Venice against the World Wars: Protecting Beauty and Cultural Heritage with Sara Grinzato

The wonders of Venice needed substantial protection during the First and Second World Wars in order to protect their beauty. To save the historical buildings from aerial bombings and to prevent possible raids, in ancient Italian cities like Venice the State was obliged to organize before-unconceived safeguard systems. This seminar will explore the differences between the protection measures implemented and how Venice was exposed during the two World Wars.

During World War One Venice was exposed to all sorts of danger. It was attacked over forty times by enemy planes and was damaged by over 1,000 bombs. We’ll use contemporary pictures to demonstrate how, gradually, Venice tried to defend its heritage, before deciding to move its most iconic artworks to safer havens. Special attention will be deserved to the treatment of some masterpieces, like the four bronze horses of St. Mark’s Basilica and Titian’s Assumption of Mary. In the dramatically different military situation of Word War Two, safeguarding precious heritage and artworks was even more complicated. But as we’ll discuss, it was likely that Venice was less bombarded.

Led by an expert on Venetian Art, Sara Grinzato, this interactive seminar aims at celebrating the effort to protect Venice’s exposed art historical heritage. Designed to inform curiosity as well as future travels, participants will come away with increased consciousness of the architectural and artistic icons of Venice and with knowledge of both the damage and the wins during the world conflicts of the twentieth-century.