History 4262, May 2014 (8W1)Venice: the Biography of a City

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History 4262, May 2014 (8W1)Venice: The Biography of a City

Instructors: Prof. Christopher Fuhrmann () 264 Wooten Hall, x4527

The best way to contact me is via email. Put “Italy trip” somewhere in the subject line.

Prof. Laura Stern () 266 Wooten Hall, x4524

Course Description.

This class entails an intensive study trip to Venice, and is linked to a section of HIST 3762 in Rome; together, the travel portion of these classes runs from May 13/14 – June 1, 2014 (within the 3W “Maymester”). Both courses are in the Summer 8W1 term (see below). This section of HIST 4262 offers an overview to the history and culture of northern and central Italy, from antiquity to the present, via personal encounters with the monuments, art, and topography of the land. The course goals are to gain a basic grounding in the region’s archaeology, history and art; and to understand Italy’s impact on civilization, focusing especially on the Etruscans, ancient Rome, early/medieval Christianity, and the Italian Renaissance. The course will offer a unique opportunity to discover first-hand some of the most compelling places in world history, team-taught by two experts in the ancient, medieval and Renaissance history of Italy. Excursions to Florence, Verona, and Padua will provide extra insight into northern Italy.

Previous experience in courses such as AEAH 2350/2360/4803/4806 or HIST 1050/3760/4220 is recommended but not required. For History majors, this class is a group B credit. It could potentially count for various interdisciplinary minors (e.g. Classical Studies, Jewish Studies, Religion Studies) depending on the student’s research project and consultation with the instructors and the relevant advisors. Students should be aware that this class entails preparatory work during Spring 2014, and the completion of long papers (described below) in June during the first five-week Summer 2014 term.

More on course goals: The goal of this course is to examine the history of one of the most important Italian city-states, Venice, especially its political, economic and artistic aspects. Students who complete this course will be able to do the following:

* Trace the development of Venice (and environs) through different time periods, focusing on the Early Middle Ages, the Crusades, the Renaissance and the Silver Age.

* Understand the unique place of Venice during these time periods, as an “odd man out” among the Italian city-states in terms of its strong merchant class and stable hereditary oligarchy (rather than the strife-prone guild-republic city-states prevalent elsewhere ca. 1200-1500); its status within the Eastern Roman Empire and Byzantine exarchate rather than the Western Empire; its lack of classical Roman foundations; the absence of medieval feudalism; its dubious claims for apostolic authority (entirely lacking till its theft of St. Mark’s relics); and other political and economic differences (e.g. no popular enfranchisement, and the limited role of guilds).

* Appreciate and contextualize the art and architecture of Venice at its zenith, starting with an important early basilica (639) on the island of Torcello. Background lectures on early churches, the mosaics of Ravenna (whence Venice was originally ruled), and the Venetian artists Carpaccio and Tintoretto will highlight the special place of Venice in cultural history.

* Explain the strange rise of Venice from very humble beginnings, account for the factors in its growth and eventual decline, and experience how this history lives on at the site today. A major focus will be Venice’s hereditary oligarchy: its rise due to eastern trade, and its disintegration partially due to conspicuous consumption.

Excursions to nearby sites will help students grasp Venice’s place in its environmental and regional setting. Other islands in the Venetian lagoon communicate concrete clues as to how Venice dealt with industry, trade, criminality, sickness, and death. In the mainland region which Venice feudalized after losing its naval supremacy, Padua is historically important in the fields of education and religion, while Verona links the region to Italy’s ancient Roman past.

Textbooks (2):

1. A History of Venice, by John Julius Norwich, 1981

2. Blue Guide: Venice

We will provide you with further readings and handouts. Moreover, each student will conduct independent research before and after the trip. Each student will need to bring the Blue Guide to Italy, as well as a durable notebook for the journal requirement (see below).

