What happened on March 5 in Venice

According to the Venetian Liturgical Calendar, today is St. Phocas Martyr and St. Arian, St. Adrian of Cesarea Martyr’s Day. A small island where a Church once stood in the Northern Lagoon is named after him.

St Phocas is the Patron of the Art of the Marangoni da Nave (Ship Carpenters), Carpenters and Calafati (Caulkers).

- March 5, 1684: Pope Innocent XI invokes the formation of the Holy League against the Turks who besiege Vienna, giving the Venetian Capuchin Marco d'Aviano the task of promoting it; the friar brings in it the Kingdoms of Spain, Portugal and Poland, the Republics of Genoa and Venice, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Duchy of Savoy, and all of them send military troops to Vienna under siege, finally the coalition, under the lead of the King of Poland John III Sobieski, destroys the Ottoman camps.

- March 5, 1696: Giambattista Tiepolo, the famous Venetian painter of 18th-century art in Venice, is born in Castello to Domenico and Orsetta.

- March 5, 1876: Francesco Maria Piave, translator, art critic and librettist, dies in Milan. He was born in Murano on May 18, 1810, during his intense collaboration with Giuseppe Verdi, he wrote the librettos of numerous operas for him, including: Ernani, Stiffelio, Rigoletto, La Traviata and Forza del Destino.

- March 5, 1867: an attempt is made to revive the ancient game of xvolo da el campaniel, in vogue at the time of the Republic, during which a man or a woman would climb or descend along a wire rope stretched from the belfry of St Mark’s to the loggias of the Doge's Palace, where the acrobat was greeted and rewarded by the Doge himself; on this occasion a young girl takes on the challenge and greeting her on the loggia is the mask of Pantalon de' Bisognosi

Taken from 'Almanacco di Venezia -1600 anni ab Urbe còndita' by Andrea Gersich and Edoardo Rubini

Venice, 5th March 2021