Another warm, sunny Venetian Day. I feel so grateful and really in awe at how incredible this city is and how many unique neighborhoods make up this ancient, historic water world.
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| Interesting old entrance to an equally old building |
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| Courtyard leading to the Finance department or something of that sort. I was surprised to find a municipal office rather than a church or monastery. |
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| Grand Canal with a group of tourists taking a kayaking trip around the city |
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| Kayaking tour coming out from under the Rialto bridge |
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| Gorgeous Santa Marie Della Salute Church |
I got the day pass for the vaporetto and went all around the city checking out lots of sights and visiting a few of the nearby islands.
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| Guggenheim Museum on the Grand Canal |
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| Rialto Bridge from the Boat |
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| Fish and Fruit Market |
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| Sacca Fisola |
It got off the vaporreto at the Sacca Fisola stop which is a small island next to Giudecca Island and is only residential. With large more modern buildings built in the 70's. It's an interesting area to visit because it's great to be solely where residents are and not tourists and its a quick walk past the large canal and over the bridge to Giudecca Island.
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| Sacca Fisola Apartment complex on the canal and since there are no cars on the island people have garages below their apartments for their boats. You can see one family pulling out from theirs. |
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I loved this door to a fisherman's office with all the stuffed animals he must have found in the water over the years
attached to the poles outside. |
Once over the bridge you are in Giudecca. "
It was originally known as the Spinalunga (meaning "Long Thorn"). The name Giudecca may represent a corruption of the Latin "Judaica" ("Judaean") and so may be translated as "the Jewry": a number of towns in Southern Italy and Sicily have Jewish quarters named Giudecca or Judeca. However the original Venetian Ghetto was in Cannaregio, in the north of the city, and there is no evidence but the name of Jews ever having lived in Giudecca. Furthermore, the term "Giudecca" was not used to denote the Jewish quarters of towns in northern Italy. Giudecca was historically an area of large palaces with gardens, the island became an industrial area in the early twentieth century with shipyards and factories in addition to a film studio. Much of the industry went into decline after World War II, but it is now once more regarded as an exclusive residential area. It is known for its long dock and its churches, including Il Redentore."
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| The two boats of the fisherman docked just outside the entrance with the stuffed animals |
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| View to the main Islan |
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| Great reflection in the window of the Luxury Hilton Hotel |
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| Private Garden in a residential complex in Sacca Fisola |
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| Side of Hilton Hotel |
I love walking that island because it's generally quiet with just some incredible luxury hotels (which by the way have fabulous bathrooms if the need arises.) And it's lovely small residential buildings and kids playing and dogs and cats doing their canine/feline business.
Also on the Island is the "Chiesa del Santissimo Redentore (English: Church of the Most Holy Redeemer), commonly known as Il Redentore, is a 16th century Roman Catholic church located in the Dorsoduro sestiere of the Italian city of Venice. It was designed by the architect Andrea Palladio and built as a votive church to thank God for the deliverance of the city from a major outbreak of the plague. Located on the waterfront of the Canale della Giudecca, it dominates the skyline of the island of Giudecca. It is a member of the Chorus Association of Venetian churches and contains a number of paintings by artists including Tintoretto, Paolo Veronese and Francesco Bassano."
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| Chiesa del Santissimo Redentore |
Besides the church be very beautiful in it's spacious white interior, "Il Redentore was built as a votive church in thanksgiving for deliverance from a major outbreak of the plague that decimated Venice between 1575 and 1576, in which some 46,000 people (25–30% of the population) died. The Senate of the Republic of Venice commissioned the architect Andrea Palladio to design the votive church. Though the Senate wished the Church to be square plan, Palladio designed a single nave church with three chapels on either side. Its prominent position on the Canale della Giudecca gave Palladio the opportunity to design a facade inspired by the Pantheon of Rome and enhanced by being placed on a wide plinth. 15 steps were required to reach the church's entrance, a direct reference to the Temple of Jerusalem and complicit with Palladio's own requirement that "the ascent (of the faithful) will be gradual, so that the climbing will bring more devotion".
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| Chiesa del Santissimo Redentore |
I was told that the "Every year the doge and senators walked across a specially constructed pontoon bridge from the Zattere to Giudecca to attend Mass in the church. The Festa del Redentore remains a major festival in the Venetian calendar, celebrated on the third Sunday in July. A huge firework display on the previous evening is followed by a mass procession across the pontoon bridge."
