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Showing posts with label my venice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label my venice. Show all posts
Monday, May 16, 2011
Along with the multitude of artichokes, gelaterias, and bridges in Venice, you can hardly walk two steps without bumping into a Lion...
The winged lion is Venice's symbol or mascot, since the remains of San Marco, the Evangelist, were stolen from a tomb in Alexandria, Egypt, and brought there in 828 AD. Vitorio Capaccio painted this lion in 1516. The lion is usually depicted with its paw on an book inscribed with the Latin motto goes: Pax tibi Marce, evangelista meus.Aka: Peace be with you Mark, my evangelist.
Being Mark the patron Saint of Venice.
This lion guards the Accademia bridge...
Another lion protecting the courtyard at La Fenice opera house...
Each of the arcades of Piazza San Marco have different lions heads. Fortunately not all are roaring at once... 
Caffe Florian in San Marco sprinkles lion heads over it's china, napkins, and sugars. I know. I saved the sugar packets... 
If a Venetian house has a door knocker, it's likely to be a lions head... 
You can follow suit and bring home a lion knocker or doorbell... 
Or a winged paper weight. I did not see any Lion masks. Did you? 
For a while Venetians kept live lions in their gardens in the 16th century. For a longer while there were thousands of cats, but they were removed to a shelter on the Lido. This Fu dog (Lion of Buddha) is the most current lion to reside in Venice. 
Venetians had a penchant for Rhinos as well, illustrated in this Pietro Longhi painting. You do still see a few. There was one on my street corner, fortunately in bronze. Donna Leon has yet to take up Venice's lion in her mystery books, but I've only read four... 
The Venetian lion must be a good cell conductor. "Can you hear me now?" This one is lounging in Piazza Mani. BONJOUR LIONS OF VENICE!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Venetian masks don't do it for me - too glitzy...
But last day in Venice I discovered these marbleized silk masks and flipped.
Venice is a key center for paper arts... 
And marbleized paper/carta marmorizzata is their specialty.
I took a class in marblizing at the Book Center and it is hard. I can't begin to imagine how you do this to fine silk fabric..?
Marbleizing was revived in Veniceduring the 1970s. The sheets are made by hand and each is unique. Why not don your marbleized mask and write some old fashioned snail mail on these perfect note cards..?
You'll find a 'marbleized' pen in the same shop...
The ink is NOT marbleized but the hand-blown glass ink well comes from Murano...
All these treasures are at the 1851 paper shop, Antica Legatoria Piazzi in San Marco...
Fortunately just a few steps away you can...
Indulge yourself in marbleized gelato, Stracciatella...
Well hurry up/andiamo!
Your gondola is waiting!BUON GIORNO MARBLEIZED VENICE!
Thursday, May 5, 2011
It's impossible to visit Venice...
And not walk over a bridge.
In fact there's some controversy over exactly HOW MANY BRIDGES THERE ARE IN VENICE? 
Some say, 
"Venezia รจ costruita su 117 piccole isole e ha 150 canali e 409 ponti" 
Or... 
"Venice has 117 small islands, 150 channels and 409 bridges" 
Whilst others proclaim, 
Venice has 117 islands connected by 378 bridges. 
Whatever. You're bound to walk over quite a few if not all of them... 
Looking at these photos I'm a bit sorry I didn't spring for a gondola just for a different perspective from leaning over bridges... 
Certainly you'll need a good 'cuppa' before venturing over the bridges. 
Though I wouldn't venture out it these shoes... 
Nor even these gorgeous Italian numbers... 
Remember the steps are very wide... 
So workers can cart everything under the sun over those bridges. How else will you get your pane e tulipani? 
I hope you enjoyed this little escape from reality. I did. BUON GIORNO PONTI di VENEZIA
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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