There was a great fire on the Rialto in Venice one winter that exceeded all those in memory. Our editor's give us a big piece of it. I think of those depictions told by Samuel Pepys in his famous diaries of the great fire in London in 1666. Also many great fires of the second world war in the twentieth century, etc.
The St Paul that Sanudo mentions as the feast day patron, 'the first hermit', our editor's tell us (p 344) is Paul of Thebes rather than the famous Paul of Tarsus or Paul of Antioch...
Editor's footnote: "The monastery had owned and run a hospital nearby, with a capacity of forty to fifty persons, up to the early fifteenth century (1414). It had then become a hospice for indigent women." p 344.
Sanudo Diaries: "Because a strong wind was blowing, it took only a short time, less than three hours, for the entire monastery and several houses behind it to burn. Nevertheless the church, which houses the body of St Barbara, was not damaged. As this fire was blazing and the tocsin was being rung at Rialto, according to custom, another fire was discovered in a dry-goods shop, the one that uses the diamond as its insignia. It happened because they keep a fire in a brazier to heat the store. A spark fell from it and set the cloth on fire, and the Rialto guards did not arrive soon enough to prevent the fire from consuming this and other shops. It was two hours after sunset, and one shop after another caught fire, both dry-goods shops and rope-makers' shops,producing an enormous blaze. A very strong wind was blowing from the north-northeast, and the cold was unbearable. The tocsin was rung at Rialto, and everyone came running, those who have vaults and warehouses full of merchandise as well as the shopkeepers and others who have business establishments at Rialto, including myself, Marin Sanudo. I too ran since I own part of the tavern of the Campana, from which I draw my livelihood; it pays 205 ducats in rental income, in addition to the income from the shops below it.
The fire was burning, and no one was doing much about it because they were all busy emptying out everything they could from the shops, vaults, warehouses, and offices. A number of foreigners rushed there, as did others who showed up to loot once they heard that there was a fire at Rialto, which is the most important and richest spot in Venice. Soon the place was so jammed that one could no longer reach it. People were removing the merchandise and things from their shops, some of which got stolen; others were renting small boats and boats used on the Padua line and laden wine barges, onto which they intended to load the merchandise that was in danger of burning. No one was trying to put out the fire, [which was] already making great gain by going along the street toward the Agustini and especially the Pixani banks, which were open. The books and the cash that were there were removed, as happened also at other banks... the fire continued to blaze at Rialto, whipped up by the strong wind, and no one was taking measures against it ... heads of the Ten... could do nothing because no one would obey them, everyone being occupied with saving their own goods and not Rialto. Those who were not just stood around watching....
The parish priests of teh churches at Rialto... carried the body of Christ around Rialto [to try to stop the fire], but to no avail. The fire continued to spread, and in a short time all of Rialto had burned; along the Grand Canal the vaults and offices were destroyed as far down as the public treasurers' offices, and on this side to where the stairs begin to ascend the bridge....
On this side the fire entered the Monkey Inn, which belongs to the nuns of San Lorenzo and was new. On the other side, on Jewellers' Alley, the fire progressed as far as the vaults of the friars of San Zorzi; on the other side all of old and new Rialto and the Riva dil Ferro burned, and the flames spread from house to house. On this side, the church of San Zuane di Rialto, which had a piece of wood from the True Cross, was consumed by the flames, which spread to the top of the Campanile, where two figures of men rang out the hours. The top of the Campanile burned along with the figures of men that were on it and the entire roof. The fire burned all night because of the strong wind, and people stood watching, and in the streets people were running as if they were going to get indulgences...
The fire burned all night and all day on the eleventh.... It was still burning at sunset, when I left. All of Rialto burned, and all of the Flour Warehouse, but the blaze did not spread beyond the canal bank.... Only the church of San Giacomo di Rialto, with its leaden roof, remained standing, even though it was in the middle of the fire; so it was God's wish that it be spared. For this was the first church built in Venice, begun on March 25, 421, as may be read in our chronicles, and God did not wish so great as to destroy with fire the first church [of Venice]....
Today the head of St. Barbara, ... was carried in procession around the burning areas because it is believed to have great preventive powers in such matters, yet the fire continued to burn. Today the Collegio did not meet, nor were there meetings after dinner. Only the Collegio and the heads of the Ten gathered in the doge's chambers in the morning and after dinner to decide what measures to take... These measures will be taken during the night out of concern for safeguarding this city, given that it is engaged in a war and that the enemy is at Este... and there are so many rebels and foreigners here, Moreover, at this critical moment the populo were much quicker to busy themselves with robbing than to protect Rialto, which shows their ill will. Those who could find nothing better stole boards and firewood and then left. But the Arsenal craftsmen did their duty in making sure that the fire did not go beyond San Silvestro and Santo Aponal. They deserve much praise also because they were in great danger, it is believed that some of them were killed by walls that collapsed. he ladders and the buckets that the Council of ten had ordered placed in the various neighborhoods were nowhere to be found. All the same, people brought water by whatever means they could. Finally, at about twenty-three hours the fire began to abate somewhat and to lose its former intensity, and the wind died down....
Today, with the terrible cold and the high wind, fires broke out in a number of chimneys, but they were extinguished. Indeed, it seems as though these fires have been preordained: God has brought them upon us as punishment for our sins and the injustices committed. This past night the populo were saying, "Oh, what a sentence! Oh, what revenge!" And more than one was saying, "Even the half-rents were injustices." The fruit and the cheese stalls were all spared, and the wine barges were all unmoored [and spread out] along the Grand Canal. The people standing on the Rialto bridge had to leave because of the intense heat from the great fire. You could not see anything but boats full of goods and barges and other vessels, whose owners and porters earned good money carrying things here and there. The whole scene looked like the fall of Troy and the sack of Padua, which I myself witnessed.... I thought it was the most dreadful and horrifying thing that was ever seen in Venice or anywhere else."
pp. 344-47, or Editor's notes or Editor's Footnotes from Venice, Cita Excellentissima, Selections from the Renaissance Diaries of Marin Sanudo translated by Linda L Carroll, editors: Patricia H LaBalme and Laura Sanguineti White, published by Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008
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