The Santa Maria Della Salute Church is also once dedicated to the ending of the Plague.
I then took the vaporetto to the next small Island just across a small canal, Island of St. George. "San Giorgio is now best known for the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore, designed by Palladio and begun in 1566. In the early 19th century, after the Republic fell, the monastery was almost suppressed and the island became a free port with a new harbour built in 1812. It became the home of Venice's artillery. It is now the headquarters of the Cini Foundation arts centre, known for its library and is also home to the Teatro Verde open-air theatre."
I visited the wonderful gallery at the Cini Foundation which is behind the church and it has free admission. A women at a small glass bead shop who kindly gave me lots of advice on things to see recommended I go and it was well worth it. The exhibit titled "Fragile?" "Le Stanze del Vetro presents an exhibition of more than 30 artworks by some of the most interesting international artists of our time who have experimented with industrial and found glass. Fragile? is part of the project, in collaboration between Fondazione Giorgio Cini and Pentagram Stiftung, developed with the aim of promoting the appreciation of and research in glass made in the 20th and 21st centuries.In the context of Venetian glassmaking and its peculiar artisan connotations, Fragile? aims at taking a different, yet equally important, aspect into account, namely the use of glass as a found object, with specific metaphorical and linguistic features. Instead of the precise traits of manufactured artworks, other aspects will be highlighted, such as symbolic transparency, fragility and resistance, imprecision and smoothness, along with the construction of elements that draw inspiration from reality and contemporary artistic language."
My favorites include:
The tragic lyricism of Joseph Beuys's glass fragments, "Terremoto in Palazzo" as a witness to the ferociousness of earthquakes, specifically the 1980 earthquake that sadly effected so much of Southern Italy.
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| "Terremoto in Palazzo" by Joseph Beuys |
Jannis Kounellis' "Drowning Sorrow (Wine Bottles.)" He believes "art is found in the reality around us, in the evocative power of natural materials just as in the direct vital breath of the living being."
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| "Drowning Sorrows (Wine Bottles)" by Jannis Kounellis |
"This symbolism [of this exhibit] is perfectly represented in the powerful installation by Giuseppe Penone entitled Barra d’aria (Air Bar) from 1969, where the clashes and noises of metropolitan life are amplified in the display of a glass beam 2 meters long that smashes through a window and becomes a conductor between the two lives." This was my absolute favorite, it's really remarkable how a small tube allowing natural air to come in can change a space so dramatically from the stale air inside as well as the visual of the fragmented outdoor scene.
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| Giuseppe Penone's "Barra d'aria |
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| "An Oak Tree" |
There was also an odd piece titled "An Oak Tree" by Michael Craig Martin from Dublin, Ireland that although a bit strange and I'm not sure if I'd call it art exactly but it made me think and pause so that alone is worth viewing it. "An Oak Tree is a conceptual work of art[1] created by Michael Craig-Martin RA in 1973. The piece, described as being an oak tree, is installed in two units - a pristine installation of glass of water on a glass shelf on metal brackets 253 centimeters
above the ground, and a text mounted on the wall. When first exhibited, the text was given as a handout. The text takes the form of a Q&A about the artwork, in which Craig-Martin describes changing "a glass of water into a full-grown oak tree without altering the accidents of the glass of water," and explains that "the actual oak tree is physically present but in the form of the glass of water." Craig-Martin considered "the work of art in such a way as to reveal its single basic and essential element, belief that is the confident faith of the artist in his capacity to speak and the willing faith of the viewer in accepting what he has to say". And fortunately the young girls who volunteer there also find it a bit strange so we chatted about the piece which is one of the best parts of admiring any art, the discussion afterwards. But it was interesting that the artist said in the printed dialogue that the glass became an oak tree as soon as he added the water but the girls laughed and said they add the water from the first and now subsequent times when it evaporates so he isn't turning
in to an oak tree they are.