How your grade will be determined:

Pre-test, covering Lord Norwich’s book, and geography: 15%

On-site report:20% of your final gradeParticipation:25%

Journal:10%Final paper(s):30%

Final grades will be evaluated as follows, based on percent-averages of your grades:

100-90=A (excellent) 89-80=B (good) 79-70=C (mediocre) 69-60=D (poor) >60=F (fail)

Further details:

Pre-test (15%): In late May, you will take a multiple-choice test covering John Julius Norwich’s A History of Venice. The test questions are targeted towards major figures, events, and “big picture” developments; there is roughly one question per book chapter. Reading Norwich’s work before the trip is vital in creating shared knowledge among the group. There may also be questions covering the basic geography of Venice (e.g., where is the train station, or Rialto Bridge -- i.e., major things). Students are also encouraged to attend some of Prof. Stern’s lectures on the Renaissance during in Spring 2014.

On-site report (20%): BEFORE the trip, in consultation with the instructors, each student participant will choose a topic relevant to Venice (related to a site from the daily schedule below), and conduct independent research for an oral report at the site. Each student will need to show Profs. Fuhrmann or Stern a presentation outline and produce any necessary handouts by the time we depart from the U.S. The co-teachers will provide further guidance for on-site reports at the Spring 2014 organizational meetings. The focus of this class is the Italian Renaissance, and naturally you are welcome to pick a site we’re visiting outside of Venice, e.g. in Florence, Verona, or Padua.

Journal (10%): During the travel portion of the class, you will see scores of different sites. Consequently, it is imperative that you keep a journal in order to keep track of the various places we visit. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to complete the final paper portion of your grade.

Participation (25%). The program is intensive and, for the most part, runs twelve hours a day, every day. You are expected to participate in all group activities, make appropriate comments in discussion, and maintain proper comportment. In general, you should be engaged, occasionally ask or answer questions, and follow the golden rule: treat us, your classmates, and your hosts as you would want to be treated. And please be mindful that we will be academic ambassadors of our country and our state.

Final paper(s) (30%, due July 3): The final paper project will be a multi-part work, which will consist of three parts:

1. Final site report: incorporate first-hand impressions into a written version of your field report. What did you learn or realize about your site when you were actually there, that you found particularly striking or surprising? Furthermore, in what ways did the other sites we visited provide enlightening context for your site? What other sites were particularly relevant to yours? You will need to provide a full bibliography for this part of your paper. (5-7 pp.)

2. A research paper, which discusses some aspect of Venetian/Italian culture or history from “the big picture.” Topics and guidelines will be discussed at the pre-trip meetings. (12-14 pp.)

3. A general review of the trip: what you found most interesting, ways the trip could be improved, etc. (1 -2 pp.)

NOTE: This is a Summer 8-Week 1 course; your work must be turned in no later than the end of that term, i.e. July 3, 2014. An “I” grade (“incomplete”) for this class will be assigned only in extraordinary circumstances, in accordance with official UNT policy. Travel for this course takes place during the 3-Week “Maymester term, and you should be able to return in time to take a Summer 5W1 class. However, please keep in mind the paper-writing requirements outlined above when considering your course load.

Spring 2014: In order to get the most out of this class and trip, students are encouraged to attend some of Prof. Stern’s lectures in Renaissance history, which she is teaching this semester.

Meetings in March, April, May 2014: Organizational meetings will be scheduled to provide general overview, travel guidelines, and introduction to UNT Study Abroad Center services.

The following required historical lectures will be held on successive Saturdays from 12-4 pm in WH t.b.a. Pizza will be provided. Prof. Stern will give the following required historical lectures on successive Saturdays from 12-4 pm in Wooten Hall. Pizza will be provided.

