Venice is the capital of the Veneto region of northern Italy, with a population of 271,251, and has been known as the “Queen of the Adriatic”, “City of Water”, “City of Bridges”, and “The City of Light”. The city stretches across 110 small islands in the marshy Venetian Lagoon along the Adriatic Sea. The saltwater lagoon stretches along the shoreline between the mouths of the Po (south) and the Piave (north) Rivers. The Venetian Republic was a major maritime power and a staging area for the Fourth Crusade, as well as a very important center of commerce (especially silk, grain and spice trade) and art in the Renaissance and up to the end of the 17th century. In 1604, to defray the cost of flood relief Venice introduced what could be considered the first example of what became elsewhere a ‘stamp tax’. When the revenue fell short of expectations in 1608 Venice introduced paper with the superscription ‘AQ’ and imprinted instructions that were to be used for ‘letters to officials’. Initially this was to be a temporary tax but in fact remained in effect to the fall of the Republic in 1797. Shortly after the introduction of the tax, Spain produced similar paper for more general taxation purposes and the practice spread to other countries.
What’s in a Name
The word “Italy” possibly derives from a Homeric word that means “calf.” The first Greek settlers, who arrived in Southern Italy from Euboea Island in the 8th century BCE, named their new land Vitulia, meaning “land of calves.” The area indicated by this name spread later to the north, but it was only under Augustus that this denomination was applied to the whole peninsula.
Venetian Culture
In the 14th century, many young Venetian men began wearing tight-fitting multicolored hose, the designs on which indicated the Compagnie della Calza (“Trouser Club”) to which they belonged. The Senate passed sumptuary laws, but these merely resulted in changes in fashion in order to circumvent the law. Dull garments were worn over colorful ones, which then were cut to show the hidden colors – resulting in the wide spread of men's "slashed" fashions in the 15th century.
Labels: Travel information
posted by Hills @ 7:24 AM
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