VeneziaAlbania

VeneziaAlbania is a Mobile App which allows to identify on the interactive map of Venice the main points of interest which bear witness to the links that the Most Serene Republic of Venice and Albania maintained through trade and cultural exchange since the Middle Ages.

These links can still be found in Venetian toponymy which the user can spot in the names of many calli (streets) dei Albanesi spread throughout most Venetian sestieri (districts). That toponymy refers to the most widespread business of the Albanians in Venice: the one linked to textiles (washing and treatment of wool in particular, as well as of cotton and silk) and located most prevalently in textile manufacturing areas. Beside textiles business, which was linked to imports of wool and hide from Albania and which was constant throughout the centuries, the Albanian presence in Venice is also found in other trades such as: blacksmiths, stone cutters, carvers, glass workers, carpet dealers.

Features:
-the points of interest which identify the widespread historical Albanian or Albanian-Turkish presence in Venice are indicated on the interactive map. That presence today is testified only by archival records and by Venetian toponymy which refers back to the relations between Venice and Albania;

Please, also visit the website www.followgondola.eu where you can:
-discover further contents regarding the gondola and other Venetian boats;
-know more about the Albanian presence in Venice and about trade and cultural relations between the city and Albania thanks to the video-tale of Professor Lucia Nadin.
-download for free the Mobile App FollowGondola which allows to identify the main places of interest as regards gondolas and discover characteristics of the most famous boat in the world;
-download for free the publications Venezia e Albania: una storia di incontri e secolari legami (Venice and Albania: a story of centuries-old meetings and links) on the historical relations between the Republic of Venice and Albania, dating back to the Middle Ages, and Tra Colli Euganei e laguna veneta. Dal museo della navigazione al turismo sostenibile (Between the Euganean Hills and the Venetian Lagoon. From the Museum of Navigation to sustainable tourism), on the fluvial relations that occurred between the Veneto mainland and the lagoon, especially following the opening of the Canal of Battaglia Terme at the end of the 12th century.

FollowGondola and VeneziaAlbania are initiatives created by Regione del Veneto, financed by the project AdriaMuse funded by the Cross-Border Cooperation Programme IPA Adriatic 2007-2013.