Casa dei Tre Oci or the House of the Three Eyes:

the house of Photography on Giudecca island is for sale

The house is a very interesting Neo-gothic structure, built on the Giudecca island in a period of cultural revival in the beginning of the 20th century. It was built by a painter from Bologna, Mario de Maria. Its façade has three very large windows on the first floor while on the top floor there are three smaller ones.

The three largest windows are the eyes, hence the name “ tre oci”, three eyes. They symbolically represent the painter, his wife and his son, while the three smallest ones on the upper level his daughter Silvia, who died at an early age.

The palace is considered a prestigious place for all the famous people who have stayed there. It has also given rise to numerous cultural initiatives throughout the last decades.

It was restored in the year 2000 to house an exhibition space open to the public. In addition to photographic exhibitions, there are conferences, book presentations and educational activities.

The building hosts photographic archives, including the owner's photographic collection.

Unfortunately, since May 2020 the news of the sale of the building has been circulating. Despite the subsequent denials, the possible sale of the building by the current owners was leaked and at the moment it is not possible to know what will be the end of this property.

Carnival Cakes: fritelle, chiacchiere and castagnole

Carnival is celebrated in winter, but its starting date varies every year. In order to calculate its exact date of beginning, it is necessary to count 40 days backwards from the beginning of Easter.

Hand-made fritelle filled with cream

The fritella, called fritoa in the local dialect, is the dessert par excellence of the Venetian Carnival. Its recipe is still preserved in a document kept in Rome, in the Casanatese library.

The fritelle have been eaten in Venice and in the territories starting from the second half of the 1300s. They were placed on a spit to be able to eat them while they were still hot and without greasing your hands.

Traditional Venetian frìtelle are prepared with a batter of flour, eggs, milk and sugar, raisins and pine nuts; they are then fried and served with a sprinkling of granulated sugar.

Venetian galani or chiacchiere

The chiacchiere better known as “galani” date back to Roman times too, when during the spring festivals they were cooked in pork fat using a mixture similar to that of the lasagna, which was then sugared.

They are thin strips of dough made up of a mixture of flour, sugar, butter, eggs, white wine, lemon zest and rum and then fried.

Castagnole

The castagnole are also a typical dessert that is eaten only at Carnival.

The main ingredients are eggs, sugar, flour and butter. After mixing them all together, balls the size of a walnut are formed, which are then fried in boiling oil. They are served with powdered sugar.

Venetian Carnival and its most famous masks

Venetian carnival goes back to the Roman Saturnalia and the Greek Dionisic cults, when once a year there were no restraints and just transgression was permitted.

In 1094 the Venetian Republic established the rules that had to be followed during this festival, but only in 1296 carnival became a public holiday.

It first took place in Campo Santo Stefano as it was celebrated on December 26th, the day of Saint Stephen and ended the day before Lent. It started again during the Ascension and then at the opening of the theaters in October.

A Carnival costume

Masks have always been an important feature of the Venetian carnival. It was not possible to recognize who was hiding behind them. Therefore, they served as a disguise and consequently through the numerous disguises a social leveling was reached.

The bauta

The bauta was a costume made of various pieces, including a completely white mask called larva, that allowed their wearers to hide their identity.

However, it allowed them to eat and drink, and it was especially used by those who entered the casinos to gamble.

The moretta

The moretta was a purely female mask, worn especially during parties and dances in the palaces. It was an oval mask that could not be tied with ribbons behind the woman’s nape, nor held in her hands with a stick. Pietro Longhi, a famous Venetian painter of the 1700s; represented it in his paintings. It seems that the mask was glued to the women’s face, but it wasn't like that. The mask hid a button on the inside that the lady held in her mouth so that in this way it was difficult for her to speak.

In the 1700s carnival turns out to be one of the most famous celebrations even among Europeans visiting Venice. There are numerous paintings that testify parties that were organized in the palaces, masquerades and games in the casinos and in the taverns.

A mask

Carnival was interrupted in the nineteenth-century during the French and Austrian domination but returned in the 1980s. It still takes place in Venice every year forty days before Easter.