BYZANTINE AROMA IN THE WORK BY FRANCESCO SANSOVINO

In 1581, the book entitled 'Veneria citta nobilissima et singolare' was published in Venice. This was a 'tourist' guide, as we would characterize it today, to the city of San Marco, and its author was the publisher and printer at Venice, Francesco Sansovino, son of the famous architect Jacopo, of Florentine origin. The work contains all those elements that make up the myth of the sixteenth-century Serenissima Republic. It conserves the memory of the past, recounts the achievements of the Venetian State and conveys the clime of the time in which it was written. It consists of 14 books, in which are described the churches with their art treasures, the civic buildings, the palaces of the nobles, the life and deeds of the doges, a time chart of the most important events in Venetian history, and so on. Among the wondrous works described in the guide to sixteenth-century Venice are many which are noted as being of Byzantine origin and provenance, while there are frequent mentions of 'Greek works' and 'Greek habits'. The entire book emits a Greek aroma, which refers to the Byzantine world and, by extension, to the Byzantine roots of the city of St Mark. It is not within the scope of the present article to check the accuracy of Sansovino's information. What is of interest here is the author's choice of testimonies that refer to Venice's ties with Byzantium, the management of memory of the past and the manner in which it is processed. At the time the guide to Venice was compiled, the Byzantine Empire had long ceased to exist. And yet, even dissolved, Byzantium continued to hold a fascination for the peoples who had come into contact with it. Indicative in this respect is the admiration Sansovino expresses at the works of art of Byzantine provenance then in Venice. 'Venetia citta nobilissima et singolare' is a rich and useful collection of information on the diverse aspects of the history of the Serenissima. Despite the absence of time co-ordinates, the work refers directly to the Byzantine world and its civilization. Through references sometimes to Byzantine emperors and their relations with the doges, sometimes to relics of saints and sometimes to Byzantine artistic masterpieces, the image of Venice as beloved daughter of Byzantium emerges. This simile is, after all, a popular stereotype in Venetian historiography of the age.