Fontego del Megio
The Fontego del Megio rarely Fondaco del Miglio is a former storage for millet in Venice , the 15th in the 14th century or early on the Grand Canal was built. The building is located in the Santa Croce sestiere immediately east of the Fontego dei Turchi near the church of S. Stae. The facade, which is the only remaining part of the building, is made of bricks and looks north onto the Grand Canal. The side facade looks west on the Rio Fontego dei Turchi. Only a few decorative elements, such as a national emblem with the lion of St. Mark (130 × 335 cm) and a crenellated wreath , can be found on the building. Today there is a primary school behind the facade .
Millet and millet granary
The name is derived from the Venetian expressions for warehouse (fontego) and millet (megio, Latin mileum). In 1275 and 1346 Mileum played an important role in limiting a famine in the city because there was not enough wheat ( frumentum ) available. The population demanded this type of grain, since in their eyes only white bread was acceptable. Only the poor and new immigrants from rural areas accepted dark breads. During the famine of 1346 there was already a millet granary, but it is not clear whether this granary was in the same place as the current building.
By the 16th century at the latest, it was considered a sign of a doge's total incompetence when he had to sell millet to the bakers, who had it ground and resold it as bread to the population. When the doge Pietro Loredan died in 1570 , it was announced: "El dose mejotto, che fa vender el pan de mejo ai pistori, xe morto!" ('The millet dog who sold millet bread to the bakers is dead!') He had 1559 had the unloved grain sold.
In an emergency, the supply of the population depended so much on the millet reserve that in 1423 the decision was made to permanently store 120,000 star or staia millet. With star is a measure of capacity, so that the exact weight can only be approximated. 120,000 star corresponded to around 8,000 tons. As early as 1275 about 4,500 tons of it had been stored, although it is not known whether in the Fontego del Megio. The unpopularity of millet may have been related not only to the demand for white wheat flour, but also to the fact that it was sometimes stored poorly or for too long. So it was not possible in 1554 to find more than 74,000 of the millet reserve fixed at 80,000 star , of which a considerable part was already 8 to 12 years old.
In addition to the open millet sale, there was also a hidden one. Again and again, in order to regulate prices, one was forced to add a little millet flour to the wheat flour, in the worst case even bean flour . But the wheat quality also fluctuated very strongly, which in the late Middle Ages led to a common division into four quality levels from best to poor .
Aisles at the millet store
Some of the corridors around the building still point to the millet store. For example, there is a Sotoportego del Megio on the way to Campo San Giacomo dall'Orio , the largest square in the Santa Croce sestiere , as well as a Calle del Megio , a 'Hirsegasse' and a Calle larga Fondaco del Megio . The local population could be supplied via these narrow corridors. Otherwise, millet was shipped by boat directly to around 70 contract bakers in the city, or to the houses that were authorized to purchase and process this grain directly. These included, for example, monasteries.
Functional change to primary school
Today there is a primary school in the building, the Scuola primaria “ Alessandro Manzoni ” with 13 rooms and a large garden at the back of the neighboring Palazzo Priuli. In order to be able to build this school, the municipality acquired the empty warehouse in 1922 and had the entire building demolished except for the facade. The boys' school was responsible for the community of San Cassiano (San Cassan), with girls not joining them until the 1970s.
literature
- Ennio Concina : Fondaci. Architettura, arte, e mercatura tra Levante, Venezia, e Alemagna , Marsilio, Venice 1997, p. 123 f.
Web links
- Il Fontego del Megio , L'altra Venezia, February 4th 2011
Remarks
- ↑ Quoted from Laura Megna: Comportamenti abitativi del patriziato veneziano (1582–1740) , in: Studi Veneziani 19 (1991) 253–324, here: p. 320.
- ↑ Hans-Jürgen Hübner: Quia bonum sit anticipare tempus. The municipal supply of Venice with bread and grain from the late 12th to the 15th century , Peter Lang: Frankfurt u. a. 1998, p. 379 f.
Coordinates: 45 ° 26 ′ 30.8 " N , 12 ° 19 ′ 45.3" E