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Thursday, April 7, 2011
Venice is a mysterious seductress... 
You want to get to know her better... 
First you turn to history books for the elusive answers... 
But the clues to a city are it's people. And though both tourists and Venetian citizens ride the vaporetto together, there's an invisible wall between them... 
Venetians keep their nose hidden in their newspapers/Gazzettino, pet their dogs and ignore you... 
They sit on the end seats patiently waiting their fermata/stop, decked out in elegant outfits. They never fight for the window seat or aim cameras at the Grand Canal. And they never wear shlumpy jeans and hoodies... 
They do wear impossibly high heels to walk the cobbled calle/streets of Venice. They are the 'other' Venice. Leon agrees with Henry James' observation more than a century ago that "in Venice there is nothing so disagreeable as the visitors." 
You won't see them trekking over the crowded Academia bridge... 
Or noses pressed up to shop windows of blinding glass... 
Nor focusing greedy lenses on the icing cake palazzos... 
It's the back alleyways that make you long to know more... 
What's behind those balconies and dark green shutters? 
I found the answer by chance, on the shelves at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum gift shop. Stacks of Commissario Brunetti mysteries by Donna Leon held the answer for me. 
Not just mysteries but Venice walks and a Venetian cookbook... 
I chose at random, About Face and found within Venice walls made transparent. Venetian social hierachy is revealed both high and low - Brunetti is married to a Count's daughter (a university professor of literature) yet the criminals he daily deals with often come from the lower echelons. Details of proper social behavior, local political issues, what his family ate for lunch, where and what he drinks in a cafe, all are revealed in a way that opens a doorway like no other book. 
Donna Leon was born in New Jersey, but has lived in Venice over 30 years. She's chosen not to have her books translated into Italian to maintain her anonymity. More about her in this interview... 
Imagine my surprise when I found on page 217 an exact description of the little street near my hotel, Calle della Mandola. Including the optician where I bought my new glasses, the flower shop and the fruit vendor nextdoor - that kind of precise detail. A Venice map front-of the book marks every campo, calle, landmark mentioned.
I stayed at Hotel San Giorgio in the quiet Rio Tera della Mandola around the corner from Brunetti's florist. 
FYI, the San Giorgio's staff were molto gentile/very kind. And the breakfast included was huge. Tutti perfecto! 
That's how BEAR and I discovered segreti/secret Venezia. Grazie mille Donna Leon. I suggest you try her books. They start out slow, then coil like a cobra full of surprises. *BEAR was made an honorary Venetian citizen because of his good manners on the vaporetto, though he forgot his Il Gazzettino... BUON GIORNO DONNA LEON'S VENICE!
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