lido. Venetian law required that the four parts of criminals’ and traitors’ bodies who had been executed had to be exposed.

Pink columns, Doge’s Palace facade

Their heads were brought instead to St. Mark’s Square where they were probably hanged between the two pink columns of the facade of the Doge’s Palace.

The reason for all of this exposure dealt with the warnings that the Republic of Venice wanted to communicate to their citizens as an educational example in order that they did not commit the same crimes.

The Venetian wooden terrace: Venice seen from the top

Venetian roofs

In Venice there are many buildings that are topped with wooden terraces. In the twelfth century Venetian houses were just made out of wood and had terraces parallel to the main facades. As they collapsed very often the government decided to remove them especially those along main streets and canals, and later they were added on top of the roofs.

Small rooftop garden in the foreground

What function did they have?

They served for different purposes. It was one of the favorite places of many women, who used to dry clothes outside, did some gardening and watered flowers.

Panorama

Starting from the 1500s they were used for another purpose. Local women took advantage of the sun rays to lighten their hair. The most fashionable color was the blond invented by one of the most famous painters, Titian, who painted his female subjects blond and with fair skin.

Violante, Titian’s painting

It was a ceremony that most of the women followed in order to be fashionable but In order to obtain this highlighted effect they followed to the letter the recipes suggested by manufacturers and sellers of perfumes. A straw hat with no top served for the purpose, where their long hair was rolled up to dry.

Iron wooden terrace

The wooden terraces left in the city are subject to the Superintendency, that in recent times has decided not to give so many permits for new ones!

San Francesco del Deserto: an island where peace and silence reign.

When St. Francis came back from the fifth crusade in the 1220s it is said that he stopped to pray on one of the Venetian lagoon islands. Immediately after he left the island was called Saint Francis after his name a group of Franciscan fathers settled there to continue his religious practice. Hundreds of years later because of malaria the island was abandoned for a while and for this reason the word Desert was applied to it.

The architectonic complex of Saint Francis, the pathway leading to the church

The island is considered a place for meditation and prayers as it is surrounded by a lot of vegetation and cypresses, typical trees of the lagoon islands and of the Mediterranean evergreen plants. A pathway with pebbles leads to the old convent, where a few friars still live today.

The church

The island was originally owned by a Venetian nobleman, Jacopo Michiel, who donated it to the friars. In 1228 a church was added to the oratory where St. Francis prayed. On its facade there is the representation of the saint in a small niche. The whole architectonic complex was built according to the Franciscan standards of respecting simplicity, so its inner and outer parts remain very plain.

Part of the garden surrounding the island

Following St Francis precepts the Franciscan friars found God in all the creatures and identified with them as brothers and sisters. Famous are his Canticle of the creatures and his Canticle of the Sun underlying the relationship between humankind and the creation.

One of his canticles is represented on the iron structure you see in the above picture. The hymn was dedicated to the birds who greeted him on his arrival on the island.

Burano lace: an art that is dying out!

Burano island and its houses in striking colors

The lagoon of Venice is surrounded by many islands that have their hidden treasures. Located in the northern part of this enclosed bay Burano is well-known for its lace production since the 1500s.

Lace museum

Thanks to the patient work of many women, who repaired their husbands’ fishing nets, lace making was invented by using a needle and a thread. From this simple work they copied and created a particular stitch that gave birth to a delicate fabric made by hand. The

techniques employed are still the same of the past and are known today by a few women, who are very old.

Fishing nets

When the design has been chosen it is copied onto transparent paper and then sewn together with pieces of cloth. With a needle and a thread the paper is pierced in order to follow the pattern.

Pattern

This type of lace is created using at least four stitches, the main one being the guipure one, followed by the so-called barrette stitch used to tie the work together. The last stitches that complete the work are the net and the relief one. When the piece of lace is ready the paper is cut off, the lace is washed, starched and framed.