Rediscovering time

The history of wine

Venice, the queen of trade for a long time, imported Malvasia from Peloponnese during the fifteenth century, and it was a wine that contributed to the financial riches of Venetian merchants and innkeepers. It quickly became one of the most requested varieties throughout Europe. “La Serenissima” was successful in transforming wine into an object of worship, a trend, a medicine for the body and the soul; all this in a Europe that was afflicted by the plague.
Malvasia’s success laid the foundation for creating wine culture. Wines were no longer distinguished only by their colour or their variety, but most importantly by where they were cultivated. It was a true marketing operation that allowed for high prices. Sweet wines such as Malvasia or Vin Santo thus became luxury goods. At the same time, the city of Doges was able to make Marzamino well known, a wine that testifies the trend of producing robust and high-alcohol-content wines, which were more favourable for transportation and storage. The success among Venetian aristocracy is proven by Mozart who, in Don Giovanni, cites it as a much appreciated and sought-after wine.

The mystic garden
A stone’s throw from the Santa Lucia train station stands the Saint Mary of Nazareth Church with the adjoining Discalced Carmelites’ Convent. The Scalzi’s Garden of Wonders overlooks the Grand Canal and houses a vegetable garden, an orchard, and an area where medicinal herbs are cultivated along with about twenty different varieties of grapevines recovered from the lagoon area to protect the biodiversity of Venice. The garden is divided into seven flowerbeds, each representing one of the seven mansions of the Interior Castel of Saint Teresa of Avila. Each flowerbed recalls a mystic theme. The grassy meadow is associated with the fullness of life. The simple garden, where the medicinal herbs are cultivated, is connected to the mystic meaning of the purification of love. The vegetable garden, in the third flowerbed, expresses the synergy between humans and nature. In contrast, the vineyard recalls sacramental wine, reminding us of the white wine that transforms into blood. It represents the evangelical image of the communion of life between Jesus as the vine and the disciples as the branches. The orchard demonstrates the generosity of the earth. In the last two flowerbeds, the olive grove recalls the friendship between Jesus and the apostles and with all humans, whereas the grove with trees that recall the Passion of Christ alludes to the invitation to enter the interior castle of your own existence.

The “bacari” heritage

The birth of “bacari” testifies the waning of the Levantine market, which was quickly replaced by the production of Italian wine. Pantaleo Fabiani, a producer from Puglia, opened the first wine retail with wines coming from Trani. The establishment’s success attracted various producers from Puglia, and it instituted the figure of the innkeeper-producer-entrepreneur. This new reality imposed the creation of an original name for serving wine. Leg end has it that a gondolier, after drinking wine from Trani, exclaimed: “Bon! Bon! This is truly a wine… a wine of a bàcaro!” “Bacara” in Venetian dialect refers to companions who make a racket. Indeed “bacari” spread throughout overpopulated districts of the working class, where people lived in the common areas and the streets to escape the tight spaces of their private homes. Especially when the weather was nice, the streets became noisy, filled with chairs where women flirted and street vendors sold their products. These activities centred around the “bacari” where you could eat, discuss and, most importantly, drink.

The shadow

In the past, wine was not bottled but was sold on tap. One would drink “l’ombra” which literally translates into “a shadow”: an expression that would soon become a unit of measurement. “Un’ombra de vin” (that is, “one shadow of wine”) refers to one eighth of a litre, the same amount as a glass. Regarding the origin of this name, there are many different schools of thought. The most accredited one describes an ancient Venetian custom, that is, in San Marco square, the taverns would place their tables in the shade of the bell tower, moving them as the sun did ensuring that they were always in the shade. The saying became “andiamo a bere all’ombra” (let’s go grab a drink in the shade) which transformed into “andiamo a bere un’ombra” (let’s go drink a shadow).