2022
There are hidden places in Venice that you can’t even imagine… you can’t imagine what’s behind a closed, normal wooden door. This is what you see when you arrive, a long walk of similar buildings.
Then you open the door and you see this, a huge palace with an inner garden, we are at Palazzo Zenobio, which was also the seat of The Moorat-Raphael College of Venice
The whole building is full of history, the history of Armenia
You turn left and you find a “Stairway to heaven” and this is how heaven looks like, an incredible hall plunged in frescoes and mirrors
Going back on the ground floor again, you turn right and there it is: the Antica Stamperia Armena (Ancient Armenian Print Shop) almost ready for opening a new shop of books, diaries and objects related to printing activities. Obejcts not for everyone, very refined and delicate, made of paper when we are no longer used to reading printed books as technologies make reading possible on digital platforms. When entering the Stamperia (not open to the public yet) my feeling was that I was entering the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, the huge library of old, forgotten titles in the Shadow of the Wind
It was Satruday before the end of Carnival when @ermest and I visited the Stamperia and palazzo Zenobio. Here is a picture of a Gala Evening
… and as it was Carnival I had to eat frittelle, with zabaione and crema Chantilly. Really I had to! And I ate frittelle before lunch when we had something light like this. Enjoy!
It was a great day @AntonellaGr , started with the visit of Palazzo Zenobio
Well, I agree, from outside it is impossible to imagine what you will find behind the door.
But also the external view, with the coloured buildings, was amazing
What was amazing for me was to visit the "Antica Stamperia Armena". It recall to my mind of a book, "Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore", that I read last year. I am sure @brittym and @KarenVChin will understand what I mean. The printing machine, the ancient paper, traditional tools that only a few people know how to use it. At the end we started to talk about Aldus Pius Manuntius, can you believe it? Look at the last picture
Definitely a beautiful and really hidden place
Hi @AntonellaGr,
This is one of my favourite posts! Thanks a lot for sharing it here. I've read it once, but I'll definitely get back to it again. I love to read about hidden places and things that are not only for all the tourists. Venice is one of the places I've been and really made me want to learn more and more.
@ErmesT Thanks for showing me @AntonellaGr post! Can you please both of you remind me what was the story behind this ancient well on my photo? I think it might also be interesting for everyone 🙂
Hi @KatyaL
I am happy you like my post! There are a lot of hidden places in Venice. I have also found out some "haunted houses", sooner or later I will visit them too. In the morning....:)
I cannot find the story of the well. From your picture I see it is in the Northern side of the church of Santa Maria Formosa. The legend says that the former church was buil in 639 by San Magno, bishop of Oderzo, after seeing the appearance of the Virgin Mary. The Virgin Mary had the aspect of a beautiful "curvy" (that means "formosa") woman. The bishop was asked to build a church on the island where a white cloud was suspended.
The church was restored sevaral times, after fire in 1106 and earthquake in 1624. In World War 1 the church was destroyed by bombing and restored in 1926.
There are around 600 wells in Venice. Strangely enough for a city built on the water, Venice was poor in drinking water. Venetian wells were different from traditional wells in the world. In fact their water was not obtained by accessing an underground source but by collecting and filtering rainwater
Cheers
Antonella
In fact it seems strange @AntonellaGr , that a city built on the water did not have access to the water, but we should remember that Venice is built on the "Salt water"
You will probably find also a "tour of the wells" @KatyaL , a work of engineering to give fresh drinking water to the city.
Back to the subject of this topic, Palazzo Zenobio, where the Antica Stamperia Armena (Ancient Armenian Print Shop) is built, is a very ancient Venetian palace. From outside there is no way to imagine what you will find inside. Here the ceiling of the hall of mirrors.
Following the link you will see the internal court: https://goo.gl/maps/Q4UgF8iBWET2.
Watching at the photo, can you believe this is Venice @KarenVChin ?
