“L’Isola che non c’è”, A Never Never Land. Narratives about the 8th century Venice/Malamocco

Abstract

Venice in the 8^th was a key trade centre in the Mediterranean.

Between 742 and 812 AD the centre of Venice was not located were it is today. The Duke’s palace and his headquarters were in Malamocco Island. Malamocco is a never-never land (“Isola che non c’è”): its location on the lagoons has never been positioned accurately, and traditional archaeology methods have failed in the description of the materiality of the site.

How can modern archaeology fill this gap and project a holistic research around a pivotal site of the medieval Europe?

GIS analyses allow identifying the location of the settlement. Comparisons with other lagoon sites permit a tentative material reconstruction. A comprehensive environmental approach will help to define the sustainability of the site and the reasons of its abandonment. Modelling activities will encourage the reconstructions of the settled areas, and ideas about the social structure of the first Venetian communities. An anthropological and sociological reassessment of the political narratives will shed light on the interpretation of old archaeological excavated material.

Finally, the analysis of the perception of the first Venice among the nowadays Venetians, will advise us on how to tell the story of the Malamocco never-never land.