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(adventurous music)
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As a reporter, I've traveled around the Middle East
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for many years.
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It's an area that has always fascinated me.
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But in my work, I've mainly covered its war zones,
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its crises, and its tragedies.
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This journey, which takes me down the Silk Road
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in the footsteps of Marco Polo, gives me
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the opportunity to explore the great historical
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and cultural significance of this part of the world,
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its ancient melting pot of peoples and civilizations
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that have contributed so much to our own.
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(adventurous music)
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(exotic string music)
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(foreign language)
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The name "the Silk Road" was invented in the 19th century
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to describe the network of economic
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as well as intellectual exchanges
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that went on between the East and the West.
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We know where it ends, in Xi'an
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the former capital of the Chinese empire.
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But where should it start from?
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From Byzantium?
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From Antioch?
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Jerusalem, perhaps?
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Or why not from here?
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From Venice, the European gateway to the Orient
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and the point of departure for the most famous traveler
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to have ever hit this road and its 16,000 kilometers:
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Marco Polo.
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Venice seems to hover between the see and the sky.
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The floating city, La Serenissima owed its splendor
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to its trading activities with the Levant.
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It was indeed an outpost of the East
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on the European continent.
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St. Mark's Basilica is a symbol
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of this interconnection between the East and West.
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It was built to house the relics of Mark the Evangelist
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after his remains were brought here from Egypt.
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On its facade, the lion is an attribute of the saint
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and an emblem of the city.
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(solemn choral music)
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The mosaics that decorate the interior of the basilica,
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which is almost entirely covered in gold leaf,
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clearly point to Venice's direct ties
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with Constantinople and beyond.
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This mosaics show the different peoples
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that once engaged in trade with the Venetians:
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Arabs, Cappadocians, Jews, Phrygians, Asians.
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They're all, in fact, the peoples of the Silk Road.
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St. John of Damascus, represented here as a Turkish merchant
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wearing a turban, takes us back to a time
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when the divide between East and West was not so clear cut,
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when a Syrian, for example, could be a priest in the church
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and could also be honored in a Catholic basilica
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built in the ninth century.
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(emotional orchestral music)
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This sculpted marble plaque from the 10th century
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is quite amazing.
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It intermingles religious symbols
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from both the East and the West.
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You can see the Christian cross, the Star of David,
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the Hindu swastika, the dharma wheel,
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the lotus flower, sacred to the Buddhists.
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It's very mysterious, but it's a wonderful example
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of intercultural communication.
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Many of these vestiges from the East
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are not really the result of communication
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but rather of plunder, or what the Venetians
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called (foreign language).
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For example, the famous Horses of St. Mark.
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These magnificent bronze statues once stood
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atop the great Hippodrome of Constantinople.
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But after sacking the Byzantine capital
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during the Fourth Crusade in the year 1204,
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the Venetians stole the Quadriga.
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And ever since, like a trophy of war, the four horses
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have triumphantly adorned the front of the basilica.
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Or rather, their copies, since the original Quadriga
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was moved inside to protect it from the pollution.
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In the old working class neighborhood of Cannaregio,
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a mosaic factory continues to practice
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the art of glass making and coloring,
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which the Byzantines passed on to the Venetians.
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An inconspicuous entry leads into one
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of these hidden courtyards or secret gardens
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that are so delightful in Venice, so similar
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to the ones drawn by Hugo Pratt
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in the adventures of Corto Maltese.
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The Orsoni factory restores mosaics,
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those from St. Marks and from many other basilicas,
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and it perpetuates a very special technique
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that originated in Byzantium, the art of hold leaf mosaics.
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(glass clinking)
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Where does mosaic making actually come from?
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(foreign language)
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The art of mosaics in its modern form
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developed significantly during the Greek and Roman periods.
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Pompeii is a very important example
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of how it was already being used decoratively.
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The ancient mosaics in Pompeii were already being created
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with glass tiles that were tinted, because nature
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does not offer the entire range of desired colors.
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There seems to be a sort of back and forth movement
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between the East and the West with regard to mosaics.
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It's an art that was born here in Italy
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during the Roman Empire, in Pompeii for example,
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it traveled to Asia under the eastern Roman Empire,
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Byzantium, and then came back to Italy
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through Venice's merchants.
