Pilgrims, Doges and Refugees

I know no city where the seat of temporal power and the seat of spiritual power were so physically close – touching in fact - and yet where the separation of power was so well defined and respected – and at a time when the Church laid claim to temporal as well as spiritual power – after all, at the time that Venice was ascendant, the Holy Roman Empire did have an army, and quite a considerable one at that. Where else but Venice, two such magnificent buildings, different but contiguous; one dominating the lagoon (the Doge’s palace) and the other dominating the square(St Mark’s basilica); one the outside world, the other the inside? Standing in the piazza, the best place to see the basilica, the palace is only barely visible; standing in the piazzetta (or on a boat in the lagoon), the best place to see the palace, the basilica is only partly visible. And yet, they are attached, and the interior courtyard of the palace affords some of the more interesting views of the basilica (not to mention the views across the courtyard from the doge’s own rooms). Architecture conspires both to connect and to separate, and in connecting does not allow us to forget either, but in separating does not allow us to confuse. A remarkable feat and one I had not thought about before the “special tour”, but I get ahead of myself.

Venetian claims to spiritual importance go back to the stories of St Mark himself since he is supposed to have washed ashore and preached in Venice before going on to Alexandria, where he was buried and from where his relics were removed (some might say stolen, though the view of the Venetians at the time was obviously that taking the bones from a Moslem country and restoring them to a Christian one was an act of piety) to be reburied in a newly built basilica in Venice in 832 AD. Just in case anyone missed the importance of having one of the 4 evangelists buried in their city, the 13th century tympanum mosaic on the front of the later basilica shows the procession of the doge, the bishop and the important men and women of the day, bearing the body of St Mark into the old basilica. It was clear to the Venetians that this was more than sufficient to establish their city as a pre-eminent in the Christian world. And while temporal power may have faded, Venetians might still claim a hold on spiritual power with at least two popes (John XXIII and John Paul I) in recent times going from St Mark’s to St Peter’s.

But if the Church in Venice was remarkable, the government of Venice was no less so and while your trampess is not so naïve to think that their were no intrigues in the government of the doge, one cannot imagine Machiavelli writing quite the same book here as he did in Florence. In fact, the trampess was reminded more of the founding fathers of her motherland and wondered if perhaps Jefferson or Monroe had not modelled the carefully balanced system of executive, legislative and judicial powers on the much earlier Venetian system – a government that was highly democratic and functioned well for several hundred years until Napoleon displaced it in 1797. Well, the Venetians would claim 1,376 years but we can probably assume that the earlier years were not quite so refined and well balanced as to be a model for 18th century democracy. On the other hand, the power of Venice was so great (she ruled Byzantium in the 13th century), that the forces of Spain, France and the Holy Roman Empire combined to try and contain her might. only partly successfully since she continued to dominate the eastern Mediterranean for several hundred years more.

The stability and balance came from the fact that the two highest positions (the doge and the head of the civil service) were held for life (and paid well enough to remove the holders from the temptation of bribes) while the rest of the government rested with the Council of Ten, who were appointed for short, fixed terms to manage certain responsibilities (rather like ministers of state). These men came from the members of the Great Council who represented the oldest families (at first only from the aristocracy later from the established merchant class as well). A list was kept of all the families which were entitled to a seat. By the middle of the 16th century the Great Council numbered 2000. The Council Rooms are the ones one normally visits: full of the displays of power and wealth that one expects from a rich and powerful state. The doge’s office and that of the head of the civil service are not included in the normal tour of the Doges Palace, but can, however, be seen on a rather special tour, which, unusually was discovered by the tramp in his bedtime reading.