April 19: 1.) The significance of Ravenna

2.) Florence, Masaccio, and the early Renaissance

3.) Vittore Carpaccio (Venetian artist)

April26: 1.) Tintoretto & Venice 2.)The decline of Venice 3.) Finalizing site report picks

May10: Outlines for on-site reports due (email to both co-teachers, and bring two paper copies). By this date, each student must have taken the exam on Christopher Hibbert’s lengthy book Rome: A Biography of the Cityand Norwich’sA History of Venice(administered at our last pre-departure meeting,or in the History Help Center).

Tentative concise itinerary

N.B. All itineraries in Italy are tentative; there can (and most likely will) be some changes. Unforeseeable circumstances may compel us to move things around when we get there.

Tues. May 13: Departure from America; May 14-23: Rome class (HIST 3762); see other syllabus.

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DAY 1, Friday May 23. We wake up this morning in Rome, go to bed in Venice, and spend most of the day in FLORENCE in between.

After packing up and leaving Rome, we will take a train north to the Santa Maria Novella train station in Florence. On the way, we will talk about this great city to prepare you for what you’re about to see. The first order of business will be to stow our bags in the train station baggage deposit.

We should arrive around 11am, which will give us less than five hours in Florence. We will head straight to the nearby church of Santa Maria Novella (with Masaccio’s Trinity, the Strozzi Chapel, et al.), then to the iconic Duomo (Cathedral) and Baptistry, south to the Piazza dellaSignoria (old town hall, site of Michelangelo’s David) and over the Ponte Vecchio (“Old Bridge”), lunch and a quick stop back over the river to see Santa Croce (Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, and many others are buried here), then back to the train station. (If we are on schedule, we will also see the Bargello sculpture museum.) We will leave Florence at 4:30 and arrive in Venice at 6:30. This evening we will eat our first meal in Venice and settle into our accommodations just northwest of the Rialto Bridge:

Hotel PensioneGuerrato
CalleDrio La Scimia San Polo 240/a, 30125Venezia
phone +39 041 5285927 - phone-fax +39 0415227131 - fax +39 041 2411408
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DAY 2: Sat. May 24: Rialto Bridge and market; Grand Canal tour. Today we get our bearings with a tour of the Canal Grande

We start by seeing the renowned Rialto Bridge with shops, stall and nearby fish market.

Then we hop on the vaporetto (water bus) towards San Marco and the Doge’s Palace.

The duomo or cathedral of San Marco contains the relics of Saint Mark, the reputed author of the Gospel of Mark. This “Church of gold” itself is a beautiful example of Byzantine art and architecture.

Outside the church in the Piazza San Marco, we’ll see some ancient art pillaged from the infamous Fourth Crusade (itself a potential report topic); one important example is the wonderfully ugly Tetrarchs’ Statue which probably depicts Diocletian and his three co-emperors (incl. Constantine’s father).

Next, we’ll see the Doge’s Palace, or Palazzo Ducale. This grand structure was the home of the Doge or leader of Venice, and in many ways the site of its government. Among its many treasures are the Bridge of Sighs and Prisons (once the home of the famous lover Casanova); we’ll get special access to these through the “Secret Itineraries” tour.

Finally, if there is time: we will stop by the attachedCorrer Museum, included on the same ticket as above; great stuff on Venice’s culture, art, and history.

Time/energy permitting (we’ll do much of this in free time in future days):

A smaller but good nearby site: The church of San Zaccaria

Optional (?): going atop the Clock Tower

O: We might cross the lagoon to the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, for the church and bell tower there.

Very optional: Harry’s Bar (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry%27s_Bar_(Venice)), famous haunt of major cultural figures

Optional but pre-registration required: Evening, starting on the Rialto Bridge at 8pm:

“Ghost Walk” tour ,

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DAY 3, Sun. May 25: Islands of the Venetian Lagoon. Today we will tour other islands near Venice.

The most important, historically, is Torcello,the first island in the lagoon to be settled, with an excellent, mosaic-rich Byzantine church (Santa Maria Assunta). We will first visit Burano, a lovely island famous for its lace-making industry, and characteristically painted houses. Also, Murano, the site of Venice’s famous artisanal glass industry. We might also drop by the island of San Michele, essentially Venice’s cemetery (here lies figures as diverse as Ezra Pound and Igor Stravinski).

