Venice produced and exported Theriac, an ancient wonder medicine for just about every ailment imaginable. It was a flourishing business for centuries, and an important part of the Venetian economy. [Audio] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

**Thomas Philologus Ravennas** There's a statue of a bearded man on the façade of the church of _San Zulian_ , above the entrance. Yet another saint, one presumes, before walking on towards the main sights at St Mark's. Well, no! That's Tommaso […] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

Happy New Year, even if two months early. [Audio] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

The well-known image of the plague doctor with the beaked mask don't really have a lot of support in our sources. Did he even exist? [Audio] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

The plague slowly diminished during the 1700s, even if it didn't disappear, and Venice reorganised the Lazzaretti. [Audio] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

During the 1400s, Venice had created defences against the recurring outbreaks of the plague, and they kept Venice mostly safe for the following centuries. Mostly safe. [Audio] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

**The Battle of Lepanto** Yesterday, October 7th, was the anniversary of the Battle of Lepanto, fought in 1571 between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy League, which included all the states of the Italian peninsula, including the Spanish Empire. A […] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

Without a cure for the plague, the only way forward was prevention, and during the 1400s, Venice figured out how to govern the plague. [Audio] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

**Campo Santa Giustina** The _Campo di Santa Giustina_ in Venice appears empty and uninteresting to the casual passers-by today. I write passers-by because nobody in their right mind would bother to stop there. There's nothing in the square, except a […] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

The plague arrived in Venice in 1348, but what is the plague, and how did our ancestors understand it? [Audio] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

**Santa Lucia** Why is the railroad station in Venice called _Santa Lucia_? Venice is, of course, much older than the railroad station, and where the station is today, there was something else before. There was quite a bit, actually. On the area, which […] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

Proper ball games for decent people? Not all ball games are equal; some are more equal than others. [Audio] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

**Road rage** Traffic has always been bad in Grand Canal in front of the Santa Lucia railroad station. It is one of the main point of entry for the many millions of tourists, who come to Venice every year, and for the many commuters, who often live on […] [Original post on venetianstories.com]

The Venetians played a ball game (or maybe two different) which was called football, or kicking ball, but it was more rugby-ish, but also not really. [Audio] [Original post on venetianstories.com]