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(foreign language)
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Certainly there were exchanges.
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It's true that glass mosaics came to us from the East.
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There's no doubt that the process existed
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in Constantinople before it was brought here
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to Venice during the Byzantine period.
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So it's obvious that knowledge and information
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about glass making were exchanged from East to West
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and then from West to East and that it continued afterwards.
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(delicate music)
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How are gold leaf tesserae made?
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(foreign language)
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The way we make the gold leaf,
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the gold plates, follows the rules of the ancient Byzantine,
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and before that Roman, canons.
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It's a very special technique
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that requires several days of work.
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In fact, it's made like a sandwich,
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with the gold leaf trapped between layers of glass.
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We make the glass ourselves.
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It's a very fine, blown glass that protects the gold leaf,
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so that the gold leaf is placed in the middle,
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molten glass is then poured onto the support,
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and then it's all put together.
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Golden mosaics are still highly prized
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for their flamboyant beauty.
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Today, however, the Orsoni factory is called upon
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to decorate churches less often than luxury hotels
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or the palaces of wealthy oil emirs.
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(intriguing percussion)
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In the fifth century, Attila, the leader of the Huns,
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who'd pushed westward from the borders of China,
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invaded Italy, forcing the inhabitants of the Po Valley
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to take refuge in the lagoon of Venice.
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Then, in the 13th century, it was the Venetian merchants
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who, with an eye for adventure and economic gain,
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would open up the route back to China.
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It was from this house in 1271
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that a 16-year-old Venetian youth set out on a journey
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that would take him down the Silk Road to China.
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His name, Marco Polo.
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More than 20 years would go by before Marco Polo
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would return to this very house.
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He took up the life he'd led, but a few years later
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he was captured and imprisoned in Genoa,
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Venice's rival city.
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It was in his cell that he would turn his travel adventures
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on the Silk Road into the Book of Wonders,
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or Milione in Italian, like the name of this house,
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which would become one of the greatest
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bestsellers of all time.
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These memoirs, the travels of Marco Polo,
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which were in fact dictated to a fellow cell mate,
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would feed all kinds of fantasies about the fabulous
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riches of the East, and inspire explorers.
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It was one of Christopher Columbus's
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favorite books, for example.
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The commodity that fascinated Marco Polo
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and made China rich was, of course, silk.
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The fabric invented by the Chinese
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more than 4,000 years ago first arrived in Venice
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towards the beginning of the Middle Ages.
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Weavers from the Bevilacqua family can be seen
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in paintings dating back to the Renaissance,
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and their factory on the Grand Canal
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has been using the same looms since the 18th century.
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(looms rattling)
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When did silk and brocade weaving start in Venice?
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(foreign language)
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In Venice, the production of velvet
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and brocade began in the 14th century.
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In other words, around 1300.
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The first fabrics that were produced
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were called (foreign language),
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which were originally imported from the East.
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What is very important is that strong commercial,
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as well as cultural, ties had always existed
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between Venice and Constantinople, or Byzantium.
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The Venetians had always made the textiles
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for the caftans and the clothing of Turks and the East.
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So the silk weaving techniques came from the East,
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and it was you, the Venetians, who made the caftans
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that were worn by the Ottoman sultans.
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(foreign language)
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Exactly.
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So, in fact, the Silk Road went in both directions.
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That's absolutely right.
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Can you show us some damask?
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Of course.
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(exotic music)
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So this fabric originally came
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from the city of Damascus on the Silk Road.
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That's right.
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From Syria.
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And this is all silk.
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It's all silk, 100% silk.
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And could you show us an example
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of one of those brocades that were so precious
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in the Middle Ages at the time of Marco Polo?
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Of course.
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This, for example, is a brocade made with silk and metal.
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Brocade is a very special fabric.
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Silk brocade embellished with silver.
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With silver or with gold,
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which may also be used to create the designs.
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Brocade is probably the richest kind of cloth there is,
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because you can weave in so many different colors
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and thus create these multicolored designs,
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while damask, for example, can only have two colors.
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So that's the brocade.
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What about the velvet, the famous cut velvet?
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This is the soprarizzo velvet, as we call it in Venice.
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Here it is.
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That's beautiful.
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The soprarizzo velvet,
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as it's called here, was created in Venice.
