Venetian literature
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Venetian literature is the corpus of
literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
in Venetian, the
vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...
language of the region roughly corresponding to
Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400  ...
, from the 12th century. Venetian literature, after an initial period of splendour in the sixteenth century with the success of artists such as
Ruzante Angelo Beolco (c. 1496 – March 17, 1542), better known by the nickname Ruzzante or Ruzante, was an Italian (Venetian) actor and playwright. He is famous for his rustic comedies, written mostly in the Paduan dialect of the Venetian language,And ...
, reached its zenith in the eighteenth century, thanks to its greatest exponent, dramatist
Carlo Goldoni Carlo is a given name. It is an Italian form of Charles. It can refer to: *Carlo (name) *Monte Carlo *Carlingford, New South Wales, a suburb in north-west Sydney, New South Wales, Australia *A satirical song written by Dafydd Iwan about Prince Char ...
. Subsequently, the literary production in Venetian underwent a period of decline following the collapse of the
Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...
, but survived nonetheless into the twentieth century to reach peaks with wonderful lyrical poets such as
Biagio Marin Biagio Marin (1891–1985) was a Venetian poet, best known from his poems in the Venetian language, which had no literary tradition until then. In his writings he never obeyed rhetoric or poetics. He only employed a few hundred words for his po ...
of Grado.


Origin

The first evidence of the birth of vernacular Venetian (and Italian) is the
Veronese Riddle The Veronese Riddle ( it, Indovinello veronese) is a riddle written in late Vulgar Latin, or early Romance languages, Romance, on the Verona Orational, probably in the 8th or early 9th century, by a Nicene Christianity, Christian monastery, monk ...
, dating between the end of the eighth and the early ninth century, written in a language halfway between
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
and the vernacular. The first fragment entirely in Venetian, dating to circa 1198, is the '' Ritmo bellunese'' which deals with events at
Belluno Belluno (; lld, Belum; vec, Belùn) is a town and province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Located about north of Venice, Belluno is the capital of the province of Belluno and the most important city in the Eastern Dolomites region ...
in the years 1183 to 1196. Also dating to the twelfth century are the verses of the love song .


Thirteenth century

In the thirteenth century, there is an explosion of compositions in the Venetian language designed to meet the literary tastes of the emerging urban classes. Especially remarkable is the production of the ''Veronese School'', with
Giacomino da Verona Pascale di Cagliari is a red Italian wine grape variety that is grown in Sardinia (wine), Sardinia.J. Robinson ''Jancis Robinson's Guide to Wine Grapes'' pg 133 Oxford University Press 1996 DOC wines Pascale di Cagliari is a permitted grape v ...
, author of the poem in two parts, ''De Gerusalem Celesti'' ("On the Heavenly Jerusalem") and ''De Babilonia Civitate Infernali'' ("On Babylon, the Infernal City"). Published anonymously from this era are ''Lamento della Sposa Padovana'' or ''Bona çilosia''


