ITAL 1500- Midterm Exam Guide - Comprehensive Notes for the exam ( 25 pages long!)
Document Summary
Venice - la serenissima (means the most serene one") It got the name because it enjoyed 1,000 years of peace, quite unlike all the rest of italy. Part of it was because it had a large and impressive naval fleet. It"s made up of hundreds of islands, only way to travel is by foot, gondola, or boat. Buildings stand on stilts, flooding and large cruise ships cause controversy. Venice had a lot of money because it was a port city. Marco polo was the most famous venetian explorer. It exported timber, wine, agricultural products, and textiles. It has the oldest coffee house in italy- caffe florian. Coffee imported from the east, coffee was called the devil"s drink, caffeine was thought to make women too uppity and such, so pope tasted it and baptized it. Gondolas- their equivalent of a taxi or a lyft. St. marco"s basilica, byzantine influence from venice"s interaction with the middle east.
