0:00:18 > 0:00:22A great city had risen out of the Venetian lagoon.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25At first, barely above the marshy ground.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28It's transformed over six centuries
0:00:28 > 0:00:32into a city of palaces of marble and stone.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40Its great waterway, the Gran Canale,
0:00:40 > 0:00:45would be one of the most brilliant displays of art and architecture
0:00:45 > 0:00:48the world had ever seen.
0:00:53 > 0:00:58Under the bold leadership of successive Doges,
0:00:58 > 0:01:03Venice built up an empire of trading posts
0:01:03 > 0:01:05that spanned east and west.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12But in 1575, plague decimated the city.
0:01:12 > 0:01:16Almost one third of the population died.
0:01:16 > 0:01:20And Venice was shunned by the rest of Europe.
0:01:52 > 0:01:57This is the story of Venice's great age of Carnival,
0:01:57 > 0:02:01when Venice would become the pleasure capital of the world.
0:02:01 > 0:02:07A place of unrestrained decadence and sexual indulgence.
0:02:07 > 0:02:12The age would be dominated by two men of opposite extremes -
0:02:12 > 0:02:15the adventurer and the mercenary.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18The sensualist and the soldier.
0:02:18 > 0:02:20The lover and emperor.
0:02:20 > 0:02:26One came to define the age - Giovanni Giacomo Casanova.
0:02:26 > 0:02:28And the other came to destroy it -
0:02:28 > 0:02:30Napoleon Bonaparte.
0:02:42 > 0:02:48But for the moment, Venice's greatest enemy was the plague.
0:02:50 > 0:02:57Another epidemic gripped the city in 1630, and when it subsided,
0:02:57 > 0:03:0311 months later, almost a third of Venice was dead.
0:03:07 > 0:03:12But out of the mists of a dream, an architectural vision appeared to the Doge.
0:03:12 > 0:03:16The survivors would build a great new church -
0:03:16 > 0:03:19Santa Maria della Salute -
0:03:19 > 0:03:22dedicated to the Virgin Mary,
0:03:22 > 0:03:26to thank God for the city's deliverance.
0:03:26 > 0:03:32The extravagance of the new church would define the age.
0:03:32 > 0:03:36La Salute is all drama.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38Visual effects.
0:03:38 > 0:03:43Baroque architecture was really elaborate, very decorative.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46Like a big wedding cake.
0:03:46 > 0:03:51Venetian baroque would be an assault on the senses.
0:03:51 > 0:03:53About making a big impression
0:03:53 > 0:03:58with most of the attention on the exterior of the building.
0:04:10 > 0:04:16The style was still classical, but much less restrained -
0:04:16 > 0:04:19embracing ornament and sculpture.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24The dramatic effect of the interior
0:04:24 > 0:04:28is heightened by a great circle of windows
0:04:28 > 0:04:31flooding light into the building.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35The Baroque could be for Venice the rebirth.
0:04:35 > 0:04:41The round form of the temple represents the crown of the Virgin Mary.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48But the Baroque would slide into indulgence,
0:04:48 > 0:04:53theatre would become pantomime, decoration would become disguise.
0:04:53 > 0:04:59Buildings became overladen with ornament and exaltation.
0:04:59 > 0:05:04It would signal an age of excess.
0:05:11 > 0:05:18Venetian women treated their skin with strips of veal to keep it supple.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26They streaked their hair with urine.
0:05:40 > 0:05:45Venice was changing art into fashion.
0:05:45 > 0:05:49The angle of a fan indicated willingness.
0:05:51 > 0:05:58A beauty spot at the corner of the eye signalled a passionate nature,
0:05:58 > 0:06:03and on the throat it was considered shameless.
0:06:03 > 0:06:09Venice was becoming brazen. She had been beautiful for centuries,
0:06:09 > 0:06:15but now she knew it, and she would attract the world to her door.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21There was a flood of tourists -
0:06:21 > 0:06:24aristocrats from England and France,
0:06:24 > 0:06:29who came to educate themselves on what they called their Grand Tour.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32And Venice was their first stop.
0:06:37 > 0:06:44Young rich Europeans came to study Venetian art and architecture
0:06:44 > 0:06:47and to learn from our long history.
0:06:47 > 0:06:52But whatever the power of art, many visitors got distracted.
0:06:52 > 0:06:57They said Venetian women were the most beautiful in Europe,
0:06:57 > 0:07:02their fashion sense the most alluring.
0:07:11 > 0:07:16This was the age of the courtesan, an era of upmarket sex for sale.
0:07:16 > 0:07:24A Venetian paradise for the young men of Europe who poured into the city.
0:07:31 > 0:07:37This painting is called Il Corso Delle Cortigiane In Rio Della Sensa.
0:07:37 > 0:07:39And it depicts the evening ritual
0:07:39 > 0:07:44of courtesans cruising along the canal for business.
0:07:48 > 0:07:53The women were beautiful and often they were clever and witty,
0:07:53 > 0:07:56well-versed in music and poetry.
0:07:56 > 0:08:02In all there were close to 12,000 women for sale,
0:08:02 > 0:08:06and most of these women are forgotten, but not all of them.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15One woman above all others
0:08:15 > 0:08:19set the style of Venetian art and sensuality,
0:08:19 > 0:08:25elevating love to new heights of creativity.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33Her name was Veronica Franco.