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Have any kinds of Venetian fabric
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ever been found perhaps in India or China?
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In China, I don't know.
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China already had its own tradition of textiles.
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And it's always been a rather closed culture,
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so it's hard to know.
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Marco Polo, on the other hand, is said to have stolen
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some silk worms and brought them back to Venice.
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Poor Marco Polo.
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He gets blamed for everything.
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If it's not the recipe for pasta that he's suspected
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of stealing from the Chinese, then it's the silk cocoons
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that he's supposed to have pocketed.
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And what's more, he's even been accused of making up
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his entire journey and of never having set foot in China.
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(foreign language)
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Although the gondola has become a boat for tourists
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in Venice, this traghetto is certainly one of the coolest
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forms of public transportation I've ever been on.
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(gentle guitar music)
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It's best to go early in the morning
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to Venice's main outdoor market, near the Rialto Bridge.
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There the fruit and vegetable stands sell,
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among other things, the famous artichokes
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of Venice, Carciofi.
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The Silk Road has left its indelible mark
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on Venetian cuisine, whose key ingredients
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are fish and spices.
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Irina Freguia is a specialist
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in the gastronomic history of the city.
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(foreign language)
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Give me some of the (foreign language),
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because I'm not sure I have any left.
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But I want them closed.
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Let me see them.
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Good.
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I was told they were excellent.
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(foreign language)
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00:13:38,710 --> 00:13:40,127
Yes, the biggest.
266
00:13:41,510 --> 00:13:42,403
Yes, please.
267
00:13:45,330 --> 00:13:47,500
Irina's tavern, the Vecio Fritolin,
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00:13:47,500 --> 00:13:48,840
is well known among the Venetians
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00:13:48,840 --> 00:13:50,890
as one of the best places in the city to enjoy
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00:13:50,890 --> 00:13:53,140
traditional cooking straight form the lagoon.
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00:13:54,140 --> 00:13:56,430
As for the origins, whether factual or mythified,
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00:13:56,430 --> 00:13:59,173
of Venetian dishes, she has all of the answers.
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00:14:00,650 --> 00:14:02,350
Okay, credit where credit is due.
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00:14:02,350 --> 00:14:04,190
Where does pasta really come from?
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00:14:04,190 --> 00:14:07,535
Did Marco Polo bring noodles back with him to Venice?
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00:14:07,535 --> 00:14:09,910
(foreign language)
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00:14:09,910 --> 00:14:13,060
Well, to be honest, some say yes.
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00:14:13,060 --> 00:14:14,700
Others say no.
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00:14:14,700 --> 00:14:18,790
There are different theories, some may be even from Arabia.
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00:14:18,790 --> 00:14:23,400
But the very first pasta, real pasta, was made in the south,
281
00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:26,293
in Naples, in Sicily, in southern Italy.
282
00:14:27,690 --> 00:14:29,680
Down there they might have learned something
283
00:14:29,680 --> 00:14:32,120
from the Chinese, but we don't know, no one knows.
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00:14:32,120 --> 00:14:33,320
There's nothing written.
285
00:14:35,300 --> 00:14:38,182
This isn't just a patriotic Italian response?
286
00:14:38,182 --> 00:14:40,237
No, not at all.
287
00:14:40,237 --> 00:14:43,404
(exotic string music)
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00:14:50,590 --> 00:14:53,020
Would you have any specific examples of ingredients,
289
00:14:53,020 --> 00:14:55,860
vegetables, or fruits that came from the East?
290
00:14:55,860 --> 00:14:59,084
Artichokes are said to have come from Arabia or Persia.
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00:14:59,084 --> 00:15:00,800
(foreign language)
292
00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:02,743
They first came here around 1,500.
293
00:15:06,070 --> 00:15:10,640
They were specially planted on the island of Sant'Erasmo.
294
00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:13,963
We call them (foreign language), which means first cut.
295
00:15:15,070 --> 00:15:17,790
In other words, it's the first buds that are cut off,
296
00:15:17,790 --> 00:15:19,290
which is why they're so small.
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00:15:21,188 --> 00:15:24,870
The Armenians brought fruits, apricots in particular.
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00:15:24,870 --> 00:15:26,370
And sugar came from the Arabs.
