Secret Venice

Elizabeth gave me a book called Secret Venice after we were in Campo San Stephano and she showed me the circles in the paving slabs outside this former pharmacy.

Just opposite number 2800 in the corner between Campo Santo Stephano and the aptly named Calle Spezier ( a spezier da medicine was an "apothecary" in Venetian), an often overlooked detail survives.  About 5 meters from the facade of the former pharmacy are three circular depressions in the ground, marking the space that once housed the cauldron in which the apothecary prepared the famous Teriaca, a magical potion that was said to cure any number of ailments.

The production of Teriaca: A carefully-planned ceremonial.

Not all apothecaries were licensed to produce Teriaca. Of the 90 in Venice only about 40 had the licence to do so.  There were known as teriacanti, who made the potion in the street itself using bronze cauldrons.  The place where these cauldrons were set into the ground can still be seen in the city.

Its most common ingredient being vipers ( said to have restorative properties for ageing skin), Teriaca  was produced once a year, in the period when vipers were captured.  That is towards the end of spring and into summer.

The success of the beverage led to an increase in demand, and some apothecaries, one at the Rialto were allowed to produce it three times a year.  In order to guarentee the quality of the product, Venice imposed strict rules.  When making the  Teriaca each apothecary was required to put all the ingredients he intended to use on public display outside his shop for three days.  For the public, the best part in all this was the sight of live vipers, writhing inside lattice-work cages.  When the mixing of the ingredients began, the apothecary was watched by both the public and State officials.

This depression in front of the pharmacy "Alle Due Colonne" into which the mortar was used to pound up the ingredients.   

I missed this because I was looking for one like the first, so I went into the shop with my book and showed the Venetian mama my book.  She got up and took me outside to see this.

It was rather full of confetti left over from carnevale but you get the idea.