0:08:41 > 0:08:46But Veronica's life did not start well.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49She grew up here, in Canaregio.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55Canaregio was a poor part of town,
0:08:55 > 0:08:59and becoming a courtesan was Veronica's way out.
0:09:02 > 0:09:07Franco was acclaimed as one of the most beautiful women in the world,
0:09:07 > 0:09:11famous for her seductive powers.
0:09:11 > 0:09:16But she grew rich from her volumes of passionate poetry,
0:09:16 > 0:09:20which became bestsellers across Europe.
0:09:23 > 0:09:29She became so famous that when the King of France visited Venice,
0:09:29 > 0:09:32he requested an evening with her.
0:09:34 > 0:09:39Franco wrote a poem to commemorate the occasion.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15And even if you were not the King of France,
0:10:15 > 0:10:20you could find the art of Venetian love around every corner.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29This is a sort of guide to Venice in the 18th century.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38It's got a lot of useful information, a lot of addresses.
0:10:38 > 0:10:43In San Luca in the street of the Colla family,
0:10:43 > 0:10:47in Santangeli in front of the house of the Malipiero family,
0:10:47 > 0:10:51in San Leo, in Santa Maria Formosa on the Rugagiuffa.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54In Santa Maria Formosa on the Calle Longa.
0:10:54 > 0:11:00In San Antonio at the arch. In San Giovanni Bragola, in Santa Trinita.
0:11:00 > 0:11:04In San Cassiano...and obviously in Carampane, the castle.
0:11:04 > 0:11:09All addresses of the most desirable Venetian courtesans.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30Hello? Oh, excuse me?
0:11:30 > 0:11:36We are searching for courtesans around here. Do you know anything?
0:11:36 > 0:11:42- I do not, but I know a man who knows. - Where?- Just around the corner.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50Permesso!
0:12:27 > 0:12:33The place of the courtesan was at the very heart of Venetian society.
0:12:35 > 0:12:41Just off St Mark's Square sits the most fashionable cafe of the age -
0:12:41 > 0:12:46the Venezia Trionfante - but we know it as Florian's.
0:12:51 > 0:12:55The favourite haunt of courtesans and artists alike.
0:12:55 > 0:13:01Half coffee house, half literary salon,
0:13:01 > 0:13:04Florian's strange oriental decoration
0:13:04 > 0:13:08captures the mood of mystery and excitement
0:13:08 > 0:13:12that drew foreign tourists to Venice.
0:13:12 > 0:13:19Upstairs, it was whispered, was the best bordello in town.
0:13:23 > 0:13:28Downstairs, art and licence mixed into a potent brew.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37The fashion was for erotic verse,
0:13:37 > 0:13:42like Giorgio Baffo's Inni Alla Mona,
0:13:42 > 0:13:44Lodi Al Culo
0:13:44 > 0:13:46and Gusto De Sborar.
0:13:46 > 0:13:51English visitors were reputed to be the most licentious,
0:13:51 > 0:13:55but, as libertine Venice filed past,
0:13:55 > 0:14:02even they had to remind themselves why they were in Venice art.
0:14:02 > 0:14:07Even the guilty realised they would need an alibi to take home.
0:14:11 > 0:14:13And new Venetian artists
0:14:13 > 0:14:18would create the most elegant souvenirs for the guilty men.
0:14:18 > 0:14:24Venice was full of tourists and their money was opening up a whole new market.
0:14:24 > 0:14:30The arts, from painting to sculpture to music, were for sale.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32And everybody wanted a piece.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47The most famous musicians were all women
0:14:47 > 0:14:52all living in the city's four church-run orphanages.
0:14:52 > 0:14:56Mostly they were unwanted daughters of courtesans.
0:14:56 > 0:14:58For the sake of modesty,
0:14:58 > 0:15:04they played behind iron grills set into the galleries of music rooms.
0:15:06 > 0:15:11One man was to bring Venetian music to the world.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15He was a clergyman, nicknamed Il Prete Rosso,
0:15:15 > 0:15:18for his flaming red hair,
0:15:18 > 0:15:24but he would put his music not at the service of God, but of money.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28His name was Antonio Vivaldi.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42Vivaldi was the son of a barber who had played the violin
0:15:42 > 0:15:47in the orchestra of the Basilica of St Mark's.
0:15:47 > 0:15:52He became head of music at the orphanage of La Pieta.
0:15:52 > 0:15:57Whereas composers had been in the service of the church,
0:15:57 > 0:16:03or a single rich patron, now Vivaldi responded to a new market for music.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10Vivaldi revolutionized music, not with his compositions,
0:16:10 > 0:16:13but by the way he sold them.
0:16:13 > 0:16:17He had made music a commodity for sale.
0:16:19 > 0:16:25Vivaldi wrote more than 500 concertos and 46 operas in his life.
0:16:25 > 0:16:29He claimed he could finish a symphony in just a few days.
0:16:29 > 0:16:35His technique was simple he sold dedications to compositions
0:16:35 > 0:16:40which were often just a blend of ingredients from previous pieces.
0:16:47 > 0:16:49Those who paid for a dedication
0:16:49 > 0:16:54never guessed they were part of a quick-fire production line.
0:16:54 > 0:16:56Was this art for sale?
