19.05.2022 - 22.05.2022 - Promotional Ticket at the Museum of Naval History of Venice

From Thursday 19th to Sunday 22nd of May 2022 was held the first even of the initiative EMD - European Maritime Day with four days of promotional entrance at the Musum of Naval History of the Italian Military Marine. 

The main objectives of these entrances are to contribute and preserve the cultural value of the maritime port of Venice, to strenghten the relationship between the citizens and maritime themes, and to promote the interest of both turists and citizens on discovering less well known museums of the city of Venice.

The museum is inside a XV century building, which was a "Granary" of the city of Venice, in campo "San Biagio", next to the Arsenale, which complex is, in part, under the jurisdiction of the Italian Military Marine- The memory of its fasti it's given to the Museum of Naval History, the most important in his field in Italy. Other than the main building, the exposed area is develop in five levels for a total of 42 operative rooms, it is part of the museum the Boats' Padillion, which is located in the "officina remi" of the Arsenale.

MUSEUM TOUR ROUTE

GROUND FLOOR

In the two rooms next to the entrance of the Museum there, at the right, a funeral monument to Angelo EMo, the last "Captain of the sea" of the Venitian Military Marine. The admiral, today, was a good commander and an ingenious inventor of military machine (it is famous his floating battery, which is exposed at the museum). On the left there is exposed a Torpedo with Slow Run of the Second World War, called 'Pig'. These two historical testimonies represent the parallel theme on which the visit at the Museum is about (with also some exception, like we will see later), because one explores the long and complex theme of the naval history of Venice, and the other is about a much shorter history, but regarding our own Marine Military, 

FIRST FLOOR 

Still at the ground floor, there is an imposing Venetian stern light of a galea of the XVI century, called "fanò", and due to the usual artillery pieces from boats and fortress, it should be noted that there is a very rare and important collections of wood's little plastics, built between the XVI and the XVII century, of ancient Venetian fortresses from the Adriatic and Egeo sea. The first floor is almost entirely dedicated tp the marine history of the Republic of the Serenissima. It is possible to admire some models of great historical value: an impressive reconstruction of a war galea, that was until the end of the XVI century, with sailors on their suffering and working seats: a "galeazza", gale of big dimension and new conception, which was the protagonist on the vistory over the Turks in Lepanto in (1571); a particular model is the one of the queen of all boats, the "Bucintoro", which was the ceremony boat that was used by the Doge in the Ascension day for the "marine nuptial": "We are marrying you", the Doge would say in latin, throwing a ring into the sea, "to signal my true and perpetual dominance" . The last Bucintoro, the most embellished one, as it can be noticed from the reconstruction made in 1824, it sailed in 1728. The French, when they discovered the Arsenale, they destroyed it as a symbol of the hateful power. But, it was most of all a work of art. Also the sides that were decorated and painted were considered work of arts, not only by venetians; they embellish the exposition of the ancient ports, the maps, the stamps, and paintings that decorate the walls and old instrument to sail. 

SECOND AND THIRD FLOOR

The rooms on the second floor are dedicated to the unitarian Marine Military: models, paintings, and heirlooms illustrate the historical journey. At the third floor one can find the unexpected: it is an exposive and exuberant area. From the gondola room, among them the one owned by Peggy Gugheneim, a millionaire who was in love with Venice, tp the one where one can find the typical boats in the Veneto's lagoon, to the collection of saliros ex-voto from the XVI-XIX century, to the most important and unusual collection of models of Chinese's junks that were donated to the Museum in Venice from a French collector.  

FOURTH FLOOR 

In the last floor, the fourth, there is the so called Swedish Room, which testifies the good relationship between Sweden and Italy, and even better the one between the two Marine Military. Lastly, totally unexpected, a precious collection of seashells which was donated by the stylist Roberta Camerino. 

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