Phantom Love – Legends of Venice (vol 1)
Mysterious stories of love and ghosts in the fascinating Venice
The “Bocolo of San Marco”
Legend of Venice
Each April 25 in Venice, in St. Mark’s day, boys give a rosebud to their girlfriends. This habit comes from far away: the Doge’s daughter, Maria, was in love with Tancredi, but this love was opposed by her father. Then Maria asked Tancredi to participate in the war against the Arabs in Spain to gain value in front of her father. But one day the Knights came to Mary to tell her that her beloved was dead. Tancredi had fallen bleeding on a rosebush. Before dying he took a rose and asked his companion to take it to his woman in Venice. The rose, still stained with blood of Tancredi, was given to Maria. The next day she was found dead with the bloody flower on her chest. Since then, every April 25 the rose given to the beloved symbolizes eternal love.
Bridge of Sighs
Legend of Venice
The famous Bridge of Sighs was designed by Antonio Contin and built in the XVII century, in Baroque style. It is located not far from the beautiful Piazza San Marco and connects the Palazzo Ducale with the New Prisons. Its name, given for the first time by the English poet Lord Byron as a translation from the Italian “Ponte dei sospiri”, comes from the legend that the prisoners, crossing the bridge, sighed because it was the last chance to see the outside world and the beauty of Venice before being locked up. Another local legend has it that lovers that kiss on a gondola at sunset under the Bridge as the bells of St Mark’s Campanile ring, will be in love and happy forever.
The Casino of Spirits
Legend of Venice
So named because considered a meeting place for restless spirits, the Casino of the Spirits is part of Palazzo Contarini del Zaffo, near the Fondamente Nove. Many legends and mysteries revolve around this place. It seems indeed that in the halls of the palace people practiced magic rituals, invocations of demons and seances. Among the most well-known ghosts, there is Luzzo, a friend of Giorgione and Titian, who, infatuated with a woman who did not return his love, committed suicide in despair. Many people still argue that at night lights and mysterious presences roam the palace.
