VENETIAN ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY – 1 FROM THE ORIGINS OF VENICE TO THE BIENNALE

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 information on how to apply for the SIE English-taught courses for exchange students, please visit this webpage: https://www.unive.it/courses-exchange

By the end of the course, through the synthesis of theoretical lectures and site-based pedagogical visits, students will be able to:

- Conduct rigorous formal and material analyses of architectural structures, visual arts, and archaeological contexts, identifying key stylistic markers, production techniques, and material properties;
- Contextualize material culture and artistic monuments within their broader historical, social, and intellectual frameworks, evaluating their role in the long-term development of European art and archaeology;
- Critically evaluate the socio-ecological dynamics between human societies and their natural environments, assessing how ecological shifts, resource exploitation, and landscape transformation influence cultural production, spatial organization, and the preservation of archaeological sites.

The course is conceived to introduce Venetian art 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 examines the development of Venetian art from the city’s early origins to the fall of the Serenissima, emphasizing how Venice’s lagoon environment, geo-morphological features, and fragile ecosystem directly shaped its artistic and architectural choices. Through close study of key architectural, sculptural, and painted works - spanning the High Middle Ages through the 19th century - students will explore how environmental factors influenced both material creation and the physical preservation of heritage, alongside the global legacy of Venetian art from the 20th century to today.
Special emphasis will be placed on Venice’s extraordinary museum collections, archaeological sites, religious buildings, and the unique institution of the scuole (devotional brotherhoods) as primary spaces for critical analysis. Through direct engagement with these sacred, civic, and display contexts, students will evaluate key masterpieces within their original devotional, social, and architectural settings. By integrating environmental humanities, museum studies, and material analysis, the course provides a comprehensive understanding of Venice's cultural landscape and the preservation challenges facing its lagoon heritage today.

Recommended Reading List:

G. ORTALLI, G. SCARABELLO, A short history of Venice, Venezia, Pacini editore, 1999 (available on Moodle).

E. DURSTELER (ed.), A Companion to Venetian History, Leiden, Brill, 2013 (selected chapters).

C. BALDACCI, S. BASSI; L. DE CAPITANI, P. D. OMODEO (ed.), Venice and the Anthropocene. An ecocritical guide, Venezia, Wetlands, 2022.

Written test. Individual presentations on subjects previously discussed with the lecturer are welcome.
Attendance to classes is highly recommended.

written

The instructor is responsible for ensuring the authenticity and originality of all examinations and coursework. In cases of suspected academic misconduct, an additional on-site assessment may be required during the exams, which may differ from the standard format.

Regarding the grading criteria (the method by which grades will be assigned):

Scores in the range of 18-22 will be awarded under the following conditions:
Sufficient knowledge and understanding applied in reference to the curriculum.
Limited ability to gather and/or interpret data while formulating independent judgments.
Sufficient communicative skills.

Scores in the range of 23-26 will be awarded under the following conditions:
Fair knowledge and understanding applied in reference to the curriculum.
Fair ability to gather and/or interpret data while formulating independent judgments.
Fair communicative skills.

Scores in the range of 27-30 will be awarded under the following conditions:
Good or excellent knowledge and understanding applied in reference to the curriculum.
Good or excellent ability to gather and/or interpret data while formulating independent judgments.
Fully appropriate communicative skills.

Honors will be awarded in the presence of excellent knowledge and understanding applied in reference to the curriculum, along with exceptional judgment ability and communicative skills.

Given the historically high enrollment in this course, instruction is primarily delivered through structured, lecture-based sessions (frontal lectures). However, active student engagement, debate, and critical discussion are strongly encouraged throughout the semester.
To complement classroom learning, the syllabus typically incorporates two guided field trips (subject to feasibility) and at least one guest seminar led by an invited specialist, focusing on a particularly high-impact or contemporary theme in the field.

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 agreed with the instructor.

Please note that there is only one exam session. It is not possible to repeat the exam at a later date.
Students regularly enrolled in the Master's Degree Programme in European, American and Postcolonial Languages and Literatures are allowed to take the exam on an additional date no later than the end of the following month (i.e. the end of January 2027 if the exam session is in December 2026).
N.B. Students in this case must discuss the additional exam date with the teacher during the first weeks of classes.

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