0:16:56 > 0:17:01Perhaps, but it is still the most sublime accompaniment to my city
0:17:01 > 0:17:04of any musician.
0:17:04 > 0:17:11Painters too would market their art directly to tourists.
0:17:11 > 0:17:17And the foremost Venetian artist of the day was Antonio Canal.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21But he became better known as... Canaletto.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24Canaletto never won the reputation
0:17:24 > 0:17:29of the early Venetian artists like Titian or Bellini.
0:17:29 > 0:17:34People thought of him as we might think of a tourist photographer.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38He didn't imagine things - he just reproduced them.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45Canaletto led a new movement in art.
0:17:45 > 0:17:50He was a vedutista a painter of views.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54For the first time, the city was the subject of the painting,
0:17:54 > 0:17:57rather than just the background.
0:18:03 > 0:18:09Canaletto's realism was created with help of the newest technology.
0:18:09 > 0:18:16A box that held a lense projecting an image onto a screen...
0:18:16 > 0:18:18a camera obscura.
0:18:18 > 0:18:22And this is the very one that Canaletto used.
0:18:24 > 0:18:3018th-century tourists seized on his art
0:18:30 > 0:18:34as the most upmarket postcards of the age.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40But even Canaletto, the master of realism,
0:18:40 > 0:18:44allowed himself artistic liberties.
0:18:44 > 0:18:51Early subtle light effects would disappear from his later paintings,
0:18:51 > 0:18:58as his tourist clients demanded sun-drenched views of Venice.
0:18:58 > 0:19:04Some even wanted views they could never hope to see in real life.
0:19:04 > 0:19:09To paint this picture of the Gran Canale,
0:19:09 > 0:19:12Canaletto must have had wings.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20Or maybe he developed his own balancing act.
0:19:29 > 0:19:34Canaletto's popular appeal made him an easy target.
0:19:34 > 0:19:39But many criticisms were nothing more than snobbery.
0:19:39 > 0:19:46Canaletto was creating a new icon for a secular age
0:19:46 > 0:19:48the city itself.
0:19:50 > 0:19:55His pictures would become the world's favourite view of Venice...
0:19:56 > 0:20:00..a city in love with itself.
0:20:09 > 0:20:14Only one man would eclipse Canaletto as Venice's favourite son,
0:20:14 > 0:20:21and his only gift to the world was a 12-volume book about himself.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26A Venetian life devoted to pleasure.
0:20:30 > 0:20:34It was entitled simply A History Of My Life.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38This man was not an artist.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42He was not a poet, not even a great thinker.
0:20:42 > 0:20:44He was a celebrity.
0:20:44 > 0:20:49For the tourists of 18th-century Venice, he WAS Venice.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52Giovanni Giacomo Casanova.
0:20:53 > 0:20:59The chief business of my life has always been to indulge my senses.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02I never knew anything of greater importance.
0:21:02 > 0:21:08I felt myself born for the fair sex. I have ever loved it dearly,
0:21:08 > 0:21:14and I have been loved by it as often and as much as I could.
0:21:14 > 0:21:19I have always found the odour of my beloved ones exceeding pleasant.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23"What depraved tastes!" some people will exclaim.
0:21:23 > 0:21:27"Are you not ashamed to confess such inclinations without blushing?"
0:21:27 > 0:21:31Dear critics, you make me laugh heartily.
0:21:31 > 0:21:37Thanks to my coarse tastes, I believe myself happier than other men.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41I am convinced that they enhance my enjoyment.
0:22:01 > 0:22:06One night in 1753, Casanova started a love affair
0:22:06 > 0:22:11with a mysterious woman he refers to only as "MM".
0:22:11 > 0:22:17Even today, we can only hazard a guess that she was Maria Morisini.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20Complete secrecy was vital.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24Even by the standards of Casanova, it would be risky.
0:22:24 > 0:22:29He was breaking one of the taboos of the Catholic Church.
0:22:29 > 0:22:34Going beyond even the bounds of permissive Venice.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36The problem...and the thrill...
0:22:36 > 0:22:39was that MM was...a nun!
0:22:39 > 0:22:45Her great virtues were her beauty and intelligence.
0:22:45 > 0:22:51In addition to these, my happiness was intensified by the whiff of scandal.
0:22:51 > 0:22:55She was a vestal virgin - I would taste the forbidden fruit.
0:22:55 > 0:23:01Casanova first met MM in a convent on the Island of Murano.
0:23:01 > 0:23:06But what was he doing in the convent in the first place?
0:23:07 > 0:23:12He had started going there just a few months before,
0:23:12 > 0:23:16to visit a novice he had fallen in love with.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20In his diaries, Casanova calls her "CC".
0:23:20 > 0:23:23We know she was Catarina Capretto.
0:23:23 > 0:23:29Her father had put her there to get her away from Casanova.
0:23:29 > 0:23:34But Casanova wouldn't take no for an answer.
0:23:34 > 0:23:39Now Casanova was having affairs with not one but two nuns.
0:23:39 > 0:23:44Things started to get a bit complicated.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08So often things got complicated
0:24:08 > 0:24:12in the aura of sexual licence that pervaded the city.
0:24:12 > 0:24:17One layer of intrigue and outrage upon another.
0:24:26 > 0:24:32The meetings took place in a room rented by the French ambassador,
0:24:32 > 0:24:37a clergyman, the Abbe de Bernis.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42De Bernis had a secret of his own -
0:24:42 > 0:24:45a secret spyhole.
