La Dogana di Mare:

 The Customs House of Venice

The Punta della Dogana © Andrew Jo Chambers - FOTOLIA

The old customs house, dwarfed by the massive dome of the Maria della Salute, is located on the furthermost  point of the Punta della Dogana, the wedge-shaped peninsular at the entrance to the Grand Canal.

In the days when Venice was a major commercial centre, the customs house controlled access to the Grand Canal and the San Marco docks.

Since virtually all taxes were raised by charging import duties on commodities, the state had to search ships and check cargoes in order to collect its revenues.

The original 14th century watch tower was constructed for the purpose of preventing tax evasion. It was replaced by the present structure in 1690.

The customs house is typical of the baroque period. The arrangement of its exterior columns varies between storeys in order to create a pattern of eye-catching contrasts.

Its buttressed square tower supports two bronze Atlases who shoulder a gilded globe on which the Goddess Fortuna, sculpted in the form of an elegant bronze weathervane, holds a gilded sail to the breeze.

 The Customs House. Photo by Patrick Fitzgerald of Atlanta, Georgia: Image published under Creative Commons Attribution 2 License

The Dogana di Mare is splendidly ornate but by the late 17th century Venice was no longer able to conceal its decline.

By the time the Dogana di Mare was completed, the city had been bled dry by a succession of expensive wars and deadly plagues, and had lost much of her trading empire. Foreign merchants, particularly the British and Dutch, had established global trade routes which bypassed the eastern Mediterranean. As a result, Venetian merchants lost their commercial monopolies and were undercut, even in their home markets. Venice was slowly going bankrupt. 

The customs house may have been conceived as a symbol of commercial power but the officers who manned its quays and warehouses were increasingly unable to collect sufficient revenue to meet the city's obligations.

And yet despite its financial problems, Venice was still determined to keep up appearances. The customs house should not be seen as a symbol of Venetian greatness but rather as an attempt to conceal its spiralling decline.

© 2006 LACT Limited. All rights reserved.

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