Fourteenth century

Throughout the 14th century, the centre of literary production Venetian continued to be
Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...
. At the end of the 14th century, the
Carraresi The House of Carrara or Carraresi (da Carrara) was an important family of northern Italy in the 12th to 15th centuries. The family held the title of Lords of Padua from 1318 to 1405. Under their rule, Padua conquered Verona, Vicenza, Treviso, F ...
commissioned '' Bibbia istoriata padovana'' and ''Liber agregà of Serapion'' also called "Erbario Carrarese" (held at the British Library, London), a translation from the Latin ''
Carrara Herbarium Carrara ( , ; , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, in central Italy, of the province of Massa and Carrara, and notable for the white or blue-grey marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some west-northwest of Florence. Its mott ...
'', a treatise of medicine originally in Arabic. An important writer from this period is Francesco di Vannozzo (~1330-1389). Between 1313 and 1315,
Paolino Veneto Paolino Veneto ( – 22 June 1344) was an Italian Franciscan inquisitor, diplomat and historian. He served as an ambassador for the Republic of Venice and the Papacy. From 1324 until his death, he was the bishop of Pozzuoli. He simultaneously serve ...
wrote ''Trattato de regimine rectoris'', a
mirror for princes Mirrors for princes ( la, specula principum) or mirrors of princes, are an educational literary genre, in a loose sense of the word, of politics, political writings during the Early Middle Ages, the High Middle Ages, the late middle ages and the Re ...
dedicated to the Venetian
duke of Candia This is a list of the rulers and governors of the island of Crete throughout its history. Antiquity Crete was conquered for the Roman Republic by Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus in 69 BC and united with the Cyrenaica in the Roman province, p ...
. ''Cronaca de la guera tra Veniciani e Zenovesi'' by
Daniele da Chinazzo Daniele is an Hebrew male given name, the cognate of the English name Daniel. Danièle is a French female given name, an alternative spelling of Danielle. Men with the given name Daniele * Daniele Bracciali (born 1978), Italian tennis player * ...
is a chronicle of the
War of Chioggia The War of Chioggia ( it, Guerra di Chioggia) was a conflict between Genoa and Venice which lasted from 1378 to 1381, from which Venice emerged triumphant. It was a part of the Venetian-Genoese Wars. The war had mixed results. Venice and her alli ...
between 1379 and 1381. Original works of the fourteenth century include those that go together under the name of
Franco-Venetian literature Franco-Italian, also known as Franco-Venetian or Franco-Lombard, was a literary language used in parts of northern Italy, from the mid-13th century to the end of the 14th century. It was employed by writers including Brunetto Latini and Rustichello ...
characterized by a unique mix of vulgar Venetian with medieval French. Among the best known works are the anonymously authored ''Entrée d'Espagne'' and its continuation, ''La prise de Pampelune'' by
Niccolò da Verona ''St. Ignatius'', Mantua, palazzo Ducale Niccolo da Verona (15th century) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance period. He painted a fresco of the ''Virgin with the Child and Saints'' in the Ognissanti at Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; ...
.


Later

Notable is a manuscript titled " Dialogue ... on the New star" attributed to
Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...
(1564–1642). The language enjoyed substantial prestige in the days of the
Venetian Republic The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...
, when it attained the status of a
lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...
in the
Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
. Notable Venetian-language authors are the playwrights
Ruzante Angelo Beolco (c. 1496 – March 17, 1542), better known by the nickname Ruzzante or Ruzante, was an Italian (Venetian) actor and playwright. He is famous for his rustic comedies, written mostly in the Paduan dialect of the Venetian language,And ...
(1502–1542) and
Carlo Goldoni Carlo is a given name. It is an Italian form of Charles. It can refer to: *Carlo (name) *Monte Carlo *Carlingford, New South Wales, a suburb in north-west Sydney, New South Wales, Australia *A satirical song written by Dafydd Iwan about Prince Char ...
(1707–1793). Both Ruzante and Goldoni, following the old Italian theater tradition (''
Commedia dell'Arte (; ; ) was an early form of professional theatre, originating from Italian theatre, that was popular throughout Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. It was formerly called Italian comedy in English and is also known as , , and . Charact ...
''), used Venetian in their comedies as the speech of the common folk. They are ranked among the foremost Italian theatrical authors of all time, and Goldoni's plays are still performed today. There also were some Morlachist Venetian authors. Other notable works in Venetian are the translations of the
Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odysse ...
by
Casanova Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (, ; 2 April 1725 – 4 June 1798) was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, (''Story of My Life''), is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of information about the c ...
(1725–1798) and Francesco Boaretti, and the poems of
Biagio Marin Biagio Marin (1891–1985) was a Venetian poet, best known from his poems in the Venetian language, which had no literary tradition until then. In his writings he never obeyed rhetoric or poetics. He only employed a few hundred words for his po ...
(1891–1985). Nowadays Venetian is still vigorous even in
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, where it is called
Talian Talian may refer to: *Talian dialect, a dialect spoken in Brazil *Talian, Iran Talian ( fa, طاليان, also Romanized as Tālīān and Ţālīān) is a village in Baraghan Rural District, Chendar District, Savojbolagh County, Alborz Province, ...
. This Venetian language version, spoken by hundreds of thousands of emigrants from Veneto living in Brazil, is written by dozens of writers, especially in Rio Grando and Santa Cattarina.


References

*Elettra Bedon. ''Il filo di Arianna. Letteratura contemporanea in lingua veneta''. Longo Editore, 1999. *Bruno Rosada
''I secoli della letteratura veneta''
Complementi dell'Offerta Formativa, a cura della Regione Veneto e della Provincia di Venezia. Arti Grafiche Venete, Venezia, 2002. {{DEFAULTSORT:Venetian Literature Venetian language Italian literature Literature by language European literature Culture of the Republic of Venice