What was Venice really like in the early eighteenth century?

Beyond the masks, gondolas, and Carnival was a city where everyday life itself became a performance. Wealth, reputation, theatre, commerce, politics, and survival were intertwined in one of Europe’s most extraordinary republics.

This historical documentary explores Venice in the early 1700s through its canals, streets, theatres, markets, opera houses, and the lives of ordinary Venetians. From the hidden wooden foundations beneath the lagoon to the glittering cultural world above, discover how the Venetian Republic shaped art, music, trade, architecture, and European culture.

More than a portrait of a beautiful city, this is a story of 18th-century Venice, Venetian society, daily life, commerce, theatre, Carnival, and the people who lived behind the spectacle.

A film by Zanetta Pictures.

This documentary is based on historical research. Some visualizations are artistic reconstructions created to illustrate the historical setting while remaining faithful to the period and available evidence.

© Zanetta Pictures
There are still many stories waiting to be told.

How did Giacomo Casanova’s memoir survive revolution, war, censorship, private ownership, and nearly two centuries of uncertainty?

This historical documentary traces the extraordinary journey of Casanova’s manuscript, later published as Histoire de ma vie (History of My Life), from the world of 18th-century Europe through generations of private ownership, preservation, controversy, and eventual publication.

More than the story of a famous Venetian adventurer, this is a story of manuscript survival, literary history, European history, and cultural preservation—and of how one remarkable firsthand account of the eighteenth century managed to outlive the world that created it.

Zanetta Pictures brings forgotten lives, remarkable objects, manuscripts, and pivotal moments in history to life through cinematic historical storytelling.