0:24:50 > 0:24:55All three of us - intoxicated by voluptuousness and its frustrators
0:24:55 > 0:24:59and transported by communal fits of rapture -
0:24:59 > 0:25:04wreaked havoc on everything visible and palpable given to us by Nature,
0:25:04 > 0:25:07openly devouring everything we saw,
0:25:07 > 0:25:13and finding that we had all three become of the same sex
0:25:13 > 0:25:16in all the trios we performed.
0:25:17 > 0:25:22Philosophers were saying pleasure was the goal of life,
0:25:22 > 0:25:24that religion was rubbish.
0:25:30 > 0:25:31This man lived it!
0:25:31 > 0:25:34He was the spirit of the age.
0:25:38 > 0:25:41If pleasure was the new religion,
0:25:41 > 0:25:44then the whole of Venice was at prayer.
0:25:44 > 0:25:50Everything reached a climax with the city's annual carnival.
0:25:50 > 0:25:56The carnival had begun centuries before as a feast before Lent.
0:25:56 > 0:26:02But by the mid-18th century, its religious origins were forgotten.
0:26:02 > 0:26:07The Venetian carnival lasted for six months.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11It was the first and biggest of all masked balls.
0:26:11 > 0:26:14For half the year,
0:26:14 > 0:26:19all the normal rules of the world were turned upside-down.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24There was bull fighting in Campo Santo Stefano,
0:26:24 > 0:26:29bear-baiting next to the church of Santa Maria Formosa.
0:26:30 > 0:26:37In Campo San Luca they burnt effigies of witches on bonfires.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41In the piazzetta in front of the Doges palace,
0:26:41 > 0:26:47workers from the arsenal walked the tightrope.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51And of course, Carnival goes on today.
0:26:51 > 0:26:56Even now, it lasts the whole month of February.
0:26:56 > 0:27:02Events climax with a great competition in St Mark's Square
0:27:02 > 0:27:04for the best costume.
0:27:04 > 0:27:11The mood of 18th-century over-indulgence and partying goes on
0:27:11 > 0:27:15even if it has lost some of its magic.
0:27:16 > 0:27:20Are we in Venice, or Las Vegas?
0:27:24 > 0:27:28The spirit of Carnival was born in theatre.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37Venice's Commedia del Arte,
0:27:37 > 0:27:40part-pantomime, part-slapstick.
0:27:40 > 0:27:42There were no limits.
0:27:42 > 0:27:47Outrageous and crude, frivolous behind the mask.
0:27:51 > 0:27:56Theatrical fantasy would become Venetian reality.
0:28:15 > 0:28:20And imagine, even in the audience, they were wearing masks.
0:28:20 > 0:28:25The whole of Venice was living by the rules of the Commedia.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27Farting,
0:28:27 > 0:28:28eating,
0:28:28 > 0:28:30cheering,
0:28:30 > 0:28:33fondling, whistling,
0:28:33 > 0:28:35booing, making love.
0:28:48 > 0:28:52The mask was both liberating and constricting.
0:28:52 > 0:28:54Anonymity was guaranteed.
0:28:54 > 0:28:57Often masks were held in place
0:28:57 > 0:29:03only by the wearers clasping a bit between their teeth.
0:29:05 > 0:29:07But if masks made speech impossible,
0:29:07 > 0:29:14they opened up a wealth of other tantalising possibilities.
0:29:16 > 0:29:20With a mask on you could do everything you like.
0:29:20 > 0:29:24You could forget everything, all your troubles.
0:29:27 > 0:29:33The mask brought the sexual licence of secret liaisons out into the open
0:29:33 > 0:29:35but kept them anonymous.
0:29:35 > 0:29:42Even the rich and famous could go unnoticed in public and behave as they liked.
0:29:45 > 0:29:50Barriers of class and wealth vanished behind the mask,
0:29:50 > 0:29:55and even gender could become a thing of mystery and uncertainty.
0:29:55 > 0:29:58Pinocchietta? Pinocchietto?
0:30:01 > 0:30:05Venice was full of intriguing possibilities.
0:30:05 > 0:30:08But there was a darker side.
0:30:08 > 0:30:13People imagined the place was full of spies,
0:30:13 > 0:30:15hidden behind the masks.
0:30:15 > 0:30:22And while visitors could indulge themselves without restraint,
0:30:22 > 0:30:26the authorities were less tolerant with us Venetians.
0:30:26 > 0:30:32One man above all had pushed things too far -
0:30:32 > 0:30:34Casanova.
0:30:34 > 0:30:39Someone had been watching him all along.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42A government spy.
0:30:44 > 0:30:47Casanova was in trouble.
0:30:48 > 0:30:54On July 26th 1755, he was arrested.
0:30:54 > 0:30:59Now Casanova was taken to the Doge's prison.
0:31:02 > 0:31:06Escorted across the infamous Bridge of Sighs.
0:31:12 > 0:31:16So-called because prisoners would sigh
0:31:16 > 0:31:20as they caught a last glimpse of Venice through the bars.
0:31:27 > 0:31:32My investigation as to what I had done to deserve such a fate
0:31:32 > 0:31:34was not a long one,
0:31:34 > 0:31:40for in the most scrupulous examination of my conduct,
0:31:40 > 0:31:42I could find no crimes.
