Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
VENICE'S SECRET WEAPON: ARSENALOTTI
In an early version of the assembly line, ships built in the Arsenale progressed through sequenced design phases,
each staffed by
arsenalotti
(Arsenale workers) specialised in a particular aspect of construction, ranging from hull
assembly and pitch application through to sail rigging. Women specialised in sails; children started apprentice-
ships at age 10, and did their part twisting hemp into rope.
But this wasn't a low-paid, low-status job. The
arsenalotti
were well remunerated, with cradle-to-grave fringe
benefits. This helped keep them remarkably faithful to the Republic, and throughout Venetian history,
arsenalotti
repeatedly proved both their loyalty and their brawn during periods of war and rebellion. Using their proven ship-
building techniques, they also constructed the vast
carena di nave
(ship's keel) ceilings you see in Venetian
churches and in the Palazzo Ducale's Sala del Maggior Consiglio.
Job requirements for
arsenalotti
included manual dexterity, strength and silence. Even in raucous Castello
ba-
cari
(old-style bars),
arsenalotti
remained carefully vague about the specifics of their workday, in an 'I could tell
you, but then I'd have to kill you' kind of way. Shipbuilding processes were top secret, and industrial espionage
was considered an act of high treason, punishable by exile or death. For centuries the crenellated walls of the
Arsenale hid the feverish activity inside from view. Even outside the walls, the
arsenalotti
tended to stick to their
own kind. They intermarried, and even had their own market gardens to reduce contact with the rest of the city.
If other maritime powers had learned to make warships as fast and as fleet as Venice's, the tiny lagoon republic
might have lost its outsized advantage and been obliterated by its foes. In 1379, when Venetian commander Carlo
Zeno's fleet was otherwise engaged, maritime rival Genoa surrounded Venice and tried to starve it into submis-
sion. But Genoa hadn't counted on the
arsenalotti,
who worked furiously to produce a fleet able to sustain a
counterattack until Zeno arrived on the horizon. In 1570, when requested to produce as many ships as possible for
an emergency fleet, the
arsenalotti
put out an astounding 100 galleys in just two months - despite a fire that had
decimated the Arsenale the previous year.
However, things eventually went downhill. A bout of plague wiped out a third of the city's population, and
Venice's maritime rivals Austria and the Ottoman Empire discovered their own secret weapon: free-trade agree-
ments that excluded Venice. By 1797 naval production had all but ceased, and La Serenissima surrendered to Na-
poleon without a fight.
CATTEDRALE DI SAN PIETRO DI CASTELLO
MAP
CHURCH
GOOGLE MAP
( 041 275 04 62; Campo San Pietro 2787; admission €3, or with Chorus Pass; 10am-5pm Mon-Sat; San
Pietro)
This sleepy church on the far-flung island of San Pietro served as Venice's cathedral
from 1451 to 1807. An almost-but-not-quite Palladio design with a white
bell tower
of Istri-
an stone by Codussi, its expansive 54m
dome
rivals Michelangelo's at the Vatican in width
(though not height). The most intriguing piece inside the church is
St Peter's Throne
, which
according to legend was used by the Apostle Peter in Antioch and once hid the Holy
Grail.
While the story has all the makings of an
Indiana Jones
sequel, sadly there's very little
truth to it: the intricately carved stone back is in fact made from a scavenged Muslim
tombstone that postdates the Apostle's death by many centuries. Still, it seems a fitting