We are also making arrangements[1] to visit some of the more obscure, even semi-abandoned islands in the north part of the lagoon, e.g. LazzarettoNuovo, the major quarantine site during Venice’s glory days; possibly San Francesco del Deserto, site of an active monastery.

Alternatively, we may make separate arrangements to visit forgotten islands south of Venice: San Giorgio in Alga, Poveglia (a former quarantine station, now overgrown with ivy), and Sant’Angelo in Polvere (the site of an infamous—ahem—“convent,” later a storage depot for gunpowder).

By the way, in terms of site report research topics, this day affords the possibility to report on the general issue of how Venice dealt with death, and disease.

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DAY 4 – Monday May 26: North and Eastern Venice with Michael of

First, the Jewish Ghetto. This northern area of Venice is where the word “ghetto” comes from; this is where the city’s Jewish residents were eventually confined. We’ll visit a Jewish synagogue.

Later today we will visit the ScuolaDalmata di San Giorgio degliSchiavoni, which was originally one of Venice’s social centers (scuola) for resident aliens (in this case, Slavic Dalmatians from down the coast in what is today Croatia.) It’s most important now for its beautiful wood-lined chapel with exquisite paintings by Carpaccio.

We are particularly fortunate today to be guided by Michael Broderick of the highly-regarded tour company Venicescapes. Let me show you directly what he has to say about this day’s tour:

"A City of Nations" explores Venice as Europe’s most cosmopolitan center during the Middle Ages and Renaissance (see The main sights included in the itinerary – the Jewish Ghetto, the German and Turkish Exchanges, the Churches of the Greeks and the Armenians, and the Dalmatian community’s meeting hall – were all critically researched over a period of years with documents and information sources available exclusively at the pre-eminent centers for Venetian studies here in the city in order to provide rare insights and information that simply aren’t found in the average book or tour. They were then inserted into the context of an overall theme to give the perspective necessary to understand their true historical and cultural relevance. During the course of the itinerary, the students will not only enjoy visiting these sights, they’ll also discover the economic, political, and religious concerns that determined Venice’s immigration policies and the cross-cultural influences of the various foreign groups on the city, its art, and its traditions.

MAJOR SIGHTS

• German Exchange
• Jewish Ghetto
• Turk Exchange
• Dalmatian School
• Church of the Holy Cross of the Armenians (private visit)
• Church of Saint George of the Greeks (private visit)

ENGAGING TOPICS

• Heretics, schismatics, and infidels: economic integration and religious isolation
• Transient foreigners: sojourn permitsand the policing of the State
• De intus et extra: the road to citizenship
• The Venetian press in Europe: culture and faithin the Jewish, Armenian, and Greek diasporas
• Apologetics: the justification of cultural differences
• “Turcherie”: the fashion for a declining foe
• The Veneto-Cretan icon: Eastern faith meets Western art

Since the private visits to the Armenians and Greeks are obligatorily in the late afternoon, I would recommend two sessions. We would start in the morning (ideally 0900) and cover the Germans, Luccheses, Jews, and Turks, ending around 1300-1330. The group would then have a lunch break. We would meet up again at around 1600 for the Dalmatians, Armenians, and Greeks ending around 1800.

Dress code: Men will have to have long pants and short or long-sleeved shirts. Women can have Capri pants, long pants, or a skirt below the knee. Shoulders and backs need to be covered in the churches and synagogues.

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Evening, optional: Further east, we will at least admire the outside gates of the site that was the source of Venice’s naval power, theArsenal if we didn’t before; and (time permitting) the Isola di San Pietra where Venice’s original cathedral was. If you want, this will also be a good time to walk further east to the S. Elena neighborhood, which is very un-touristy.