Mina A.A.

Venice is a place of our dreams. We usually imagine a gondola, carnival, and a bottle of Prosecco Veneto with only two glasses. But, the city of love also has its dark side. This is the story about the Venice of our nightmares.
August is the most active month in Italy, or the most inactive one. It depends from what point of view we decide to observe it. The nation is traditionally and collectively taking a break from eleven months of, let’s say, hard work. “Ferragosto”, the official holiday, was granted to the people back in ancient times by Emperor Augustus. The people famous for not obeying any rules, strictly follow this one. Even nowadays, many businesses are closed during this period. On the other hand, the popular tourist destinations are usually overcrowded. So, the closed restaurants and stores have always caused a lot of problems. Due to the recession and financial troubles, the Italian businessmen will have to find different ways to honor the Emperor and his month. This year many stores and restaurants will remain open. Venice is ready for its visitors, even the ghosts must stay focused.
The Ghost Walking Tours offer us the Venice of our nightmares. For a very small price, they all promise a safe return. However, walking shoes are required. A lot of walking, they say, and eventually fast running, if necessary.
No worries. These restless souls have no sweet tooth for tourists. They prefer more elegant ways to ruin the intruders. We are talking here about the Venetian ghosts, after all.
The Serenissima ghosts do not attack visitors, well, except once. In 1921, near the statue of Garibaldi in the Biennale Gardens, a ghost in a red shirt materialized itself, and started attacking people around. Someone recognized Giuseppe Zolli, Garibaldi’s faithful “follone”, something like a bodyguard I assume, who died in 1838. The authorities immediately commissioned a bronze statue of Zolli, and put it right behind the statue of Garibaldi. Ever since, the ghost in a red shirt has disappeared.
So, definitely, no worries. We just have to wait until a day crowd is gone. Now, while darkness is creeping around the narrow passages, and the waves of the canals are composing sounds of their own, the tour guide will walk us through the legends of Venice, created many, many moons before.
We start from the most famous haunted place in Venice, the palace called “Palazzo Dario” or “Ca’Dario”, on the Grand Canal. The palace was built in 1487, by Giovanni Dario, Secretary to the Venetian Senate. Dario died already in 1494, and his daughter Marietta inherited the palace. Marietta committed suicide when her husband went bankrupt, and their son was killed in a fight. After this, more than twelve owners of the palace died under very suspicious circumstances, five went bankrupt, and some had severe accidents. The list includes noblemen, industrialists, opera and rock celebrities.
Not so scary, except for potential cheaters, is the lecture on old-time business ethics, told through the story of three merchants. Sometime around 1100 AD, the three merchant brothers called Rioba, Afani, and Sandi, sold a very poor quality fabric to a Venetian lady. She paid the high price, but cursed the money she gave them. When the greedy merchants opened their treasure pouch, and touched the money, they were transformed into the stone statues. The three petrified statues are still in the square, right behind the Palazzo Mastelli, where merchant brothers lived.
We are warned not to pay any attention if screams are heard from the Clock Tower. It is just the guy who created the Tower. His eyes were gorged out by the order of the state, called pompously for its time, the “Republic”. They didn’t want to risk. The man was very creative. So, he would be able to build the same, or even better, tower someplace else. Such a strange reward for a good work.
The screams from the “Casa degli spiriti”, on the other hand, are real. This cursed location, translated as “the house of souls”, is actually very popular among many religious sects that try to invoke spirits or demons here. It all started with the 16th century painter named Luzzo. This guy committed suicide in the house, just because of his tragic love for a woman called Cecilia. This Cecilia simply loved another man. The Venetians claim that Luzzo keeps returning to the palace, still crying for the same woman. Seriously?! So, this was what the term ‘love’ meant once. It is amazing what centuries of emotional pollution can do to humans.
Speaking of love, we are just passing the “Bosom Bridge”. In the 1500s, the Senate issued a decree that prostitutes, who worked mostly in this area, had to sit topless on the windowsills. Their task was to attract customers, but not for business purposes. This way, the government caught men, accused them for the crime of sodomy, and burned them at the stake.
The same government with the pompous name was responsible for the existence of the passage called “Calle della Morte”, or “Death Alley”. Chosen people were tricked into coming to the alley just to be killed there. We are talking about those with “clean records”, so the authorities couldn’t find the way to arrest them legally. They lived in a republic, after all. The special construction was built for this purpose. Therefore, it always looked like an accident.
As the darkness becomes more dense, the sounds more spooky, and the passages more narrow, “Rio Tera degli Assassini’ emerges. Its reputation is sealed as the best place for revenge, robberies, assassination. Except, this was not sanctioned by the government. It seems more people were killed in this lane than anywhere else in the Republic of Venice. The brutality of these crimes is more terrifying than the numbers themselves. Now, we can hardly resist using our comfortable shoes as fast as possible. Creepy, the word grows into its full meaning here.
But, there is more. The most terrifying of them all, is certainly the remote island, called “Poveglia”. Over 160,000 souls are still wandering around this island. First, it was used as the isolation place for the plague victims. Later, a psychiatric hospital was built on its shore. A doctor there, used to torture the patients who saw ghosts on the island. The doctor committed suicide when the ghosts started visiting him, the legend says. Even today, it is very difficult to find someone to take you to the island.
The haunted properties of Venice are occasionally for sale. Those who dare may challenge their destinies.
Photo by:Frank van de Velde