📜14 July 1902. Few know and remember this date, even here in Venice, maybe because the tallest building of the city has been masterfully rebuilt in all its splendour! 💪
But on the morning of this day, one of the most famous symbols of Venice since XIII century, the Campanile of #SanMarco ("el paron de casa", the city landlord, as Venetians called it) collapsed!
The poor and irreparable situation of the building was already known for years, that's why a tragedy was avoided by erecting wooden barricades to keep visitors and onlookers at a safe distance. The collapse of the building was also a sort of miracle in its perfection 😇😳. St. Mark's Square and all its masterpieces (Doge's Palace, The Basilica, The Clock Tower, The Procuratie) were in fact almost untouched because the Campanile collapsed on itself (see 📸☝️).
The tower we all know and admire today was rebuilt in 8 years, opened and blessed by Venice Patriarch on 15 June 1910. An elevator to reach the tower top was first installed in 1962.
#VeniceHistory

Hey, they are bulding a new bridge these days in Venice 😳
Do you know why?

👉 Here's the answer 🎆

📜12 August 976. Pietro Orseolo is elected as 23rd Doge of Venice. He stayed in charge just 2 years and his only aim was to bring peace to Venice which at the time was witnessing frequent riots: he succeeded by focusing the city on the construction of the Doge's Palace and St. Mark's Basilica.
He also built the first hospice in Venice, right behind St. Mark's Square, with the purpose to host pilgrims who came to Venice to venerate Saint Mark! 🙏🏻
Pietro left his "dogado" spontaneously on a Summer night of 978 to become a monk for the rest of his life: for this reason he is the only Doge of Venice who became a Catholic Saint after his death, venerated as Pietro I Orseolo.
📸 The Bacino Orseolo you see in the pictures☝️, was named after him and today is the most famous Gondola place in Venice, right behind St. Mark!
#VeniceHistory #12August

📜🌍🔭 21 August 1609. The first time man could see publicly through a telescope... it happened in Venice! 🔭💪🏻
Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer from Pisa, simply one of the most important figures in human history, considered the "father of observational astronomy", the "father of modern physics", the "father of the scientific method", "the father of modern science", shows the first realization of his revolutionary instrument, the telescope, to the Doge and the Senators on the Bell Tower of #SanMarco, in Venice!
The attendands were all left breathless since they were able to clearly see the distant town of Chioggia from the bell tower.
Returning to #Padua, where he resided at the time, #Galileo further worked in the years on his telescope, bringing it to 20 and even 30 magnification, when the contemporary telescopes of Dutch construction reached just 4 !!! 😳👏
That day of 1609 has been marked by a plaque, still there today on a corner of St.Mark's Campanile 📸☝️

#VeniceHistory #21August

📜🏝26 August 1717. The island of San Lazzaro degli Armeni is born in Venice, in front of the Lido.
San Lazzaro was ceded by the Republic of Venice to Mkhitar Sebastatsi, an Armenian Catholic monk, who established a monastery with his followers. It has since been the headquarters of the Mekhitarists and one of the world's centers of Armenian culture, studies and diaspora. Numerous important publications, such as the first complete dictionary of the Armenian language (1749–69) and the first modern history of #Armenia (1781–86), were made in the island by the monks which made it an early major center of Armenian printing.
In San Lazzaro degli Armeni there are about 170,000 volumes, of which 4,500 are manuscripts, Arab, Indian and Egyptian artifacts, the mummy of Nehmeket.
Today the island is still inhabited only by monks, reachable and visitable with a dedicated public waterbus which runs twice a day and needless to say, it's the most in demand attraction for Armenians who visit Venice!

#VeniceHistory #26August