Bert, I know all the Venetian stemmi by heart!
No, seriously, it was just luck. I do not remember what I typed on “Google Images” but that image came up among many others. Since then, I have found the most amazing site for Italian stemmi: http://www.leonemarinato.it/famiglie.php?c=L&pg=2
and learned that the Mora stemma has the lion carrying a branch of a mora (blackberry) bush with fruit. If you look closely at the patera, what I thought was a sword, is not a sword -there is no blade- but it could well be the branch with a hanging fruit. Also, according to this website the eagle has only one head. So mystery solved, except for the letters: PIAZZA.
Thanks Yvonne for posting. So now we know that the Mora family (at least a branch of it, allow me the pun) lived at some point in this corner of San Polo.
I do not know what we are going to do with this piece of information, but we don’t care, do we?
Piazza family coat of arms with lion passante holding a sword. The similar Venetian Mora stemma will normally have a two headed imperial black eagle. Piazza can be found on page 242 in Stemmario Cremosano, tomo II. I can send you a copy of the page, if required. I would like to know what happened to the blade of the sword.
I wonder if what I thought was an eagle could be a dove? Whoever is first back to Venice, take a step ladder so you can get a closer look at the darn thing. Thanks.
It may be the stemma of the Pisani family. The lion with the sword and the crown seems to be a constant in the different versions of their stemma. I am not so sure about the bird above the lion. I’ve seen their stemma with a dove, an angel, but not with an eagle. Could the bird be a dove? To add to the mystery, if you zoom in, you can clearly read the letters (PI?)AZZA above the lion.
The crowned eagle could be the stemma of the house of Valier, though the actual stemma shows the shield divided per fess with the tinctures countercharged.
The lowest part could be Contarini or Zen (or a few others). I have seen several images of the lion of St Mark with a sword (and some with a sword and the Book), but the lions are all winged, and I haven’t seen one with a crown. Is the word to the right of the lion ‘Piazza’?
A nice mystery to start with!
Bert, I know all the Venetian stemmi by heart!
No, seriously, it was just luck. I do not remember what I typed on “Google Images” but that image came up among many others. Since then, I have found the most amazing site for Italian stemmi:
http://www.leonemarinato.it/famiglie.php?c=L&pg=2
and learned that the Mora stemma has the lion carrying a branch of a mora (blackberry) bush with fruit. If you look closely at the patera, what I thought was a sword, is not a sword -there is no blade- but it could well be the branch with a hanging fruit. Also, according to this website the eagle has only one head. So mystery solved, except for the letters: PIAZZA.
Thanks Yvonne for posting. So now we know that the Mora family (at least a branch of it, allow me the pun) lived at some point in this corner of San Polo.
I do not know what we are going to do with this piece of information, but we don’t care, do we?
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Nope, we don’t care, we just trot off to the next mystery.
You’re very punny, by the way.
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Oh boy, that site is fantastic, Daniel, and will come in handy for a visit to Florence, as well as the birthday city.
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That’s brilliant, Daniel! How did you find it? I have three sites – they overlap in the stemmi [irregular plural] of the doges, and they do not cover all the stemmi that I have seen:
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stemmario_dei_dogi_di_Venezia
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Coats_of_arms_of_families_of_Venice
The third one has died since I last looked at it: http://www.cnicg.net/dogi/
I can only suppose that the stonemason made a mistake about the eagle. It’s hard to correct errors in carving. He probably thought nobody would notice if it was high up.
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Piazza family coat of arms with lion passante holding a sword. The similar Venetian Mora stemma will normally have a two headed imperial black eagle. Piazza can be found on page 242 in Stemmario Cremosano, tomo II. I can send you a copy of the page, if required. I would like to know what happened to the blade of the sword.
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Michel, you found a very old post! Thank you for your contribution. Venice holds many mysteries, waiting for the curious.
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Bert is right about the lion.
I just found the stemma of the Mora family from Venice. It looks very similar to the one in SP, down to the diagonal stripes, except for the eagle (two-headed).
http://bibliotecaestense.beniculturali.it/info/img/stemmihtml/mora.html
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But the Pisani lion is rampant, not passant.
The bird could be a dove, though doves are quite rare in heraldry compared with eagles.
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What source do you use, for the stemme, Bert?
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I wonder if what I thought was an eagle could be a dove? Whoever is first back to Venice, take a step ladder so you can get a closer look at the darn thing. Thanks.
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It may be the stemma of the Pisani family. The lion with the sword and the crown seems to be a constant in the different versions of their stemma. I am not so sure about the bird above the lion. I’ve seen their stemma with a dove, an angel, but not with an eagle. Could the bird be a dove? To add to the mystery, if you zoom in, you can clearly read the letters (PI?)AZZA above the lion.
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Ps….Bert….thanks for the info…..very interesting!!
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Holy night girl…do you sleep?? lol
Hope your journey home was uneventful….Venezia misses you!!
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I crashed pretty early last night, Linda, and woke at a time when I was able to go and nudge the neighbourhood roosters into action.
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So this is how you deal with jet lag! Or did Minx do this while you were sleeping?
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I had a couple of post ready to go, and scheduled them for when I knew I’d be in no frame of mind to be blogging, Michelle.
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The crowned eagle could be the stemma of the house of Valier, though the actual stemma shows the shield divided per fess with the tinctures countercharged.
The lowest part could be Contarini or Zen (or a few others). I have seen several images of the lion of St Mark with a sword (and some with a sword and the Book), but the lions are all winged, and I haven’t seen one with a crown. Is the word to the right of the lion ‘Piazza’?
A nice mystery to start with!
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That eagle drew my attention first, then the lion said “Hey, look at me.” A mystery, indeed.
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