By Johanne Slettvoll Kristiansen
Last week, our team of European lottery scholars met in Venice to continue our work on a book on the cultural history of European lotteries. What could be better than to discuss the lottery in a city renowned as a capital of gambling! We were graciously hosted by the Istituto Veneto at the Palazzo Loredan in Campo Santo Stefano – a beautiful and surprisingly quiet corner of Venice. The building was bought in 1536 by the grandchildren of Leonardo Loredan, a famous Doge of Venice. It had previously consisted of several separate buildings, but the Loredan family restructured it into one coherent unit, and even took measures to ensure that the Palazzo would remain isolated, i.e., separated from the surrounding buildings. This has given the Palazzo a prominent position in the square.
Since the sixteenth century, the Palazzo has housed several Venetian Doges (or ‘dukes’, the chief magistrate and leader of the Republic of Venice between 726 and 1797). Due to financial difficulties following the fall of the Republic, the Loredan family lost possession of their family home in the early nineteenth century. It currently houses the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti – a Scientific Academy that regularly promotes events focusing on science and the arts, including workshops, conferences, and seminars. Our research group was fortunate to exploit this opportunity, thanks to the organizational efforts of Associate Professor Angela Fabris, who is a visiting professor at the Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia.
During the three-day workshop, we presented contributions to our forthcoming lottery publication. It was a fruitful meeting filled with stimulating discussions in exquisite surroundings. Our next meeting will be in Cambridge next year (16–20 September); by then our book (and, alas!, also the project!) will be nearing completion.
Photos:
Marius Warholm Haugen, Inga Henriette Undheim, Johanne Slettvoll Kristiansen.
Johanne Slettvoll Kristiansen is a postdoctoral scholar specializing in British and Scandinavian eighteenth- and nineteenth-century cultural history. She is part of an international research project exploring the historical and cultural roots of European state-sanctioned lotteries (https://www.ntnu.no/blogger/lotteryfantasy/). The project is funded by The Research Council of Norway for the period of 2022–2024.