And a highly memorable video partly because of the irony of a happy young lady beautifully dressed for summer joyously smashing car windows while people smile at her like nothing unusual is going on. In 1997 the Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist produced one of the most delightful videos ever made, and it won her the Biennale. Ever is Over All shows a young woman skipping down a city street gaily smashing car windows with a red-hot poker; and since it is shaped like a knobkerry, the flower makes a surprisingly convincing weapon. Oh dear, though, here comes a policewoman; but instead of admonishing or arresting the vandal, the bobby gives her an encouraging smile, salutes and walks on by. "
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A DHL Delivery man dropping off at St. George Island. Now that's a great delivery job and so unique.
I must wonder if there is a Fedex an UPS boat zipping about Venice as well. |
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| View toward St. Marks Square from St. George Island |
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Finance Police station across from St. George Island attached to Giudecca Island.
I must wonder why the Fiance police need three pretty large boats, are they collecting taxes on the water? |
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| View of Santa Maria Della Salute Church from St. George Island |
Of course on the Island and well worth a visit is the Church of St. George which is very impressive in just it's sheer mass but also it's beautiful art work and my favorite part the choir section behind the main alter. Just stunning in it's carved details.
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| Main Alter St. George's Church |
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| Choir Section behind Main Alter |
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| Choir Section behind Main Alter |
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| Choir Section behind Main Alter |
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| Bronze/Copper large statue of an angel at St. George's Church |
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| Virgin Mary and Child Sculpture at St. George's Church (she has different beautiful crowns for her and baby Jesus that they can change I guess depending on the season.) |
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| St. Georges Island with the church and tower with Giudecca Island in the distance to the right |
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| St. Georges Island with the church and tower |
The next stop was a St. Marks Square for a quick change to a vaporetto going to Lido Island. On my last 3 visits I've stayed on the Lido and love it so I thought with the bright sun still shining I'd go over and walk the beach a bit and have dinner there. I'm so glad I did, and although it was too cold for swimming there were a few kids out and about in the water and I got to walk a little in the sea as well and not too cold for feet but much too cold for me to bathe that's for sure.
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| The votive temple - Built in 1925, it is a Military Sanctuary of the Great War |
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| Pretty Villa |
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| A stroll along the Venetian Adriatic Coast |
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A stroll along the Venetian Adriatic Coast
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A stroll along the Venetian Adriatic Coast
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A stroll along the Venetian Adriatic Coast
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After a simple dinner of sandwich and some mozzarella and tomato I was back on the vaporetto and heading to St. Marks Square again where I changed for another ferry that took us around the Island and to the Piazza Roma Stop where I walked past St. Chiara Church and the tram rail that leads to the main land. This area of Piazza Roma has cars and leads to the bus terminal. I walked past all that and down to the Vaporetto stop to head to the Rialto Bridge and back to my hotel.
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Boat docks near the Piazza Roma vaporetto stop and as we passed I saw this large sculpture of a hand
holding a smaller tank. I'm not sure where it was placed originally but it's clearly a work of public art.
Maybe it's waiting to be moved by boat but it was such an interesting visual I'm glad I had my camera handy. |
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| St. Chiara Church |
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| The Casino Building at Night |
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| The pretty sign outside my hotel |
It was another lovely day here and so much to see you could never tire of this city. Also, that nice women, Marisa Convento who owns the Venetian Dreams bead shop told me about a great web site
http://venicebackstage.com/ well worth checking out with wonderful explanations for the why's and how's and such of how this great city is built as well as lots of interesting facts and easy to absorb information on the city. Her website is
http://venetiandreams.altervista.org/ and she also recommended a book "The Tourist Maze" that she herself who is a native of Venice still goes back to for reference. It's written by Robert C. Davis.
http://venetiandreams.altervista.org/
She said she is always so happy to talk to people who come into the shop about all that makes Venice, her beloved city so great, but most people she added aren't interested in much beyond the main tourist stuff so I think she enjoyed that I had so many questions about things I'd seen. She even yelled at a group of Asian (older adults as she put it) yesterday when she was walking through a nearby piazza and these adults were climbing all over a large sculpture of a lion which was beneath a revered icon of Venice. She said the got down but weren't too happy about it. I feel the same way about New York City and get so upset when I see people just throw trash on the sidewalk or worse like climb on things like the lions at the public library. People do seem to love lion sculptures and I am one of them but it's rare, or maybe never actually that I've really thought about climbing up on one.
