At least once in your life you can hear them say to you: << Don't be a godwit! >>. The origin of the term is linked to a typical figure of the social landscape in the last centuries of the Serenissima . The same figure, then, was also present in the Maritime Republic of Genoa. It was a person paid to follow those who had a defaulting debt. The constant stalking was accompanied by moans, screams and moans. The godwit , in fact, was solitary complaining and screaming relentle

When the event known as "Vespro" or "Vespers" is mentioned in the pages of history, one immediately thinks of the paintings of the Venetian Francesco Hayez . But how well do we know this event? On Easter Monday of 1282, the people of Palermo , gathered according to custom in front of the church of Santo Spirito to attend Vespers , rose up against the French domination of Charles of Anjou by massacring all the French in the city and proclaiming their independence. The term Si

"Once upon a time, there was a young Tuscan shepherd who, to escape boredom, drew sheep on rocks . One day, he was admired by Cimabue , the most famous painter of the time, who asked him to become his pupil ." Whether you believe this legend or not, one thing is certain: Giotto learned so much from his master that he surpassed him. If we had to name just one of Giotto's works, for us it would certainly be the fresco decoration of the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua , named after th

There was a Paduan man, in the 1500s, who was a philosopher, man of letters and pupil of Pomponazzi in Bologna: this was Sperone Speroni....

A letter that seems similar to many others can surprise and turn out to be something very special and interesting. Like this Sicilian letter of 1836 addressed to Verona. The letter is addressed to a noblewoman from Verona , Countess Giulia Guarienti Buri , written by her son Girolamo . A private letter, a real family conversation. Girolamo tells some days of his journey in Sicily , five days that describe the itinerary from Palermo to Girgenti ; it seems written day by day, a

Who, coming or living in Padua , has never heard of the Botanical Garden ? It should be known that the oldest vegetable garden in the world was the invention of a wise, meek man: Francesco Bonafede, the reader of the Semplici . Naturally, this place was conceived as a site owned by the University of Padua , founded on the land of the Benedictine Monks of Santa Giustina, just before the mid-16th century. It was by the will of the Senate of the Republic of Venice that it was es

In 1506, the Venetian Pietro Bembo , an influential figure in the development of the Italian language, moved to Urbino . In Urbino he met at the refined court of Montefeltro Castiglione, Bibbiena... Having decided not to follow a political career in the Republic of Venice , and to devote himself to study. He did not succeed to settle in Rome, but, thanks to Elisabetta Gonzaga , he was received by the Duke of Urbino , where he lived until 1512. However, Bembo's stay in Urbi

Fire, flames, smoke : a burning of forbidden tomes. The time is that of the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation, its protagonists are the heretics and their heresies. The Veneto at that time was crushed in the grip of the spiritual conflict between Luther's Germany and papal Rome ... The swarming of a non-Catholic religious community in this region was becoming remarkable, and cities like the capital of the Serenissima were revealed venues for the penetration of ideas in

Galileo Galilei spent eighteen years in Venice, from 1592 to 1610, which he would later remember as the best years of his life. During these years, he gained prestige with the Venetian senate, but also with the rectors of the University of Padua , who paid him an ever-increasing, and eventually substantial, salary. Galileo also frequented the learned circles and senatorial circles of Venice , where he became friends with Paolo Sarpi, philosopher and theologian. It seems tha