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00:15:27,970 --> 00:15:30,380
Then raisins arrived, the ones that are part
300
00:15:30,380 --> 00:15:33,120
of the Jewish culture, and pine nuts,
301
00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:35,343
lots of things, almost everything.
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00:15:37,230 --> 00:15:38,630
Nothing grew here in Venice.
303
00:15:39,466 --> 00:15:42,700
There was only water, and that's it.
304
00:15:42,700 --> 00:15:44,000
The Silk Road is also called
305
00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:46,200
by many people the Spice Route.
306
00:15:46,200 --> 00:15:47,980
And it's true that what the Venetian merchants
307
00:15:47,980 --> 00:15:50,803
went off to Asia to buy in the first place were spices.
308
00:15:52,510 --> 00:15:55,590
Spices were so precious that they were worth more than gold.
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00:15:55,590 --> 00:15:56,423
(foreign language)
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00:15:56,423 --> 00:15:57,840
That's right.
311
00:15:57,840 --> 00:16:00,123
Spice was like silk, very expensive.
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00:16:02,721 --> 00:16:05,750
In addition to that, there were lots of kings and merchants
313
00:16:05,750 --> 00:16:07,623
all over Europe who bought spices.
314
00:16:09,001 --> 00:16:11,340
And Venice was the only supplier.
315
00:16:11,340 --> 00:16:13,020
Pepper was worth a fortune.
316
00:16:14,759 --> 00:16:17,926
(exotic string music)
317
00:16:23,596 --> 00:16:26,513
(foreign language)
318
00:16:29,460 --> 00:16:32,854
Moleche, the soft-shelled crab from the lagoon.
319
00:16:32,854 --> 00:16:34,050
(foreign language)
320
00:16:34,050 --> 00:16:36,050
Do I use a knife and fork or my fingers?
321
00:16:37,630 --> 00:16:38,960
Always with your fingers.
322
00:16:38,960 --> 00:16:40,630
Okay.
323
00:16:40,630 --> 00:16:41,623
Just like in Asia.
324
00:16:44,243 --> 00:16:47,160
(foreign language)
325
00:16:49,220 --> 00:16:51,340
Not all Venetians were seafarers.
326
00:16:51,340 --> 00:16:53,660
Like Marco Polo, many of them set off to the East
327
00:16:53,660 --> 00:16:56,310
and went very far across the deserts of central Asia.
328
00:16:58,490 --> 00:17:00,260
Palazzo De Mori, the house of the Moors,
329
00:17:00,260 --> 00:17:02,150
which belonged to a family of merchants,
330
00:17:02,150 --> 00:17:05,930
the Mastelli family, with a Bactrian camel on the outside.
331
00:17:05,930 --> 00:17:07,630
I think we're going the right way.
332
00:17:09,600 --> 00:17:12,220
These three 12th century merchants, the Mastelli brothers,
333
00:17:12,220 --> 00:17:14,410
are dressed up as Moors, in other words as Arabs,
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00:17:14,410 --> 00:17:16,490
wearing Middle Eastern clothing and turbans.
335
00:17:16,490 --> 00:17:18,490
They in fact came from an ancient region of Greece
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00:17:18,490 --> 00:17:20,053
called at the time Maria.
337
00:17:21,390 --> 00:17:24,020
It's also believed that several Arab of Turkish merchants
338
00:17:24,020 --> 00:17:26,963
actually did live in this area around the Campo De Mori.
339
00:17:28,500 --> 00:17:30,560
There is a lovely Venetian legend about the origin
340
00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:33,090
of the sculpted camel, which goes like this.
341
00:17:33,090 --> 00:17:35,480
One of the Mastelli brothers had a Moorish fiance
342
00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:37,430
who was supposed to meet up with him in Venice,
343
00:17:37,430 --> 00:17:39,710
but she didn't know his address.
344
00:17:39,710 --> 00:17:41,600
After going around the city in a gondola,
345
00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:43,230
she finally came upon the camel.
346
00:17:43,230 --> 00:17:45,880
And since the merchant had had it made especially for her,
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00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:48,180
she was able to find the house of her beloved.
348
00:17:50,880 --> 00:17:53,190
The writer Alberto Toso Fei is a specialist
349
00:17:53,190 --> 00:17:54,473
in the legends of Venice.