0:31:45 > 0:31:51I was, it is true, a profligate, a gambler, a bold talker,
0:31:51 > 0:31:57a man who thought of little besides enjoying this present life,
0:31:57 > 0:32:02but in all that, there was no offence against the state.
0:32:08 > 0:32:11In fact, Venetian justice had gone soft -
0:32:11 > 0:32:14too much drink, too many parties.
0:32:14 > 0:32:18Casanova could have his furniture brought to his room.
0:32:18 > 0:32:23He could even have people over for dinner, if he wanted,
0:32:23 > 0:32:25but it wasn't enough.
0:32:25 > 0:32:31The Venetian state acted like an indulgent parent towards its favourite child.
0:32:31 > 0:32:36But this child wasn't happy staying in his room.
0:32:45 > 0:32:50As always, Casanova had his own ideas.
0:32:52 > 0:32:58And on 31st October 1756, he made his escape bid.
0:33:05 > 0:33:11He broke out of his cell onto the roof and then, deviously,
0:33:11 > 0:33:15broke back into another part of the prison.
0:33:30 > 0:33:37Thanks to lax security at one of the entrances, he slipped out unnoticed.
0:33:40 > 0:33:44But it would cost him years of exile from Venice.
0:33:44 > 0:33:47it seemed a high price,
0:33:47 > 0:33:53but at least he would not be in Venice to see the party turn ugly.
0:33:54 > 0:33:59Venice had always been a gambling capital of Europe,
0:33:59 > 0:34:02the Ridotto, the official gaming house,
0:34:02 > 0:34:06had opened as far back as 1638.
0:34:06 > 0:34:09But by the mid-18th century,
0:34:09 > 0:34:13gambling had reached fever pitch.
0:34:13 > 0:34:19Venetians and visitors alike filled the gambling dens of the city,
0:34:19 > 0:34:21but Venice wasn't making money,
0:34:21 > 0:34:26and now even the families of Venetian nobles
0:34:26 > 0:34:28were blowing their inheritance.
0:34:28 > 0:34:32Many of the compulsive gamblers were women, who,
0:34:32 > 0:34:38on losing, would ply their favours just yards from the gaming table.
0:34:38 > 0:34:42Financially rewarded, they would return to play.
0:34:44 > 0:34:46Sometimes us Venetians were lucky.
0:34:47 > 0:34:49But more often,
0:34:49 > 0:34:54riches built over centuries vanished in a night of gambling.
0:34:56 > 0:34:59And visitors to the city went home
0:34:59 > 0:35:02taking the wealth of Venice with them.
0:35:02 > 0:35:06The government tried to close all the casinos,
0:35:06 > 0:35:08but nothing changed.
0:35:15 > 0:35:18In fact, they made things worse.
0:35:18 > 0:35:25Hundreds of new private casinos grew up in secret rooms across the city.
0:35:31 > 0:35:36And now so many Venetians lost their family fortunes,
0:35:36 > 0:35:41there was even a name for them - they were called the Barnabotti,
0:35:41 > 0:35:46because they went to live in San Barnaba, the poorest part of town.
0:35:46 > 0:35:51Even aristocratic brothers could only afford one wife between them,
0:35:51 > 0:35:55and she was expected to satisfy them all.
0:36:05 > 0:36:11Meanwhile, the hospitals of Venice were filling up with sick people.
0:36:11 > 0:36:15A strange disease had taken hold of the city -
0:36:15 > 0:36:20a sickness we call the French disease,
0:36:20 > 0:36:23the French call Italian,
0:36:23 > 0:36:25the Russians call Polish.
0:36:25 > 0:36:29By the 18th century, the disease was so widespread
0:36:29 > 0:36:35we had even created a special hospital to deal with the problem.
0:36:35 > 0:36:41It was called The Incurabili the hospital of the incurable.
0:36:43 > 0:36:46The disease was syphilis.
0:36:48 > 0:36:53The first sign was the appearance of boils, called chancres -
0:36:53 > 0:36:59relatively painless, but ugly and uncomfortable.
0:36:59 > 0:37:02If you were lucky, it stopped at that.
0:37:02 > 0:37:08If not, the boils turned into ulcers that ate away at your flesh.
0:37:08 > 0:37:13The disease destroyed the nervous system, attacked the heart and lungs.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17If things got that far, death was certain.
0:37:17 > 0:37:24But not before the disease had eaten away at your brain, sending you mad.
0:37:26 > 0:37:31Venetian medicine in the 18th century was a brutal affair.
0:37:31 > 0:37:35Things hadn't really moved on since the Middle Ages.
0:37:39 > 0:37:43Promiscuous Venetians would find themselves in agony
0:37:43 > 0:37:49sometimes more from the treatment than the disease.
0:37:49 > 0:37:53Doctors tried to cure the problem with mercury.
0:37:53 > 0:37:58Sometimes the patients were made to inhale the fumes,
0:37:58 > 0:38:01sometimes they mixed it with brandy.
0:38:01 > 0:38:04Even babies who were born with the disease
0:38:04 > 0:38:07were given mercury in their milk.
0:38:07 > 0:38:11But this cure just made things worse.
0:38:11 > 0:38:16Around 20% of the population had syphilis.
0:38:17 > 0:38:21The most famous Venetian didn't escape.
