VENETIAN ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY – 2 VENETIAN HERITAGE IN THE ADRIATIC AND IN THE MEDITERRANEAN

N.B. This class is organised by the Ca' Foscari School for International Education (SIE). Students cannot attend classes or take exams if they are not officially enrolled in the course. For further information on the SIE semester courses in English, please visit this webpage: https://www.unive.it/courses-exchange

Thanks to the integration of different teaching and learning methods (lectures, group discussions, and guided site visits), students will acquire the ability:

- to identify, describe, analyse, and compare archaeological sites, cultural landscapes, and works of architecture, painting, and sculpture;
- to recognise and interpret the stratification of archaeological and historical contexts, understanding the processes of transformation that have shaped sites and landscapes over time;
- to place monuments, artworks, archaeological remains, and landscapes within their historical, cultural, and geographical settings;
- to evaluate their significance within the broader development of European Art History and Archaeology, tracing continuities, changes, and interactions across different periods and regions.

The course is conceived to introduce Venetian art and archaeology to students who do not necessarily have a background in any field of Humanities, including Art. Students enrolled on a degree course in Classics, Arts or Humanities, especially MA students, are kindly asked to get in touch with the instructor.

The course aims to examine, through a selection of significant case studies, the Venetian heritage still preserved in the territories that once formed part of the Stato da Mar. This vast maritime domain encompassed the coasts of present-day Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, parts of Greece and Turkey, as well as the islands of Cyprus and Crete. In many of these regions, the material traces of Venetian rule remain clearly visible and, in some cases, continue to define the urban and cultural landscape, as exemplified by the fortifications of Nicosia in Cyprus.

Through the study of archaeological sites, historic urban centres, architectural monuments, artistic production, and cultural landscapes, the course will explore significant yet often lesser-known aspects of Venetian history beyond the lagoon. Particular attention will be devoted to the ways in which Venetian political, economic, artistic, and architectural culture shaped the landscapes of the Adriatic and Mediterranean worlds and interacted with local traditions over the centuries. By analysing the stratified heritage of these regions, students will gain a deeper understanding of the enduring impact of Venetian civilisation on the built environment and cultural landscapes of the eastern Adriatic and Mediterranean.

Teaching materials are available on Moodle.

BOOKS

(COMPULSORY) G. Scarabello, G. Ortalli, A Short History of Venice, 2004, pp. 7-23; 43-47; 57-67; 73-76; 83-87.
(OPTIONAL) G. Vale, REPUBLIC OF VENICE. An unusual journey through Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Greece and Cyprus, Zagreb 2021, pp. 164-314.

LIST OF ARTICLES AND BOOK CHAPTERS

B. Arbel, Venice’s Maritime Empire in the Early Modern Period, in E. Dursteler (ed.), Cambridge Companion to Venetian History, Cambridge 2013, pp. 125-253

N. Bakirtzis, Fortifications as urban heritage. The case of Nicosia in Cyprus and a glance at the city of Rhodes, “Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome”, Vol. 62, Special Issue: National Narratives and the Medieval Mediterranean (2017), pp. 171-192

C. Carpinato, Crete in Venice. The Presence of the Great Island in Venetian Architecture, Visual Arts, Music, and Literature, in L. Giannakopoulou, E. K. Skordyles (eds.), Culture and society in Crete: from Kornaros to Kazantzakis, 2017, pp. 217-240

K. Lowe, Visible Lives: Black Gondoliers and Other Black Africans in Renaissance Venice, “Renaissance Quarterly”, Vol. 66, No. 2 (Summer 2013), pp. 412-452

G. Necipoğlu, Visual Cosmopolitanism and Creative Translation: Artistic Conversations with Renaissance Italy in Mehmed II’s Constantinople, “Muqarnas”, vol. 29, 2012, pp. 1-81.

A. Ong, What Marco Polo Forgot’: Contemporary Chinese Art Reconfigures the Global, “Current Anthropology”, vol. 53, no. 4, 2012, pp. 471–94.

B. Ravid, Venice and its Minorities, in E. Dursteler (ed.), Cambridge Companion to Venetian History, Cambridge 2013, pp. 125-253

Assessment will be based on a final written examination designed to evaluate students’ knowledge of the course contents, their ability to contextualize archaeological, artistic, architectural, and landscape evidence, and their capacity for critical analysis and comparison.
Students are also encouraged to prepare an individual presentation on a topic previously agreed upon with the lecturer. The presentation will provide an opportunity to explore a specific case study, site, monument, or aspect of Venetian heritage in greater depth and to develop independent research and communication skills.
Detailed information regarding the structure, requirements, and assessment criteria of the final examination will be presented during the first lecture, regularly reviewed throughout the course, and made available on the Moodle platform.

written

The lecturer has a duty to ensure that the rules regarding the authenticity and originality of exam tests and papers are respected. Therefore, if there is suspicion of irregular conduct, an additional assessment may be conducted, which could differ from the original exam description.

Attendance is not compulsory, though it is encouraged. The minimum score to pass the test is 18/30.

The course combines lectures, seminar discussions, and guided analysis of case studies to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the Venetian heritage preserved across the territories of the former Stato da Mar. Lectures will introduce the historical, archaeological, artistic, and architectural contexts of the selected regions, examining the development of Venetian influence in the Adriatic and Mediterranean worlds.
Particular emphasis will be placed on the critical reading of archaeological sites, monuments, urban fabrics, and cultural landscapes through the analysis of maps, historical documents, architectural drawings, photographs, and digital resources. Case studies will be used to investigate the processes of cultural exchange, continuity, and transformation that shaped these territories over time.
Seminar discussions will encourage students to engage critically with primary and secondary sources, compare different regional experiences, and reflect on the relationships between heritage, landscape, memory, and identity. Whenever possible, guided visits to museums, archaeological sites, historic centres, or Venetian monuments will complement classroom activities, enabling students to develop direct observational skills and to apply theoretical concepts to the analysis of material and landscape evidence.
Through these integrated teaching methods, students will acquire the methodological tools necessary to interpret the archaeological, artistic, architectural, and landscape heritage of the former Venetian maritime domains within their broader historical and cultural contexts.

The distinctive feature of the course is the international composition of the class, generally including a variety of provenances both in geography and education. For this reason too, attendance to classes is highly recommended. Please note that students who cannot attend classes are required to prepare some additional readings to be discussed with the instructor.

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development