350
00:17:55,679 --> 00:17:56,830
What is this building?
351
00:17:56,830 --> 00:17:58,330
(foreign language)
352
00:17:58,330 --> 00:18:00,503
This is the Fondaco dei Turchi,
353
00:18:00,503 --> 00:18:02,647
the Inn of the Turks.
354
00:18:02,647 --> 00:18:06,480
The name comes from the Arabic word "fonduke".
355
00:18:06,480 --> 00:18:10,310
In Venice, international merchants were lodged in edifices
356
00:18:10,310 --> 00:18:14,163
like this that were used both as houses and warehouses.
357
00:18:15,110 --> 00:18:17,170
There was one for the Turks along the Grand Canal,
358
00:18:17,170 --> 00:18:18,940
as well as one for the Germans.
359
00:18:18,940 --> 00:18:22,851
There was a similar Fondaco for the Persians and the Arabs.
360
00:18:22,851 --> 00:18:24,820
This proves that the Venetians did not separate
361
00:18:24,820 --> 00:18:26,810
people from the East according to their religion
362
00:18:26,810 --> 00:18:29,620
but instead according to their nationality:
363
00:18:29,620 --> 00:18:30,923
Turks, Arabs, Persians.
364
00:18:34,810 --> 00:18:36,680
The history of Venice's ties to the East
365
00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:39,010
is not only written on the walls of its buildings.
366
00:18:39,010 --> 00:18:41,113
It's also recounted by word of mouth.
367
00:18:43,520 --> 00:18:46,010
Alberto, you've published entire collections of stories
368
00:18:46,010 --> 00:18:48,180
from the oral traditions of Venice.
369
00:18:48,180 --> 00:18:50,640
Are any of them about the person who fascinates me the most
370
00:18:50,640 --> 00:18:53,812
in connection with the Silk Road, Marco Polo?
371
00:18:53,812 --> 00:18:54,683
Well, yes.
372
00:18:55,760 --> 00:18:59,170
There's one about Marco Polo when he returns to Venice.
373
00:18:59,170 --> 00:19:01,670
At some point he has to return, and according to the legend,
374
00:19:01,670 --> 00:19:03,590
he comes back with a Chinese wife,
375
00:19:03,590 --> 00:19:06,560
who was one of Kublai Khan's youngest daughters.
376
00:19:06,560 --> 00:19:08,590
They had fallen in love and gotten married.
377
00:19:08,590 --> 00:19:10,070
A Chinese princess?
378
00:19:10,070 --> 00:19:12,050
Yes, that's right.
379
00:19:12,050 --> 00:19:15,003
He brings back nothing less than a Chinese princess.
380
00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:18,590
But she's not happy here because she's so different,
381
00:19:18,590 --> 00:19:19,990
let's just say.
382
00:19:19,990 --> 00:19:23,210
And she doesn't feel accepted by her husband's family.
383
00:19:23,210 --> 00:19:25,170
And so ...
384
00:19:25,170 --> 00:19:27,520
La mama Italiana, his Italian mother
385
00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:28,970
didn't like the Chinese girl.
386
00:19:30,354 --> 00:19:31,560
Right.
387
00:19:31,560 --> 00:19:33,450
And so when Marco is taken prisoner
388
00:19:33,450 --> 00:19:37,710
after the Battle of Curzola and news gets back to Venice,
389
00:19:37,710 --> 00:19:39,951
instead of telling her the truth,
390
00:19:39,951 --> 00:19:42,110
that is, that he was imprisoned,
391
00:19:42,110 --> 00:19:44,580
they tell the girl that Marco had died.
392
00:19:44,580 --> 00:19:48,580
And so, as the story goes, she immolates herself
393
00:19:48,580 --> 00:19:51,660
by setting fire to her garments and then throwing herself
394
00:19:51,660 --> 00:19:53,913
into the canal from the window of the house.
395
00:19:55,580 --> 00:19:56,960
She drowned herself in the canal
396
00:19:56,960 --> 00:19:58,360
because Marco Polo was dead.
397
00:19:59,360 --> 00:20:01,350
She had a beautiful voice.
398
00:20:01,350 --> 00:20:03,640
According to the legend, Marco fell in love with her
399
00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:06,540
because he heard her singing in the gardens of the palace.
