Venice: The Meeting of East and West - The Wise World Traveler: Becoming a Part of All that You Meet - page 86

the very next year, but in 1806 the French returned to rule the city again. In 1814, with Na-
poleon temporarily defeated, Austria resumed its rule over Venice. In 1866 Venice joined
the newly established Kingdom of Italy and has been one of Italy's provincial capitals ever
since. But it is a provincial capital that is also a world treasure.
THE PATRON SAINT OF VENICE
Modern-day Venice is punctuated with statues. One of the most impressive is Bartolomeo
Colleoni, a warrior mounted on a massive stallion, the horse's left leg raised in triumphal
stance. Colleoni was a commander of mercenaries in the service of Venice. He left his
wealth to the Republic on condition that a statue to his glory be placed in front of the Ba-
silica of St. Mark. The rulers of Venice accepted the bequest, but perhaps not wanting to be
reminded that their non-naval military power had to be hired, they cleverly circumvented
the bequest by placing the statue elsewhere, in front of the School of St. Mark, not the Ba-
silica.
Much more ubiquitous are statues of a lion, the talisman of St. Mark. Venice had long
had a patron saint, Theodore of Constantinople. But with freedom from the Byzantines, it
seemed fitting that Venice should have another saintly patron, a saint more befitting a rising
state. The body of St. Mark, the Evangelist and author of the Second Gospel , lay in Alexan-
dria, attended by monks but under the indifferent eyes of their Muslim rulers. Legend has it
that two adventurers, commissioned by Venice, stole the body, bribed the Muslim port offi-
cials, and for good measure, to keep pursuers and the curious at bay, covered the body with
ham and pork (the pig being forbidden to Muslims). The body arrived safely in Venice, to
great rejoicing, and statues of Mark's talisman rose across the city. The most prominent is
the statue atop a high column in St. Mark's Square. It is a winged lion, a beast assigned to
Mark by the Book of Revelation in the Bible. Sometimes brandishing a sword, sometimes
fiercely rampant, sometimes merely open-jawed, the lion in St. Mark is atop a high column,
his wings outstretched, one paw resting on an open book, with this inscription: “ Pax tibi
Marce, Evangelista Meus ” (“Peace to you, Mark, My Evangelist”).
THE TRAVELER IN VENICE
Almost every traveler will have a personal list of things to see and places to visit. For many
it will be Venice's main street, the Grand Canal, two-and-a-half miles long, in the shape
of an inverted S. [81] Two high-arching, stone bridges command the traveler's attention, the
Scalzi and the Rialto. The Rialto ( rivo alto , or high bank) was designed by the appropri-
ately named Da Ponte and completed in 1591. Stalls and shops on the bridge date from that
same decade. Today the bridge is thronged with gawkers and shoppers. [82]