Once upon a time… The Old Town

The history of businesses between past and present told by new panels displayed on the walls of stores, created by the Downtown Merchants Association under the patronage of the City of Jesolo and in collaboration with the Department of Commerce

The photographic history project dedicated to the commerce of our city expands further. The path through the streets of the historic center, which compares past and present through photographic memories and testimonies of those who have lived and live here, is enriched with new panels that recreate a cultural-historical journey where the signs of time are visible and preserve history by keeping our roots alive. The project involves a number of businesses still operating today, describing their change from their birth to the present day. The initiative, carried out by the Merchants’ Association of the Historic Center under the patronage of the City of Jesolo and in collaboration with the Department of Commerce, aimed to give voice to the lived experience of Jesolo with the goal of giving relevance to commerce that dates back, even, to the early 1500s. More than five centuries of memories and memories that still resonate in the walls of the buildings of the Historic Center.

Strolling along the center of Jesolo, starting from Piazza 1° Maggio, one can already admire the panels posted at the Piave Driving School, the Vecchio Caffè Torrefazione, the Ascensione Pharmacy, Lalli Sartoria, Bar Martin, the Evergreen boutique, Jone Optics and Immagine Uomo, the Lovat Ice Cream Shop, the Pavanello Jewelry Shop and the Zorzetto Pharmacy.

This journey through time will be enriched with new panels that will be placed at Villa Giulia, the historic Hotel Antica Jesolo, Spinelli Shoemaker, Hotel Udinese, Ferr jè Ferramenta, Bar Zammatteo, Signora Pasta and Bank of the Brand.

New this year: all panels, including those already on display, will be equipped with a QR Code that will allow immediate access to the dedicated website, fully translated into English and German languages, to delve deeper into the history with detailed directions and trivia.

In addition, it will be possible to admire an itinerant photographic history exhibition in the store windows.Past and present come together in an incredible journey that, starting from the early 1900s, reaches the present day, juxtaposing black-and-white photos, digital and modern technologies to make the most of the memories of Jesolo’s Historic Center.

“A people without memory is a people without a future,” this is how Chilean writer Luis Sepúlveda emphasized the close link between the past, guarded by memory, the understanding of the present and, therefore, the construction of the future.