In Venice there was a collapse of a viewing stand and several people were maimed and killed. A festival was planned for the 5th of February in the campo Santa Maria Formosa to include a chase and other entertainments. Sanudo included this humbling account the day after.
Sanudo Diaries: February 6, 1520: (28:239); "By chance a large stand placed off to one side collapsed. Many people were underneath it: seven were killed outright. Others were on it, and some were twisted, some were injured, and it was a horrible experience to see brains dashed out on the ground ... and pieces of bodies awful to behold.... and so the festa ended. The stand was built on barrels without boards being affixed to the top."
Fantastic seven minute video looking at this campo in the modern-day and comparing it's layout, uses and durability to a few others in the world. The church of Santa Maria Formosa itself is a wonder of the Renaissance. Designed and built by Mauro Codussi (begun 1492), it was based on the simplest of greek models. A centralized plan that extended the arms of the nave, and with the internal space thus increased, the overall effect is almost that of a square inside. After many other designs and buildings in his carrer, Codussi reaches a mature efficiency in execution and utilization of space here. In materials it was merely stone and plaster. Though the church intrudes into the campo - as seen in the video by the rounded off-yellow apses - this was a wealthy church and neighborhood in Codussi's day and could well afford such harmonization within and without.
Architectural notes plucked from Richard Goy: Venice the City and its Architecture; Phaidon Press Ltd, Hong Kong, 1997
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All quotes as Sanudo Diaries from Venice, Cita Excellentissima, Selection 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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