Venice: City of Fortune

Today I woke up early because my cats sat on me, and I decided to revisit an old project I started helping my friend Linda design Venetian Renaissance costumes. Naturally, I started with a research session to get things going. One thing led to the other and now I'm learning all these new things about the city of Venice: a hub of commerce and culture sparkled with the romance of many historical events.

Talk about your humble beginnings. Venice began as a medieval version of a bomb shelter against terrorist attacks because of its advantageous geography. In 5th century the barbarians set their eyes on the town of Aquiliea. The townspeople fled at the sight of the barbarians, southwards towards an island called Torcello; because it was marshlands, it was easy to defend there. Eventually the small community of people decided to stay there and made it into a real settlement. Due to the presence of the barbarians, this settlement was both geographically and politically separated from the Byzantine empire and therefore, became a self-reliant community with their unique cultural flare.

It's because of this attitude that is the reason of their inevitable success. Because of their self-reliant nature as a city, many citizens became skilled tradesmen. Venice was the first city to witness the emergence of the middle class.

Ok, I'm gonna stop myself right here because it could take all day. These sites are great though!

http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?groupid=426&HistoryID=aa43&gtrack=pthc

http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/articles/italy/italy-history-guide-history-of-venice/365


Also here is a quick sketch of a medieval Venetian girl. There is not really any drawing or picture of medieval Venetian clothing so I just pulled some inspiration from renaissance clothing.

Did you know hair bleaching was a popular activity amongst venetian women? They would sit on their terraces with their hair exposed to the sun for hours to get a natural blonde look.