0:38:27 > 0:38:30But Casanova was one of the lucky ones.
0:38:30 > 0:38:32By the time he returned to Venice
0:38:32 > 0:38:37pardoned by the authorities - he was no stranger to syphilis.
0:38:37 > 0:38:42But the disease stopped short of killing him.
0:38:53 > 0:38:59I looked frightful. My skin was yellow and all covered with pustules.
0:39:04 > 0:39:10One may be consoled if one considers such scars were acquired during pleasure,
0:39:10 > 0:39:17just as soldiers enjoy regarding their wounds as evidence of their virtue and sources of their glory.
0:39:20 > 0:39:25But my burning fever - complicated by the venereal poison which was circulating in my veins -
0:39:25 > 0:39:30put me in a state which made the doctor despair of my life.
0:39:33 > 0:39:38But Venetian art would refuse to mirror reality.
0:39:38 > 0:39:43After the plague, we had built fine new churches.
0:39:43 > 0:39:47Now - in the disfiguring grip of syphilis -
0:39:47 > 0:39:52the city would produce images of ideal physical beauty.
0:39:57 > 0:40:03They were the work of Antonio Canova, who was born near Venice in 1757
0:40:03 > 0:40:06and worked in the city.
0:40:06 > 0:40:13Like Vivaldi and Canaletto before him, Canova was a prolific artist.
0:40:13 > 0:40:16His work was heralded
0:40:16 > 0:40:22as the most sublime sculpture of the human body since Michelangelo.
0:40:33 > 0:40:37Canova elevated human flesh to godlike heights.
0:40:45 > 0:40:49These figures can never be contaminated by disease.
0:40:57 > 0:41:04It is as if the suffering around him, drove Canova to render the human body incorruptible.
0:41:20 > 0:41:25Even their sightless eyes seem to say
0:41:25 > 0:41:31this is art that would not look Venetian reality in the face.
0:41:41 > 0:41:47But Canova would sculpt more and more funeral monuments.
0:41:51 > 0:41:56As if even he could not escape what was going on around him.
0:42:01 > 0:42:06It was around this time that one whole side of my family died out.
0:42:06 > 0:42:09Here it is on my family tree.
0:42:10 > 0:42:13They just disappeared.
0:42:13 > 0:42:15Maybe some of them had syphilis.
0:42:15 > 0:42:18Others joined the Venetian Navy.
0:42:18 > 0:42:22It was better to die a glorious death abroad
0:42:22 > 0:42:26than to stay at home and face what was happening in Venice.
0:42:32 > 0:42:39But Venice's last great sea battle had been 200 years before.
0:42:39 > 0:42:46Back then Venice could muster a fleet of over 300 fighting ships.
0:42:46 > 0:42:51Now the Venetian Navy had shrunk to fewer than 20,
0:42:51 > 0:42:56most of which were old and out of date.
0:42:58 > 0:43:01Venice had grown complacent.
0:43:02 > 0:43:05Catastrophe was looming.
0:43:05 > 0:43:09After centuries of protection by the shallows of the lagoon,
0:43:09 > 0:43:16we hadn't realised our impregnability had become an illusion.
0:43:20 > 0:43:26Now modern enemy guns could fire on the city from across the water.
0:43:28 > 0:43:32It would prove to be the most terrible error of judgement
0:43:32 > 0:43:36in Venice's 1,000-year history.
0:43:37 > 0:43:41There were new dangers in Europe.
0:43:43 > 0:43:47In France, a new era was about to begin.
0:43:47 > 0:43:52Revolution would rip apart the old order.
0:43:52 > 0:43:56Aristocracy, privilege and excess would be...
0:43:58 > 0:44:00..outlawed.
0:44:05 > 0:44:09And the man who would lead the revolution,
0:44:09 > 0:44:13the man who would change the face of Europe,
0:44:13 > 0:44:17would also become Venice's greatest enemy.
0:44:21 > 0:44:24Napoleon Bonaparte.
0:44:26 > 0:44:29Venice had a new Doge to deal with the threat.
0:44:29 > 0:44:33But none of the Venetians knew his name.
0:44:33 > 0:44:38They didn't even know the old Doge died.
0:44:38 > 0:44:40The carnival was on,
0:44:40 > 0:44:44and the government didn't want to interrupt the party.
0:44:44 > 0:44:49The Venetian way of life was everything Napoleon despised.
0:44:49 > 0:44:55The nobles of Venice revelled in pleasure, privilege and excess,
0:44:55 > 0:45:03just like the aristocrats of France that the revolution had swept away.
0:45:03 > 0:45:09By 1796, Napoleon's army of 40,000 men
0:45:09 > 0:45:13was ready to carry the ideals of the revolution
0:45:13 > 0:45:16far beyond the borders of France.
0:45:19 > 0:45:23Napoleon would be a new sort of leader.
0:45:23 > 0:45:27Driven by ideology as well as ambition,
0:45:27 > 0:45:31he would become the first despot of the modern age.
0:45:31 > 0:45:35He survived on five hours' sleep a night.
0:45:35 > 0:45:39He was a man who thought sex was a weakness.
0:45:39 > 0:45:43And a general who had memorised the constitution,
0:45:43 > 0:45:47customs and geography of every country in Europe.
0:45:47 > 0:45:51Now his sights were set on Italy.
