In January 1511 an unusual event occurred on the small island of Murano. The ‘snowball revolt’, involved the small community of fishermen and glassmakers who rose up to challenge the patrician ruler of the island. This story from Renaissance Venice is the starting point for an exploration of one of the lesser-known areas of the history of the Serenissima, one that tells us about the thousands of workers, artisans, officers, servants, men and women, who contributed to the shaping of politics and the institutions of the celebrated Republic.
Claire Judde de Larivière is senior lecturer at the University of Toulouse and honorary research fellow at Birkbeck, University of London. She studies the social and political history of Renaissance Venice. She has recently published The Revolt of Snowballs. Murano confronts Venice, 1511 (transl. Thomas V. Cohen, Routledge, 2018)
Illustration: Gabriele Bella, La laguna gelata nel 1708 a Venezia, Fondation Querini Stampalia Venezia
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