Seeing is Believing: Urban Gossip and the Balcony in Early Modern Venice

Abstract

This article provides an analysis of the social functions of the balcony in early modern Venice using evidence from architecture, art history, theatre history and the records of two magistracies, one secular, the other ecclesiastical. It argues that the liminal position of balconies between the public and the private both exposed those present on them to the public gaze and potentially as subjects of gossip, and enabled them to see and hear what was going on below. Balconies were used by both women and men, although the latter were more likely to be there outside the working day. Those of high status preferred to appear only on special occasions as spectators of public events. The proximity of balconies to canals also allowed illicit use.