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WOMEN IN VENICE

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WOMEN IN VENICE

Our first stop is the Ospedale della Pieta’, an institution for foundlings and orphans, where Antonio Vivaldi worked as a violin teacher and choirmaster in the 18th century.

The tiny museum preserves unique items related to the mothers, books recording rules for the admission of children, musical instruments played by the girls, old musical scores, and more.

This collection of historic items offers a brilliant example of how charity dealt with education and hope for a better life.

We will then navigate the Grand Canal in a water taxi, recalling the days when Marquise Luisa Casati and Peggy Guggenheim enriched the city with eccentric parties at their homes.

We will proceed to Ca’ Mocenigo, in the district of Santa Croce.

The imposing building was a private noble residence, still in good part furnished with its original pieces.

In 1985 it became the museum of Venetian costumes and textiles.

On display, a splendid variety of fabrics and garments ranges from the 15th to the 18th centuries.

Women’s clothing includes corsets, embroidered shawls, lace fans, silk hoses, and shoes.
Recently a local sponsor bequeathed a private 18th-century collection of rare perfume bottles, sometimes manufactured in Murano.

A delicate fragrance gently pervades the rooms and accompanies us during the entire visit.

Descriptive panels tell the history of perfume trading routes, the making of soaps, and cosmetics in Venice. Clear glass pots preserve exotic raw materials, soap powders, dry roots, colorful minerals.

Visitors are allowed to touch and smell, adding to the pleasure of the eye the joy of a pleasant scent!

A few steps away, in a gloomy district known as Carampane, located just behind the Rialto market, an army of professional prostitutes, under strict government control, once offered their services to sailors and merchants.

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These humble sex workers had nothing in common with the wealthy, well-educated “honest courtesans.”

The most famous of them, Veronica Franco, wrote poetry and public letters to entertain the King of France in 1574, and was even portrayed by Tintoretto!

Near the Carampane area lived Bianca Cappello, a noble girl whose life was affected by mystery, love, at first sight, wealth, plots, and murder.

You will hear more intriguing stories from your tour guide, concerning the world of “Women in Venice“.

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HIGHLIGHTS

  • Vivaldi Museum at La Pieta’
  • Private boat ride on the Grand Canal
  • Ca’ Mocenigo Museum of Costume and Perfume
  • Ancient red light district in Rialto

MORE ABOUT
THIS TOUR

The patriarchal aristocracy ruling Venice didn’t recognize any political right for women.
However, women still managed to influence economic and social matters. Family relations, marriages, and dowries were the areas in which women interacted dynamically with men.

Women of the nobility and upper class donors were active in the maintenance of charitable institutions, such as hospices and orphanages, which permitted the survival of thousands of helpless people.

Lower classes girls traditionally worked at home as lace or part-time necklace makers,  or embroiderers. Some of them were skilled silk weavers, on the heydays of Venetian brocades and damasks.

Nevertheless, home servants or street vendors enjoyed considerable freedom of movement within their neighborhood.

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As women of the upper classes needed an expensive dowry to get married, and as spinsterhood was inconceivable, many families sent youngest daughters to convents. The historic researches led by scholars about convents in Venice disclosed scandals, plots, and family dramas.

“Honest” Venetian courtesans, educated, sophisticated, alluring women who utilized their charm and sex appeal to entertain noble-class gentlemen, have attracted the attention of writers and academics.

Not to be forgotten are the thousands of humble, uneducated prostitutes active in the Rialto area – where the government always tried to concentrate them as legal workers.
As a whole, women’s role in Venetian society was varied and strictly related to social status.

Only in the 18th century they started to enjoy greater freedom: without playing any political role, many of them succeeded in the fields of music, painting, literature, and journalism.

DRESS CODE AND ADVICE

  • No shorts, no sleeveless shirts. Knee high skirts and short sleeves are ok!
  • Vivaldi Museum and Ca’ Mocenigo are closed on Mondays.

info@walksinsidevenice.com

COST

  • This tour lasts three hours and costs 430 euros up to six people (not per person), only private parties.
  • TRANSPORTATION: Included by private water taxi
  • Museum fees per person:
  • Vivaldi Museum:  10 euros
  • Ca’ Mocenigo (Museum of Costume):12 euros (full rate)-9.50 euro (reduced rate)

CONTACT US

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