The first Venetian houses, built of wood, had almost all their liagò.
Liagò or Diago are outside arcades that protrudes from the buildings, are exposed to sunlight, on three sides, delimited by large windows. In Venetian dialect “liagò” is similar to a porch or terrace enclosed by windows. The name may derive from the greek
Heliacon, meaning sunny.
Structures dating back to the fifteenth century, have now disappeared from the architecture of the Venetian palaces. On the few liagò remained you can immediately notice the rich decorations of glass and wrought iron.
At present they are empty spaces but at the time of the Serenissima , liagò were places where the families spent the large part of the time ,being the living room and the office were most of the affairs was concluded . In this pleasant place, full of light and air, gather the whole family for conversation or for other domestic activities.
See also Venice’s Grand Canal , Ca’ Giustinian Lolin (17C, Baldassare Longhena) to the right.
http://jaxstumpes.blogspot.it/2013/09/venices-grand-canal-left-bank-952013.html
Once, the Venetians ladies, on liagò as in altana, they wash and dye their hair and dried themselves in the sun, hided of prying eyes .
Liagò placed in Palazzo Ducale can be seen on the second floor, coming from the armory.
Outside the “Levantine school”, and the “canton school”, the old Jewish synagogues from Jewish ghetto, you can see the timbered liagò , which correspond to the Bimah (from Arabic, al-minbar, which means “platform, podium “) the place of the speaker,the most important from the synagogue.