0:45:51 > 0:45:55It was Napoleon's first big opportunity
0:45:55 > 0:45:59and he was hungry for success.
0:45:59 > 0:46:04Italy was stuffed full of art, precious relics, jewels and gold.
0:46:04 > 0:46:10Enough to keep the machine of the French revolution rolling for years.
0:46:10 > 0:46:15One place had more treasures than any other Venice.
0:46:15 > 0:46:20All Napoleon needed was an excuse to attack.
0:46:21 > 0:46:24Venice looked like an easy target.
0:46:24 > 0:46:29But even years of self-indulgence had not diminished its pride.
0:46:29 > 0:46:34Some Venetians still believed we could be a great power.
0:46:34 > 0:46:38Now their biggest challenge was approaching.
0:46:41 > 0:46:47Napoleon's troops moved faster than any army until the 20th century.
0:46:47 > 0:46:51His enemies were caught by surprise every time.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57On 24th April, he advanced on Turin,
0:46:57 > 0:47:00forcing Piedmont to surrender.
0:47:00 > 0:47:04On 15th May, he entered Milan,
0:47:04 > 0:47:06and on 15th August,
0:47:06 > 0:47:11he crushed a massive Austrian army occupying Castiglione.
0:47:18 > 0:47:23In the Doge's palace, the great council was in panic.
0:47:23 > 0:47:30Surrounded by the grandeur of 1,000 years of the republic.
0:47:35 > 0:47:39Looked down on by the 117 previous Doges,
0:47:39 > 0:47:45the weight of responsibility now fell on Doge Lodovico Manin.
0:47:49 > 0:47:52He had to make a decision.
0:47:52 > 0:47:57What could he do? Some said Venice should make friends with Napoleon.
0:47:57 > 0:48:03Some said she should get ready for war.
0:48:03 > 0:48:08They said, bring the fleet back to the lagoon
0:48:08 > 0:48:13and get money for an army by taxing people.
0:48:13 > 0:48:17But the remaining fleet was not able to fight a war,
0:48:17 > 0:48:21so the Doge sent messengers to find Napoleon.
0:48:21 > 0:48:24Their message - Venice was neutral.
0:48:28 > 0:48:31It was probably a hopeless strategy.
0:48:31 > 0:48:35But if it was to have any hope of success,
0:48:35 > 0:48:39Venice needed to tread very carefully.
0:48:39 > 0:48:43Instead, we just went on irritating him.
0:48:43 > 0:48:47When Napoleon marches across the Venetian land,
0:48:47 > 0:48:50we ask him for compensation.
0:48:50 > 0:48:55Then the Venetian farmers started attacking French troops.
0:48:55 > 0:49:02Napoleon said it was our fault and he sent the Doge a letter.
0:49:02 > 0:49:05"Do you think I am powerless
0:49:05 > 0:49:11"to ensure respect for the foremost people of the universe?
0:49:11 > 0:49:16"Do you expect my legions to tolerate the massacres you have stirred up?
0:49:20 > 0:49:25"The blood of my brothers-in-arms shall be avenged!"
0:49:37 > 0:49:40Venice would seal its fate in the lagoon.
0:49:40 > 0:49:46Despite Napoleon's warning that he was not to be trifled with -
0:49:46 > 0:49:51that is exactly what Venice was about to do.
0:49:51 > 0:49:56The action would focus on the Fort of Sant'Andrea
0:49:56 > 0:49:59at the entrance of the Venetian lagoon.
0:50:01 > 0:50:07Sant'Andrea - built like a great Roman fort -
0:50:07 > 0:50:10is a reminder of Venice's glory days
0:50:10 > 0:50:15as a great military power in the 16th century.
0:50:15 > 0:50:20This is Venetian military triumphalism at its very best.
0:50:20 > 0:50:25Its solid structure proclaims to any enemy force
0:50:25 > 0:50:29that Venice would last for ever.
0:50:29 > 0:50:32Of course it wasn't true.
0:50:32 > 0:50:36Like all of Venice, it was built on sand and mud.
0:50:36 > 0:50:41But whereas the illusion had worked in the past,
0:50:41 > 0:50:45now our illusions of grandeur would be our undoing.
0:50:48 > 0:50:54On 20th April 1797, three French ships approached the Fort.
0:50:55 > 0:51:00Three ships hardly constituted an invasion force.
0:51:00 > 0:51:04They were probably seeking shelter from a neutral power.
0:51:08 > 0:51:13But the fort commander took a fateful decision and fired on the French.
0:51:13 > 0:51:17Two ships turned back, but one sailed on.
0:51:17 > 0:51:20The commander decided to attack.
0:51:22 > 0:51:27Fired on again, the French ship raised a white flag.
0:51:27 > 0:51:30But it made no difference.
0:51:34 > 0:51:39The French captain and four of his crew were killed.
0:51:42 > 0:51:45Venice was really in danger.
0:51:45 > 0:51:49The city was dicing with death.
0:51:49 > 0:51:54There was no way she could survive if Napoleon decided to attack.
0:51:54 > 0:51:59Napoleon's words when he heard what happened?
0:52:00 > 0:52:04"I will be an Attila for the Venetian state."
0:52:11 > 0:52:15Napoleon's reference to Attila the Hun
0:52:15 > 0:52:17sent a chill through Venetian blood.
