Venice—--The Starting Point of Marco Polo's Trip
Venice, Italy is a world famous city and unusual too. Venice lies upon about 120 islands in the Adriatic ocean and has narrow canals instead of roads. The people use boats as taxis, buses, police cars, and ambulances. Venice is partly on the Italian-mainland Pretty architecture and priceless works of art have helped make Venice a VERY popular city filled with tourists. Venice is the capital of Venetia, one of the 20 political areas in Italy. Venice’s name in Italian is Venezia. It is at the North part of the Adriatic Sea.
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Venice’s location on the Adriatic made it very important trading center as previously as the A.D 800’s. Venice became a strong ocean power and slowly built a colonial empire that extended throughout much of the eastern Mediterranean area. At the height of its power, Venice was known as the, “Queen of the Adriatic.”
History of Venice
Venice used to be one of the most powerful cities in Europe. Venice was established in 453A.D. The farmers and fishermen in the surrounding towns came to this little island in Adriatic Sea to escape from the Nomads. They took stones from the ground to build houses and cut down trees to make boats. They built Venice. During 14th century, Venice became the busiest port in Italy.
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Food in Venice
——All The Food Information Comes From:http://www.italianbellavita.com/2012/10/the-traditional-foods-of-venice-italy/
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Italian cuisine with its simple ingredients, enticing aromas, and fabulous flavors is one of the most delicious food on the planet. And it is here in Venice, where we'll begin our gastronomic tour of Italian food.
Venice, like every region of Italy, is known for its traditional food specialities. A visit to Venice offers an opportunity to discover fascinating gastronomic traditions. Obviously due to Venice’s location on the sea, there is a large abundance of fish dishes, simply seasoned with olive oil, vinegar, garlic, parsley, and herbs. Although the lagoon is famous for the quality and variety of its fish, the inland river waters’ fresh fish are also cherished in recipes. |
~Polenta~
A staple in Northern Italy, polenta enjoys its greatest popularity among Venetians! Originally known as part of ‘cucina povera’ (food of the poor), polenta is interestingly now considered to be a gourmet, upscale food! Ah, that creamy, golden pool of ground semolina cornmeal that results from 30 to 45 minutes of constant stirring with a ‘mescala’, wooden stirring stick! Venetians prefer polenta over pasta (although they do have pasta dishes).
~Gnocchi~
Although now prepared all over Italy, the delicious gnocchi is a culinary tradition dating all the way back to the 16th century and connected to the festivities of Carnival. Northern Italy gnocchi is made of potatoes, flour and eggs and then served with either melted butter, cheese, and sage, or other creative sauces. If you have never had gnocchi in ‘quattro formaggio’ (four cheeses) you have not tasted Italian culinary bliss!
~Tiramisu~
Oh, this is the famous, quintessential ‘pick-me-up’ dessert made of sponge cake soaked in rich coffee, Marsala wine, cocoa, amidst layers of sweet mascarpone cheese! Records show that Tuscany and Veneto have fought over the origin of this recipe, however many sources confirm that it hails from Venice.
Venice Art
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Masks are a big deal in Venice. There are different kinds of cool, artistic masks in Venice. They usually wear them to celebrate a certain thing, but they mostly wear it for fun with costumes and few other things. The most popular masks in Venice right now are cat masks. Those are probably one of the most unique masks there.
Venice has the rialto bridge. The rialto bridge is one of the most romantic places in Venice, Italy. Most people row their gondolas under the rialto bridge for a proposal or maybe a wedding.
Venice Carnivals
——Information Comes From:http://www.veniceword.com/carnevale.html
You may think that at the time of Casanova, Carnival was the right
excuse for abandoning oneself to libertinage, and for some it was true. The
fog, the masks, the music, the dances.. all seemed set on purpose for
mysterious loves, romance, pleasures. But where does Carnival come from? and
what is it, really?
The Carnival in Venice is said to have originated from a victory of the "Serenissima Repubblica" (that is Venice: in those times it was a powerful state), in the war against Ulrico, Patriarch of Aquileia, in the year 1162. To celebrate this victory, dances started to take place every year in St. Mark's Square, the biggest square of Venice. Magicians and others joined the fun. With time, the feast was also celebrated in private palazzi.
The Carnival in Venice is said to have originated from a victory of the "Serenissima Repubblica" (that is Venice: in those times it was a powerful state), in the war against Ulrico, Patriarch of Aquileia, in the year 1162. To celebrate this victory, dances started to take place every year in St. Mark's Square, the biggest square of Venice. Magicians and others joined the fun. With time, the feast was also celebrated in private palazzi.
Venice Weather
Every year during autumn or winter seasons Venice floods. This flooding is called “aqua alta”. The worst recorded flood was four years ago and it was as high as 5ft 2in.
What are people doing when there is a flooding:)
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Resources:
http://www.veniceword.com/
http://venice.umwblogs.org/exhibit/early-modern-venetian-clothing/trade/
http://www.dw.de/venice-flooded-after-storm/a-16371450
http://travel.usnews.com/Venice_Italy/Pictures/Rialto_Bridge_at_Night_1734/
http://www.italianbellavita.com/2012/10/the-traditional-foods-of-venice-italy/
http://website.lineone.net/~mcrouch/marcopolo/links.htm
http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2012/nov/11/venice-hit-floods-heavy-rain-video
http://www.youtube.com/
http://www.baidu.com/