Inscription
This page contains information about a typical Venetian inscriptions
For a list of inscriptions, see Inscriptions.
An inscription can go by many names in Italian, inscrizione and lapidi being amongst the many common names, are engraved writings carved, etched or pressed onto a hard, durable surface such as stone, metal, wood, or the walls of buildings. Because the intention for inscriptions is to last for a very long time, they usually carry messages considered important enough to preserve. They are also often found in public spaces as the creators deemed it important for everyone to see.
Background
When the Venetians founded the city in the fifth century, Venice's canals already existed, but were further developed when maritime trade became much more prevalent in the ninth through the 12th centuries. The boats have always served as the main mode of transportation among Venice and its surrounding islands. Many of these canals are decorated with inscriptions, each one documenting various bits of history, including political views, religious views, laws, and acts of vandalism or graffiti. The authors of the inscriptions have a mix of languages, as some wrote in the general language and others in the vernacular language. The canals were a popular place for inscriptions, as many inscription writers intended for them to be visible to everyone.
Many of the older inscriptions in the streets of Venice* are of Roman origin. The more modern inscriptions are written in Italian, which is the main language spoken currently in Venice. However, this does not necessarily mean they are all in Latin or Italian. Languages such as Hebrew are extremely prevalent in areas of Venice, specifically the Jewish Ghetto. Most documented inscriptions in the streets of the Jewish Ghetto were presented in Hebrew (Lightfoot, 2009). Furthermore, some inscriptions appear in local dialects such as Venetian, a language that evolved from late Latin {citation}
Messages
As inscriptions host so much information there are common tags and categories across them all. Some of these tags include...
See Also
References
1. Venetian Inscriptions: Vernacular Writing for Public Display in Medieval and Renaissance Venice. Ronnie Ferguson. Italian Perspectives 50. Cambridge: Legenda, 2021. x + 424 pp. £80.