The Venetian replicas around the Mediterranean

(CNN) – If there’s anything we know about Venice, it’s unique. What other city is built on water, or chock-full of its distinctive flamboyant architecture?

It turns out, quite a few.

The Republic of Venice – or the Serene Republic of Venice, to give it its full name – existed for 1100 years, from 697 CE to 1797 CE, when Napoleon conquered the city.

It is surprisingly long for a period in which revolutions, coups and victories were frequent events.

And as it came to power, it built up a pseudo-shoreline along the Adriatic Sea – not so much on the Italian side, but on the east coast, in countries such as present-day Slovenia, Croatia, Albania and Greece. His tentacles even extended to Crete and Cyprus.

As one point of the Silk Road trade route, the city-state was one of the cosmopolitans in Europe and was inspired by its frothy architecture and glittering interiors from around the world. And it took that outward look with it, to the villages with which it was ruled and connected.

This means that the east side of the Adriatic Sea was once littered with mini Venices – not crossed by canals, but with the lion of St. Mark, the emblem of Venice, on the city walls; extensive Venetian style wells campi (squares); and those famous flamboyant buildings, with porticos, windows with edges and everywhere campanili (clock towers) look like the one in St Mark’s Square.

Today, many of these mini Venices remain. Here are some of the most atmospheric.

Piran, Slovenia

The bell tower of the beautiful Piran, which calls you from the sea and from the land, is a dead diaper for the famous campaign of St Mark’s Square.

This is Venice, if Venice was a town. It was part of the Venetian Republic from 1283 to 1797, when the Austrians took over, it was a semi-autonomous city. Not that it’s stuck in the past – it’s considered to be the first city in the former Yugoslavia to elect a Black mayor, Ghanaian-born Peter Bossman, who was elected in 2010.

Of course there are no canals, and the small fishing boats moored in the middle of the city are far from the ferries and cruise ships in Venice, but this small oasis of calm on the Adriatic Sea has foaming Venetian buildings on Tartini Square , including the 15th-century red, Gothic “Venetian House” and a lion of St. Mark on the town hall. That campaign? It belongs to St George’s Cathedral, high on the rocks.

Istria – this enormous, wedge-shaped peninsula on the north side of the Adriatic Sea – is dotted with Venetian villages. Today it is mostly part of Croatia, with a stripe at the top in Slovenia. Take a road trip along the coast and you will see the Venetian-style campanile after the campaniel.

Izola, nearby, is very similar.

Koper, Slovenia

Has the Rialto Bridge in Venice found pressure? Jump two hours east and across the Slovenian border to Koper, where the city of Da Ponte Fountain (Da Pontejev vodnjak) is a version of the most famous bridge of Venice. The mini-Rialto, introduced in 1666, is but one of the many Venetian elements – it was once the capital of Venetian Istria. In fact, it sits almost directly opposite Venice, with the Adriatic Sea in between.

The cream-colored, revolving Praetorian Palace has a large exterior staircase reminiscent of the Doge’s Palace, and the Cathedral of Assumption has a Venetian bell tower, a Venetian clock and a work by Carpaccio, one of Venice’s largest Renaissance clocks. artists.

Grado, Italy

Grado is cantilevered across an island-filled lagoon on a sandbank of its own, and it looks familiar. It is located in the neighboring region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, 90 minutes northeast of La Serenissima, known as the ‘mother of Venice’, which was founded in Roman times, but is home to refugees living in the fifth and sixth centuries of the mainland flights – like Venice.

The bishops of nearby Aquileia moved their headquarters here and connected them first with the Byzantines and then with Venice. That’s why you see the Campo dei Patriarchi – as in Venice a square is called a campo not a piazza – with its churches resembling those on Venice’s Torcello Island, a Venetian-style bell tower, and long pieces of sand, such as the Venetian Lido.

Corfu Town, Greece

At the mouth of the Adriatic Sea, the Ionian Islands were an important part of the Venetian territories, and the UNESCO-protected Corfu town is one of the best examples of the influence of the Republic.

The French took control in 1797 when the Republic fell, but before that the Venetians built no less than three fortresses that still exist – just like the countless pastel-colored, neoclassical palazzos and stately loggias that form it.