400
00:20:07,740 --> 00:20:12,080
And even today, as this romantic Venetian legend tells us,
401
00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:14,870
if you go up on the bridge that still bears his name,
402
00:20:14,870 --> 00:20:17,330
Marco Polo, which is near the house
403
00:20:17,330 --> 00:20:18,663
where our traveler lived.
404
00:20:19,726 --> 00:20:20,559
Il Milione.
405
00:20:20,559 --> 00:20:21,392
That's right.
406
00:20:22,550 --> 00:20:25,993
You might hear, on a summer night, a soft, sweet song.
407
00:20:27,340 --> 00:20:30,280
And they say that it's Marco's wife who's singing,
408
00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:32,323
knowing that she is loved in return.
409
00:20:34,050 --> 00:20:35,040
Oh, that's very sad.
410
00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:36,711
It is.
411
00:20:36,711 --> 00:20:39,711
(sentimental music)
412
00:20:43,100 --> 00:20:45,450
In the lagoon, there is an island that is so entirely
413
00:20:45,450 --> 00:20:48,050
devoted to the East that it even became a sanctuary.
414
00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:52,400
It's the island of San Lazzaro.
415
00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:54,390
In the 18th century, this monastery was given
416
00:20:54,390 --> 00:20:57,630
by the Republic of Venice to a group of monks from Armenia
417
00:20:57,630 --> 00:20:59,513
who were fleeing Turkish persecution.
418
00:21:03,890 --> 00:21:06,450
For many centuries, the former kingdoms of Armenia
419
00:21:06,450 --> 00:21:09,290
were allied with the Venetians and the Europeans.
420
00:21:09,290 --> 00:21:11,150
They were even ruled by a dynasty of knights,
421
00:21:11,150 --> 00:21:14,080
the House of Lusignan, who'd come from Poitou, France
422
00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:15,093
during the Crusades.
423
00:21:17,860 --> 00:21:20,320
Coming form an ancient branch of Eastern Christianity,
424
00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:21,900
the Armenian monks sought to preserve
425
00:21:21,900 --> 00:21:24,313
the great cultural tradition of the Silk Road.
426
00:21:25,470 --> 00:21:28,170
The collection is now one of the richest in the world.
427
00:21:33,700 --> 00:21:35,130
It was after a very thorough reading
428
00:21:35,130 --> 00:21:38,020
of Marco Polo's accounts of his travels along the Silk Road
429
00:21:38,020 --> 00:21:41,550
that a Venetian monk, Fra Mauro, decided to draw a map,
430
00:21:41,550 --> 00:21:43,780
the first map of the old world.
431
00:21:43,780 --> 00:21:45,160
His work would turn Venice into
432
00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:47,330
an international map making center.
433
00:21:47,330 --> 00:21:50,280
The first globes would be created here, including this one.
434
00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:55,690
The prosperity of Venice's cartography studios
435
00:21:55,690 --> 00:21:57,740
shows the extent to which the city's fortunes
436
00:21:57,740 --> 00:21:59,800
were linked to those of the Silk Road.
437
00:21:59,800 --> 00:22:01,370
In fact, they would both start to decline
438
00:22:01,370 --> 00:22:03,820
after the 16th century, when international trade routes
439
00:22:03,820 --> 00:22:06,163
were rerouted towards the Atlantic Ocean.
440
00:22:08,350 --> 00:22:10,940
After the fall of Constantinople, it was Venice that became
441
00:22:10,940 --> 00:22:14,023
the keeper of the flame, says professor Alberto Paratone.
442
00:22:16,060 --> 00:22:17,750
In your opinion, is the legacy Byzantine,
443
00:22:17,750 --> 00:22:19,750
or does it come more from the Silk Road?
444
00:22:20,668 --> 00:22:21,672
(foreign language)
445
00:22:21,672 --> 00:22:22,505
Both.
446
00:22:22,505 --> 00:22:24,573
Because the two of them go hand-in-hand.
447
00:22:26,810 --> 00:22:29,180
The Silk Road was intricately linked
448
00:22:29,180 --> 00:22:32,250
to the commercial interests of the Middle East,
449
00:22:32,250 --> 00:22:33,680
which is what made Byzantium
450
00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:35,280
an important point of reference.
