"NEVER MORE VENETIAN REPUBLIC SLAVES OF... " a Veneto Travel Page by Kajron

REPUBBLICA SERENISSIMA VENETA
http://www.veneto.org/
http://www.raixevenete.net/index.html
WHAT IS THE VENET (VENETIAN) LANGUAGE?
“A language,” wrote Uriel Weinreich, “is a dialect with an army and a navy.” In that case, the Venetian Republic had its own army, a great navy that battled the Ottoman Turks, its own embassies and trade connections from England to China (Marco Polo), and was a great power on a level with the other great European states.
The language of Venice (Venetian) did not cease to be a language with the demise of the Venetian Republic. It suffered no organic change when it was ruled by Napoleon, by Austria, and when it was passed from Austria to Italy in 1870.
Venetian, together with other variations existing in the surrounding territory (aggregated as Venet) belongs to the Western group of Romance (or Roman) languages and, in particular, those of the Po Plain. It is also still spoken in Istria and Dalmatia.
-

the languages of the Italian peninsula belong to the Oriental group of Romance languages (together with Rumanian). Although the grammatical structure is clearly of Latin origin, the vocabulary of the Venet language is also rich in words of other etimologies, as its ancestors included the ancient Venetic people, who became tributaries of imperial Rome, which brought the Latin language to VENETIA.

The people of the Veneto speak two languages today, Italian and Venet (in the variations listed below).

[Prepared with the help of Prof. John Peter Maher of North Eastern Illinois University]

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF PRONUNCIATION AND GRAMMAR:

Choose a letter: ABCÇDEFGHIJKL£MNOPRSTUVXYZ (with audio)

CHARACTERISTICS OF VENET AND ITS DIALECTS:

Venet’s most evident characteristic is articulatory softening and the passage from voiceless to voiced intervocalic consonants, together with the avoidance of any consonantal lengthening. Another distinguishing trait is the extensive germanic influence that the Venet vocabulary presents (especially in the mountain area). Given these features, Venet is clearly identified as an autonomous unit in the complex linguistic situation of the Padanian plains.

Today it is possibile to individuate some varieties inside Venet, following on the line indicated by Dante in the XIII century, when he divided Venet, into three. Today's main varieties are:

Venetian (spoken in Venice, Mestre and other towns along the coast). It has 24 phonemes, seven vowels and 17 consonants; original Latin plosives are softened and voiced and often disappear entirely; no double consonants can be found; there are other traits, but the most typical one is the phoneme £ which is softened to a pre-velar unroundend semi-vowel, /e/; /m, n/ at the end of a syllable tend to become /greek m/. As far as the lexicon is concerned, it can be described as one of the most original ones, above all in the sector of marine ad navigational vocabulary;

Central Venet (Padua, Vicenza, the area of the mouth of the Po), which are characterised by the survival of the once widespread interdental phones, which can still be heard in rural areas. The second trait is the metaphony of /e`/ and /o`/ due to the presence of an /i/ that follows: metaphony often serves in paradigmatic oppositions such as singular/plural;

Northern Venet (Treviso, Feltre, Belluno): it's the boundary with the Ladin and Friulan areas, and its lexicon is strongly characterized as “alpine”, contrasting with coastal Venetian; while Treviso shows the influence of Venice, in rural areas interdental phones can still be heard; metaphony isn't as common as in the central variety;

Western Venet (Verona): historically this area does not belong to the Venet area and that accounts for the quantity of differences between this province and the rest of Veneto;

“Colonial” Venetian (according to the definition of the American linguist Bidwell): it has many internal varieties and is spoken out of the traditional Venetia, such as in Venetia Julia, in Istria, in Dalmatia and in other Adriatic areas which were dominated by the Venetian Republic.

This is the town where I was born!
It has moreless 35000 inhabithants.
Famous for Grappa,Ceramica and Ponte Degli Alpini.
Here river Brenta pass through the town and beside the bridge "Ponte degli ALpini", it's famous for its history and 'cause every couple of lover come here to have a passionate kiss!

Bassano is famous for its feasts and celebrations. A lot of festivals,concerts and art. Local foods and drinks are incredible, try "Risotto di asparagi"!!

Venice's history as an autonomous state began some time during the early Middle Ages, after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, and continued in all its originality for more than 1,100 years until the Napoleonic era. Venice lay at first on the fringes of the Byzantine empire, acting as a trading and shipping center on the lagoons and rivers up to the plain of Padua, and as a center ofdistribution for goods from the East.
After the year 1000 Venice became a great Mediterranean naval power, and her role as intermediary between East and West was strengthened. With the conquest of Constantinople in 1204 she became the dominant power in the Levant. The Republican system of government developed in the city-state led it as well to supremacy in the Italian peninsula. At thebeginning of the 15th century Venice made huge conquests on the mainland, although her interests lay only partly in this direction. The rise of the great modern monarchies transformed international politics, and spelled the end of the medieval states. In spite of pressure from the Ottoman empire in the East and from Spain (and later Hapsburg Austria) in the West, Venice was able to survive through diplomatic skill, by adpating her trade to the new conditions created by the opening of the ocean trade routes, and by developing her manufacturing industry, thus ensuring continued prosperity. Venice's complex history is more Mediterranean than Italian. It is bound up with developments in the Balkan peninsula, the Danube area, the Levant, and with the Islamic world as much as with the Holy Roman Empire, the Church, the maritime republics of the Tyrrhenian Sea and the powers of western Europe. The main turning points in her history are summarized here.