June 2010
58 posts
Venice in Four Movements
1 Romance 40 Palazzi on G. Canal
2 Order 100 Numeri Civici in Piazza S. Marco
3 Direction From S. Marco to Rialto
4 Whimsy 26 Doorbells in S. Polo
May 2010
14 posts
Numeri Civici
From 3 Found Fonts by Jake Tilson:
“In Venice a house numbering system existed before streets were named. A number was given to every building in the two main zones of de ultra and de citra creating two vast progressive series of numbers. These are called Numeri Civici. During the second Austrian Dominion of Venice in 1841 the system changed. Each of the six sestieri (boroughs) had their own progressive series of building numbers. They still exist today such as Cannaregio 1 through Cannaregio 6368. From the late XII century, the government of the Serenissima had proposed a new toponomy and some time between 1834 and 1841 with the publication of the new Avviso, for place names, a form was fixed. These white washed rectangles on which place names are stencilled are called nizioleto/nizioleti in Venetian, translated from the Italian piccolo lenzuolo/a — little sheet, bed sheet, small sheet. The size and typeface were set as roman….Today, after a building has been re-stuccoed, the job of re-stencilling the place name is carried out by the Comune di Venezia, although the work may fall to subcontractors. Further research is needed to pinpoint the introduction of stencilling as opposed to hand lettering. It is tempting to attribute the typeface used to Giambattista Bodoni (1740-1813) whose Bodoni (1798) provides many distinctive characteristics found in the nizioleti font — such as the curved leg of the R, E and the parallel, vertical stems of the M and the general straightened up nature of the font. “
Listen
Sunday morning bells in piazza S. Marco
Nizioleti →
it.wikipedia.org
Just found “Calli, Campielli e Canali” — a book with the most detailed maps of Venice I’ve seen so far. These are almost like tax maps — every street, alley, and building is noted. And it includes the doorway numbering system. It turns out that the hand-painted lettering on the buildings of Venice has a specific name. From the preface:
“…today, in spite of the names written in the different ‘nizioleti’ (a kind of wall inscription) and in spite of the numbering of every single house, it isn’t always easy to find one’s way without a toponymy guide.”
Here’s the link to the wiki about nizioleto. Let google translate it; it’s worth a read.
SVA Masters Workshop in Italy
This is where I’ll be blogging about my time in Italy May 27 – June 13, 2010.