451
00:22:38,470 --> 00:22:41,027
One couldn't exist without the other.
452
00:22:41,027 --> 00:22:42,863
The two were interconnected.
453
00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:48,590
Venice is thus like the bridgehead
454
00:22:48,590 --> 00:22:51,193
of a long chain of connections with the East.
455
00:22:53,360 --> 00:22:56,070
Professor Paratone, who specializes in the movement
456
00:22:56,070 --> 00:22:59,210
of ideas, teaches metaphysics at the university.
457
00:22:59,210 --> 00:23:00,650
He's also the chief archivist
458
00:23:00,650 --> 00:23:02,850
for the extraordinary library on San Lazaro.
459
00:23:04,120 --> 00:23:07,102
How many works are there in this magnificent library?
460
00:23:07,102 --> 00:23:09,989
(foreign language)
461
00:23:09,989 --> 00:23:12,770
Approximately 170,000 books
462
00:23:12,770 --> 00:23:16,350
in different collections, in both Western
463
00:23:16,350 --> 00:23:17,793
and Eastern languages.
464
00:23:19,450 --> 00:23:23,510
Many in Armenian, of course, but also in Arabic
465
00:23:23,510 --> 00:23:27,373
and other Eastern languages such as Persian or Syriac,
466
00:23:28,430 --> 00:23:31,143
as well as all the major Western languages.
467
00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:36,840
After the congregation moved to Venice,
468
00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:39,880
it would start to do a lot of translation work,
469
00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:42,680
which has continued up to the present day,
470
00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:45,900
translating Eastern works into Western languages,
471
00:23:45,900 --> 00:23:48,473
and Western works into Eastern languages.
472
00:23:52,530 --> 00:23:55,660
It's a way of promoting a mutual exchange of knowledge
473
00:23:55,660 --> 00:23:58,150
between the cultures of these two worlds,
474
00:23:58,150 --> 00:24:00,230
which have two different interpretations
475
00:24:00,230 --> 00:24:01,970
of the Christian tradition,
476
00:24:01,970 --> 00:24:04,480
the Latin world and the Eastern world,
477
00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:07,293
and whose resources mutually enrich each other.
478
00:24:11,420 --> 00:24:12,870
Could we say that the Armenians acted
479
00:24:12,870 --> 00:24:15,370
as go-betweens between the East and the West?
480
00:24:15,370 --> 00:24:16,870
Yes.
481
00:24:16,870 --> 00:24:19,390
So there was an exchange which wasn't only
482
00:24:19,390 --> 00:24:21,770
of material things, of objects,
483
00:24:21,770 --> 00:24:23,923
of wealth and material resources,
484
00:24:24,780 --> 00:24:28,710
but also, and I'd say above all, of knowledge,
485
00:24:28,710 --> 00:24:32,023
which is what helps culture develop in an all around way.
486
00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:38,150
In addition to its books, the monastery's collection
487
00:24:38,150 --> 00:24:40,860
includes an unusual assortment of miscellaneous scholarly
488
00:24:40,860 --> 00:24:42,523
and Orientalist artifacts.
489
00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:47,500
For example, this astonishing 4,000-year-old Egyptian mummy
490
00:24:47,500 --> 00:24:51,000
or this marquetry work from Damascus, antique porcelain
491
00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:54,435
from China, and these miniatures from Persia.
492
00:24:54,435 --> 00:24:57,435
(exotic wind music)
493
00:25:00,140 --> 00:25:02,500
Venice may be the most beautiful city in the world,
494
00:25:02,500 --> 00:25:04,600
but it's also an invitation to take off,
495
00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:06,560
to explore other lands.
496
00:25:06,560 --> 00:25:08,680
Marco Polo and many other Venetian merchants
497
00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:11,160
and adventurers were not content to stay put.
498
00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:13,530
They set out to seek their fortune across the deserts
499
00:25:13,530 --> 00:25:15,650
and over the mountains of the Silk Road,
500
00:25:15,650 --> 00:25:18,360
if only to return home later to the dreamy lagoon
501
00:25:18,360 --> 00:25:21,616
and bask once more in the mirage of La Serenissima.
502
00:25:21,616 --> 00:25:24,699
(adventurous music)
39506
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