The start of a day of beauty

16/5 Venice in the rain
We woke to rain, looked out the window to see umbrellas up, jackets and rain ponchos on the street, so didn’t rush for breakfast and didn’t rush out but had to get moving towards 11 and retraced some of our steps from last night. Had to be really careful too, the paving stones on all the alleys are really slippery if you don’t have the right footwear, which I didn’t.

First stop was Scuola Grande di San Rocco which we’d seen last night, website attached if you are interested as it gives information and many more photos than I could ever take. It’s famous for Titian, Tintoretto and other artists http://www.scuolagrandesanrocco.org/home/ There’s a fairly empty, columned room on the ground floor with very big paintings, I was looking at the babies in one painting (see attached), then saw the title ‘The Circumcision’, poor wee mites. I can’t help thinking the paintings are all dark though it would take a fortune to clean them all, must have been a sight when new.

Next we headed up a long stone staircase flanked by more big paintings, to another massive room with a colourful tiled floor and beautiful painted ceiling – they provide magnifying mirrors the size of a tray for you to walk around and stand under the paintings, Pete tried it but got a bit dizzy. The walls are covered in more paintings but also, spaced a couple of meters apart, beautifully carved wooden statues, each over a meter tall; wooden statues are my favourites. Wasn’t too keen on the bare-breasted women ranged along one side, not sure what those monks got up to back in the day, but on the other side the statues were stunning, all of people doing something. I think my favourite looked like a servant; he has a set of bellows for the fire. Another was reading a book and………number 3 favourite had and Akubra, just like Pete!

Up yet another staircase to a smaller room full of display cases, the treasury and my favourite was this little man, about 3cm tall, part of a large candlestick and really delicately made.

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