Other Venetian settlements in Greece include Nafplio, on the Peloponnese; Cycladic island of Syros; and Crete, where a Venetian lighthouse still threatens the port at Chania.

Svetvincenat, Croatia

First things first: it is not on the water. Yet, half an hour right north of Pula and deep within the Istrian peninsula, this beautiful town still radiates Venetian style.

But the face that will make you turn straight to La Serenissima is the main square. Istria’s best example of urban planning in the Renaissance, its church and bell tower overlook neat houses, a loggia and a typical Venetian well. Ask yourself what Venice looked like in the 1500s? This is it.

Chioggia, Italy

When the crowds in Venice get too big, take the vaporetto to the island of Lido and hop on the number 11 ferry, which will split through the lagoon and end at Chioggia – on five islands, at the southern tip of the Venetian lagoon.

A large part of this fishing village will look familiar: the beautiful canals, flooded by ancient bridges; the great palazzos; the art-laden churches; and the glistening views of the lagoon with the Dolomites in the background.

Unlike Venice, however, cars are allowed in Chioggia, so the main street is a busy road, and some of the cute bridges let cars drive.

It is still an important fishing village, and you see the large boats standing under the church of St Dominic, as well as folk art by said fishermen in the church itself.

Rovinj, Croatia

Another small Venice on the Adriatic, Rovinj, may be a popular destination, but it is still a tranquil retreat compared to the mother city. Today, part of Croatia, this fishing village on the Istrian peninsula was transported between the Byzantines, Dubrovnik and Aquileia (another city connected to Venice) before being ceded to La Serenissima in 1283 in exchange for their protection. .

Does the bell tower of St Euphemia Cathedral look familiar? This is because it is modeled according to St Mark’s. The slender, conspicuous chimneys also date from Venetian rule.

Once you have taken in the lions of St Mark, which are dotted in the city, make a detour along the beach coast. You meander past thick pine trees to the stunning modern Hotel Lone, which looks – perhaps fittingly for its Venetian links – like a giant cruise ship overlooking the Adriatic Sea.

Muggia, Italy

Beautiful in the Adriatic Sea, ‘armpit’, two hours east of Venice on the border with Slovenia, the small Muggia is another town-like Venice. The towering bell tower dominates the city that entered the Venetian Republic in 1420. You will get a nice view from the harbor, where small yachts climb up.

You will find the lion of Saint Mark on the lemon facade of the town hall, the off-white cathedral (shaped like petals) is early in Venetian Gothic, and the houses of Calle Oberdan in the Renaissance style are Venetian in style (although not set ) a channel). The dialect, traditional costumes and distinctive dishes are also Venetian – although today they are part of Friuli Venezia Giulia.

Korčula, Croatia

Scout Marco Polo is synonymous with Venice, but what Venetians will not tell you is that he was actually born on the island of Curzola, as it is called, or Korčula, in present-day Croatia, about 400 kilometers southeast of La Serenissima.

Today you can visit the birthplace of St. Mark’s Cathedral, which is not only named after the patron saint of Venice, but also contains two works by the superstar Renaissance painter Tintoretto.

Under Communist rule after World War II, much of the Venetian heritage was destroyed, such as the lions of St. Mark scattered on the island. However, the Italian influence persists: the city walls are Venetian, a lion guards the entrance gate and words of the Venetian dialect splash the inhabitants’ conversations.

Nicosia, Cyprus

The Republic of Venice dominated the Mediterranean as far as Cyprus – in fact, every September 5th to this day, Venice celebrates the moment when Queen Caterina Cornaro handed over the island to the Venetians with a watery parade along the Grand Canal.

There are Venetian ruins and walls in Famagusta, in northern Cyprus – the de facto state in the north of the island, which is only recognized by Turkey. But perhaps the most spectacular mark they left on the island was the star-shaped walls of the capital, Nicosia.

Today Nicosia is divided in half – the border between the Republic of Cyprus and Northern Cyprus cuts across it – but the walls, designed in 1567 by Giulio Savorgnan and Francesco Barbaro, remain.

It looks like a star, a comet, a sun or even a Covid-19 cell, depending on how you look at it, the complex is best admired from above.