Tales, Anecdotes and Trivia: Death in Venice

Venice was not only the major Italian naval base in the Northern Adriatic, but is also housed – and still houses – a cultural heritage that is second to none. France offered to assist Italy in defending Venice against possible Austrian air attacks, and the Italian General Staff approved the French offer to deploy scouting aircraft in the area. On August 13, 1915, a force commanded by a Captain Michel de Chalonge left Lyon bound for Venice, where they were greeted by members of the Italian General Staff. De Chalonge’s small unit was composed of three pilots – including de Clange himself - three observers and another 30 ground staff, including a tailor and four cooks. The unit was equipped with Nieuport 11 and/or possibly Nieuport 10 aircraft, but they traded in their Nieuports for SPAD VIIs at some point in 1916. The small French unit was initially based at the Bazzera aerodrome near Mestre. This was one of the the first of several French air units to be deployed to Italy during the First World War, including other fighter units and a seaplane squadron.

Meanwhile, the Serenissima had prepared for an aerial assault: in Piazza San Marco, the portals of the ancient basilica had been walled in by timber and sand bags, while the Quadriga, the statue of four chariot horses which had been a feature of the Piazza San Marco since it was looted from Constantinople in 1204, had been dismantled and sent to be stored in Rome. Local historians remarked that Venice had been transformed from a city of art to just one part of the front.

Austrian air raids and other aerial activity did occur in the vicinity of Venice on a regular basis from 1915 and onwards. Although the Austro-Hungarian strategic bombing campaign of World War One was fairly limited for a number of reasons, including the lack of strategic bombers, the Austrians flew in all 42 bombing missions over Venice alone between 1915 and 1918, mainly after the front had advanced to within striking distance of Austrian aircraft based at Pula some 100 miles away across the Adriatic Sea but also from bases at Campoformido. Day- and nighttime raids were typically carried out by standard B- or C-type reconnaissance two-seaters, although a twin-engined bomber, the Bardenburg G-I appeared in late 1916, even if only a dozen were built. The Austrian Navy also contributed to the bombing raids with various naval aircraft.

A letter written in September of 1915 by the Venice-based American painter Ralph Curtis to the renown patron-of-the-arts Isabella Stewart Gardner describes the Austrian air raids and the blackout measures:

“The mosquitos from Pula come buzzing over nearly every fine night, and drop bombs for half an hour or so. . . . Venice is like a lovely prima donna in deep mourning. All the gilded angels wear sack-cloth painted dirty grey. Anything that shines is covered. At night all is as black as in the dark ages. "Serrenos" call out "all is well" every half hour. But when danger is signalled the elec[tric] light is cut off, sirens blow, cannon firebombs explode and the whole city shakes on its piles. All the hotels but the Danieli's are hospitals.”

Another raid took place on October 24, 1915, at around 10pm. Venice was lit up by the moon, and Austrian aircraft were aiming to bomb the railway station and the iron bridge outside the station. The planes did circle the city for a good two hours, but even then, precision bombing was difficult during the First World War. The church of Santa Maria de Nazaret, also called the Chiesa degli Scalzi (Church of the Barefoot Monks) and located north of the Grand Canal opposite the Ferrovia railway station was hit, shattering its roof and damaging two ceiling frescoes by 18th century master painter Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. The Venetian journalist Alvise Zorzi wrote that the Austrian bombing campaign caused "the final rupture of the continuity of Venetian customs and culture."

As the French settled in, the Bazzera aerodrome proved to be too far from Venice to enable interception of enemy aircraft. Therefore, the Italian naval officer in charge of the Venice naval base suggested that the Fort San Nicolò parade grounds in Lido (today’s Nicelli Airport) should be turned into an airfield. The conversion of the old parade ground took three weeks, and the French moved into the new base on December 1, 1915. The new base not only allowed a greater chance of intercepts, but also cooperation with the Italian Navy flying boats based at the nearby island of Sant'Andrea da Varriale.

Gabriele D’Annunzio and French aviators.

French aviators outside the Albergo Paradiso.

The commander and his fellow officers were quartered in the Albergo Paradiso in Lido, and they rapidly became a focus of social life. This was apparently at least in part due to the excellent cuisine provided by the four chefs of the unit. Visitors included the Prince of Wales – the future king Edward VIII, and the Baroness Nicola Winspeare Guicciardi, who became a patron of the French aviators. Other guests included poet Gabriele D’Annunzio who had moved to Lido from Casetta Rossa on the Grand Canal to participate in the war as the commander of the San Marco squadron, a unit of Caproni and SIA 9B bombers which he used to perform experimental aerial torpedo attacks.