20 stories hiding in the paintings, the churches, and the architecture
Every year, millions of people visit Venice. They ride the same canals, photograph the same views, and leave thinking they saw the real city.
They haven't.
Behind every postcard view is a story most visitors never hear. A church built on an underwater forest. A painting that got its artist hauled before the Inquisition. A staircase designed to make politicians feel small.
These are the stories right beneath the surface. Once you know them, you'll never see Venice the same way.
On the surface
A massive Veronese banquet scene stretching across an entire wall at the Gallerie dell'Accademia. Columns, servants, animals, dozens of figures.
Right beneath
It was originally a Last Supper, but the Inquisition demanded Veronese repaint it for including buffoons, drunkards, and a dog. Instead of repainting, he simply changed the title to a different biblical feast and left every offensive detail exactly as it was.
On the surface
St. Mark's Basilica. Golden facade, bronze horses on the balcony, the most famous building in Venice.
Right beneath
The body of Saint Mark was smuggled out of Egypt hidden under pork, the bronze horses were looted from Constantinople which Venice helped destroy, and the 80,000 square feet of gold mosaic tiles are each set at a slight angle so the shifting sun makes the walls glow like living fire.
On the surface
A painting of men in red robes descending a grand staircase in the Doge's Palace. Some kind of state ceremony.
Right beneath
These are the last senators of Venice walking down the coronation staircase for the final time. They just voted to dissolve an 1,100-year-old republic in a single afternoon rather than face Napoleon's siege. The stairs that crowned doges became the exit ramp for an entire civilization.
On the surface
A massive monument in the Basilica dei Frari. Marble, gold, towering figures. Clearly someone who wanted to be remembered.
Right beneath
He ruled Venice for only one year before dying. Then he spent 12,000 gold ducats from beyond the grave to build the biggest tomb in the city, complete with dark marble giants struggling beneath it and bronze skeletons holding hourglasses.
And that's just the beginning
Venice's most photographed dome sits on a hidden forest. Over one million wooden trunks driven into mud, slowly turning to stone.
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Every color in the choir stalls is a different species of tree. No paint, just seven years of cutting wood into imaginary cities.
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Every gold tile in the ceiling is deliberately crooked. The whole surface was engineered to move.
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The biggest tomb in the Frari is nearly empty. It holds only a heart.
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124 walnut stalls were carved in the center of a public church. The wood itself was the instrument.
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Two thousand noblemen voted in a room with no columns. One portrait on the wall has been covered with a black veil for 650 years.
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Bronze circles in the courtyard were Venice's only drinking water. Stone lion mouths on the walls accepted anonymous accusations of treason.
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Two merchants hid a stolen corpse under layers of pork. The painting of the heist made the thieves look like ghosts.
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The friars tried to reject the painting they commissioned. It became the one that changed Venetian art forever.
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A leader crawled to the Pope's feet in iron chains. He came home and built a trading empire on the humiliation.
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They demolished a saint's church to build a train station. Then they named the station after the saint they evicted.
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Four massive bones have hung behind an altar for 900 years. They're not what the church says they are.
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The ruling council kept loaded firearms hidden in their own walls. Not against foreign enemies.
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The lion holds a book. Open means peace. Closed means war. The text inside is a fabricated prophecy.
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Venice hung a painting of hell in the room where its secret tribunal decided who lived and died.
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Venice hired foreign princes to lead its armies on purpose, so no Venetian could ever become powerful enough to seize control.
Read the story →Every one of these was right there, beneath the surface.
The paintings, the churches, the architecture. They were all telling a story. You just had to know how to hear it.
And Venice is just one city.
What's That? turns what you're looking at into the story behind it.
You photograph a building, a painting, a detail that catches your eye. Seconds later, you hear the story. Spoken aloud, so you can keep walking while you listen.
Next time you're in Venice, you'll hear every story.
Free on the App Store. Works in any city.
