“Detourism”, the official Town of Venice Tourist communication Service Newsletter, today presents one of the ten “Itineraries of Venetian craftsmanship and creativity” promoted by the City of Venice as part of the pilot action of the European Project S.LI.DES “Smart strategies for sustainable tourism in LIvely cultural DEStinations”. It is the project that also inspired the Culture Route of the Su e Zo for the Bridges 2023! Enjoy your reading!
The Sotoportego dei Oresi.
THE ANCIENT GOLDSMITHS’ STREET, UNDER THE RIALTO ARCADES, TODAY IS ONE OF THE BEST PLACES TO SHOP IN VENICE.
Since March 23, 1331, the Serenissima had designated this as the city’s location for Venetian goldsmiths’ workshops. Today, the Sotoportego dei Oresi, at the foot of the Rialto Bridge, is a true district of high craftsmanship and design in Venice, among shops and ateliers for jewelry, artistic glass, fashion and furnishings.
The arcades’ vaults still retain part of the original sixteenth-century frescoes. Each craftsman had the cross vault above his workshop painted, embellishing it while keeping the public building in good condition.
The Sotoportego di Rialto frescoes are among the rare cases of those wall decorations still visible in the city. Also created by major artists such as Giorgione, Titian, and Tintoretto, they embellished Renaissance Venetian palaces and monuments.
It is said that in July 1574, here, in the Valentini brothers’ goldsmithing workshop, the King of France, Henry III of Valois, wanted to buy a stupendous scepter encrusted with gems. However, the goldsmiths did not accept his offer, considering it too low. They knew full well that another passing sovereign would soon pay the sum they requested.
The Sotoportego dei Oresi is a stop on San Polo medieval: courtesans, merchants and devotion itinerary, one of ten Venetian craftsmanship and creativity trails that the City of Venice promotes.
Discover the “Medieval San Polo: a place of courtesans, merchants and devotion” route
[source: La newsletter di Venezia del 28.11.2022]
[picture: Wolfgang Moroder / Wikimedia Commons]
We are proud to publish some selected contents of such newsletter (see previous post: “Detourism for the Up and Down the Bridges“). On our website, in several episodes, we will only present some samples (see all posts in our archive page “Detourism Newsletter“), but the invitation addressed to all the friends of the Up and Down the Bridges is to subscribe to the newsletter directly.
To receive the newsletter “Detourism” directly in your email box every month fill in the online form proposed by the Town of Venice.
Discover all the itineraries of #Detourism to explore a different Venice, promoted as part of the #EnjoyRespectVenezia awareness campaign of the Town of Venice.
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Tourist communication Service of the Town of Venice:
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