Venice Trivia
 

You all know that there are six sestieri in Venice (that's a bit like saying there are four quarters in a dollar). The buildings are numbered from 1 to whatever the highest number in that sestiere is. I don't know exactly how it goes - maybe it goes round each block of houses, then on to the next block. But anyway, the last number in each sestiere is marked by a sign saying, for instance "Ultimo Numero del Sestier de S. Crose", except for Dorsoduro, so far as I can tell.
Here's the trivia bit. The last number in Dorsoduro is 3964, which, though unmarked, is on the opposite side of the Ponte San Rocco to the last number in San Polo. And the last number in Cannaregio is on the opposite side of the Ponte Rosso from the last number in Castello.
I bet you didn't know that!
Do you have anything equally or even more trivial about Venice to share?

Sweet! Looking for more good tidbits.

the Santa Lucia train station is a classic example of Mussolini's Fascist architecture, where like in Rome old train stations were demolished for sleek modernistic things - today in Venice this type of modern architecture (in Venice anything after the 1700s or so) would never be tolerated today here IMO.

They've been looting and robbing folks forever..and some say they still are!

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com...FQEhDQodQHXzeA

Venice Trivia Questions - like why are gondolas painted black?

That was fairly easy, Palenque. I scored 10/10 - though a couple of my answers were guesses (land mass shrinkage and the century when Carnevale began).

The size of the smallest fish allowed to be sold in both the Rialto Pescheria and in Campo Margherita is six cm.

The marble stub column in Campo Margherita was used for pounding dried fish to soften it.

Gambling outside the Church of San Stefano is verboten, and there's a canal running under the sacristy of said church.

My wife is threatening (still) to buy No 1, Santa Croce!

Oh, and the statue of the guy in Campo San Stefano is known, locally, as "el Cagalibri", aka "the Book Shitter".

Bring on the trivia, you founts of esoteric knowledge!

Nice to hear from you again, Peter. Did you get that info (el Cagalibri) from aloverofvenice.com? [That's not a criticism - almost all trivia has to come from somewhere.]

There is another 'Ponte dei Pugni' apart from the famous one, except it's not called that. (Of course. It would be confusing if two bridges had the same name, wouldn't it? There are at least six "Ponte Storto"s [Ponti Storti?]). But there are white marble 'footprints' inlaid into the centre section of the bridge, just like the Ponte dei Pugni on Rio San Barnaba. It's Ponte Santa Fosca, near the statue of Fra. Paolo Sarpi.

and Venice IS sinking - under the weight of tourism

Hi Bert,
The Cagalibri information came from “Venice is a Fish” by Tiziano Scarpa, as did another priceless bit of info.
In Venice you will see pieces of sloping stonework in most corners, or iron railings that prevent people (men, actually) from approaching into the corners. Venice is notoriously short of public conveniences, and the in-fills in the corners prevent the corners from being used for what the French are pleased to call pissoirs.

Black gondolas: Was it an act of democracy by the doge so no one could out do anyone else?n Please tell.

Thanks to technical help from Bert, I am able to bring you a link to photos of those "anti-public conveniences" you see all over. They were one of the subjects for photos on my last trip. For the trivia, what is their Italian name?

http://picasaweb.google.com/yvonne.t...62860444154562

I think the Italian name is, freely translated to English, "Little stone things let into corners so that you are forced to spend 1.50 Euro to spend a penny. This is seen as a good investment by the Municipal Authorities", or something like that!

The photographic essay is excellent.

TDudette, welcome! Yes, you are quite right. It was one of the so-called 'Sumptuary Laws', made in 1562, which decreed that, henceforth, all the woodwork was to be painted black (Companion Guide to Venice: Hugh Honour).
I agree with Peter on Yvonne's essay.
Where can you stand in Venice and see four sestieri at the same time (you are allowed to turn your head)?

How about at the top of the Campanile? Har

How about at the corner of water and Santa Maria della Salute?

Every time we have been in Venice, my husband and I have wondered about the purpose of those sloping corner stoneworks. How nice to now know! Thanks, Peter for the explanation and Yvonne for the pictures! Let's have more Venetian trivia!

I thought that they were for sitting on!

silly me.

some of them would not deter little boys or dwarfs, would they?

Do you mean the Punta della Dogana, TD? That's not a bad idea, but you can only see Dorsoduro, San Marco and Castello from there. If you move along the Grand Canal until you can glimpse San Polo, then you can no longer see Castello. The top of the Campanile was clever - I hadn't thought of that! OK, so I have to add the condition that you are (more or less) at ground level. I believe there may be another point from which you may be able to see the same four sestieri - it's at the other end of one of the lines of sight from the first point. I have to admit that I did not originate this piece of trivia - I got it from a really good Venice-inspired website.

I give up on this one Bert!