0:52:21 > 0:52:27Ever since Attila's attack more than 1,000 years before,
0:52:27 > 0:52:31Venice had been safe from invasion in its lagoon.
0:52:32 > 0:52:34No longer.
0:52:36 > 0:52:39Now Napoleon placed heavy artillery
0:52:39 > 0:52:42along the shores of the Venetian lagoon.
0:52:42 > 0:52:47Inside the Doge's palace, there was complete confusion.
0:52:47 > 0:52:54Outside casinos, theatres and bordellos stayed open as usual -
0:52:54 > 0:52:58but behind the mask, there was widespread fear.
0:52:58 > 0:53:01No one knew what to expect.
0:53:05 > 0:53:12We had no choice. As the Great Council voted to surrender to Napoleon, they heard gunfire.
0:53:13 > 0:53:19And on 17th May, 7,000 French troops entered Venice.
0:53:19 > 0:53:24The Doge only had one thing left to do.
0:53:24 > 0:53:31He passed his corno ducale and his coffieta to his assistant,
0:53:31 > 0:53:37saying, "Questa, non la dopero piu."
0:53:37 > 0:53:43And that was the end of the oldest republic in the world.
0:54:08 > 0:54:11Now Napoleon began his real work -
0:54:11 > 0:54:16taking everything of value out of the city.
0:54:16 > 0:54:21The lion of St Mark was transported to Paris,
0:54:21 > 0:54:26where it was placed in front of the Hotel des Invalides.
0:54:26 > 0:54:32Even more shocking, Napoleon claimed the four great horses
0:54:32 > 0:54:37adorning the front of St Mark's as plunder.
0:54:37 > 0:54:41They had been there since the sack of Constantinople in 1204.
0:54:41 > 0:54:45The city's ultimate badge of identity
0:54:45 > 0:54:49a reminder of both great art and military might.
0:54:49 > 0:54:52But on 13th December 1797,
0:54:52 > 0:54:58they were taken down from the front of the basilica.
0:54:58 > 0:55:02The most terrible sight possible for us Venetians.
0:55:02 > 0:55:06The Four Horses were transported to Paris
0:55:06 > 0:55:10where they were hoisted onto the Arc du Carrousel.
0:55:10 > 0:55:15Napoleon ordered that all the silver in the churches be seized
0:55:15 > 0:55:20and all the gold in the Treasury of St Mark's melted down.
0:55:20 > 0:55:24The French stole Venice's greatest works of art.
0:55:24 > 0:55:29From Santi Giovanni e Paolo - paintings by Veronese and Titian,
0:55:29 > 0:55:34from St Mark's, works by Bellini and Tintoretto.
0:55:34 > 0:55:37Some have never been returned.
0:55:42 > 0:55:47Veronese's Marriage Feast At Cana is still in the Louvre.
0:55:47 > 0:55:52The Meal At The House Of Simon The Pharisee in Versailles.
0:55:54 > 0:56:00The Temptation Of Saint Anthony in the Musee des Beaux Arts in Caen.
0:56:02 > 0:56:08In the Madonna dell'Orto, French soldiers destroyed the golden altar,
0:56:08 > 0:56:13and distributed the paintings among themselves.
0:56:20 > 0:56:23This painting didn't make the trip to Paris.
0:56:23 > 0:56:27They said it was too delicate to transport.
0:56:27 > 0:56:31It was one of the few paintings we saved -
0:56:31 > 0:56:33a vision of Hell.
0:56:37 > 0:56:40Now Venice was in its own Hell.
0:56:40 > 0:56:43Liberation, as Napoleon called it,
0:56:43 > 0:56:48meant life under a new committee of public instruction,
0:56:48 > 0:56:52which would impose the idealism of the revolution.
0:56:54 > 0:56:59Venetian theatre was shut down, casinos were curbed,
0:56:59 > 0:57:02and masks outlawed.
0:57:03 > 0:57:08There was a huge a bonfire here in St Mark's Square
0:57:08 > 0:57:12to burn all the symbols of the Venetian republic.
0:57:12 > 0:57:17The old Doge was made to perform one last act.
0:57:20 > 0:57:23Even today we feel bitter -
0:57:23 > 0:57:27especially with so much art still in Paris.
0:57:29 > 0:57:33And Napoleon had one last surprise for the city.
0:57:33 > 0:57:37After he had stripped it bare, he would give it away
0:57:37 > 0:57:41as part of a peace treaty with Austria.
0:57:41 > 0:57:47In the end, Napoleon had just used us as a bargaining chip.
0:57:47 > 0:57:50It was the ultimate humiliation.
0:57:50 > 0:57:54Now, no-one would care who Venice belonged to.
0:57:59 > 0:58:03The Venetians would live in abject poverty.
0:58:03 > 0:58:08This once great island state and its people forgotten by the world.
0:58:08 > 0:58:13We would be left to crumble and rot.
0:58:13 > 0:58:20It looked as if Venice would become just another ruined city
0:58:20 > 0:58:22from a bygone world.
0:58:22 > 0:58:29But salvation would come from an unexpected source
0:58:29 > 0:58:35not from a new leader, not from an army, but from an idea.
0:59:04 > 0:59:08Subtitles by Emma Biggins BBC Broadcast 2004
0:59:08 > 0:59:11E-mail us at subtitling@bbc.co.uk