I say unusually since the tramp rarely reads guidebooks, leaving that task to the trampess. However, one night he looked up from the Eyewitness guide to Venice and asked if we had ever been on the “itinerari segreti”. Your trampess would have remembered a tour with such an intriguing name and immediately replied in the negative adding a quick interrogative as to the nature of the tour – apart from being secret of course. The tramp knew he had hit on something pretty interesting and passed the book over. Suffice it to say that it is limited to a small group (maximum 25), needs to be pre-booked, is conducted (in our case) by a young, well-educated (a student of government and philosophy) guide, and goes into not the state rooms, but the rooms where government actually took place: interestingly, in a floor between the floors - yes, there is a whole floor, which from the outside of the palace does not appear to be there, but where all the important business was conducted and where all the ministerial and judicial offices existed, – and these rooms are not at all grand (unlike the rooms above and below) – working rooms not representation room. They include small offices (great power in this case did not confer either a large or grand room), the tribunal room, the torture chambers and the judgement room where one of two identical cupboards, unbeknownst to the accused, is actually a door leading directly into the upper storey prison cells (for those accused of lesser crimes) – indeed the door through which Casanova was led to the cell from which he later escaped. One of the secrets we were shown was how he escaped, together with a priest, if I remember correctly. Following that tour, I found it hard to imagine that any government before or since has functioned nearly so well (Casanova’s escape notwithstanding). I am now duty bound to go back to the large tome on Venice by John Julius Norwich that I started some years ago but never had enough time to read for long enough at any one time to really get into. It is clear that I am ready for him now!

Following the success of the temporal tour, the tramp proved ready for a most astonishing spiritual excursion. The tramp, having been raised an extreme anti-papist, normally does not volunteer to attend mass (he is quite happy to visit churches, to look at religious paintings, and to listen to religious music – just as long as it is without the service of a priest, a vicar, or any other holy intervener, no disrespect to any of them), but he did inquire on Saturday afternoon if I intended to go to church the next day. I said I did rather hope to make mass at the basilica but wondered what he would do in the meantime. He suggested that he might come. Well we all know that one stray sheep is worth 10 obedient ones, so I was happy to encourage him to join me. I had assumed 11am for high mass and through the main entrance. Times have changed since I last attended here, and it seems the religious are now sent to the side door – the main entrance being only for tourists! We dutifully went to the side door and were refused entry!! This is a first for your trampess and did not make me feel as if the hope of getting the stray sheep back into the flock was being met with the best efforts. However, it seemed the reason was that high mass started at 10:30 and despite the normal Italian habit of wandering in, and out, and around, at St Mark’s the approach was rather more controlled. It was pointed out to me that there was a mass at 12 and we could come back. Unusually the tramp suggested we have a coffee on the square as it was a nice morning and come back. I needed the coffee to keep from fainting!

We went back at 11:45 to make sure we didn’t suffer the same fate of refusal twice, and were greeted with a smile (the guardian of the door was obviously happy to see we weren’t just tourists trying to sneak in!). The church was fully illuminated and the mosaics, which even in the unlit church are radiant, were simply awe inspiring. A perfect place to prepare for what was to come. I was expecting a simple service, and no music of consequence since it was a low mass, but to my surprise there was a men’s choir from the mountains, who sang splendidly throughout. The priest gave a good sermon, the congregation was mostly Venetian, and no tourists are allowed in during the service. The tramp decided we could come again next week – and we did, to the 10:30 high mass with the basilica’s own choir. Instead of strong, masculine voices standing before us, we had an ethereal choir high above in the choir loft. If we stayed in Venice forever, it is quite possible the tramp would become a monk!

Well, perhaps not a mendicant since we did go from St Mark’s to something altogether rather more indulgent. It was after all a beautiful, sunny day and it would have been a shame (if not an actual sin) to eat indoors. The terrace of the Gritti was waiting and we did not let her down. As we were out of mass earlier this week than last, we arrived, without a reservation, but before the tables were laid. A discreet enquiry put us at a table in the bar/snack area of the terrace from where we secured the tramp’s preferred table when it was ready. The perfect lunch was simplicity itself: mixed grilled fish and vegetables for two with a glass of local white wine for the trampess. It was a very serious mixed grill(both in variety and abundance) but we are serious eaters and tackled it with the enthusiasm it deserved. A very leisurely coffee allowed us to enjoy the sun for some time.