Venice and Verdi

17/5 Venice
It’s raining again…..same as yesterday, umbrellas, jackets etc. Slow breakfast and finally set out after 10.30, onto the vaporetto then a walk through the back alleys to the big white Santa Maria della Salute, across from St Mark’s Square, and the previous three times we’ve been to Venice I’ve wanted to have a look. At the moment there’s a reno going on with big scaffolding around it so I’ve stolen this photo. Inside it’s surprisingly white (no obvious bling, until you look for it) with a huge dome above that lets in all the light, and there are several small chapels around the sides, some with beautiful altar fronts and all with the type of metal gate we saw yesterday, some solid beaten patterned metal and some ‘iron lace’.

I don’t think I’ve said that in a lot of places we’ve been able to get a discount for seniors, both of us being over 65, a couple of euro so it’s worth asking – for instance this church was $3 instead of $5 to go into the sacristy to see their important paintings. The main sacristy has ceiling patients by Titian and a very large Tintoretto ‘The Wedding at Cana’ which shows light patterns of light shining through windows onto the tables and people. Very, very clever. In a side room there was a very beautiful altar front around two meters long, paintings and gold leaf on it.

Vestments belonging to Pope John Paul 1 who didn’t live very long in that role: a red cloak, white coat (I have seen the current Pope in something the same), tunic and a couple of other things.

Next quest was ‘find a traghetto’, the gondola water taxis with two rowers who take you across the Grand Canal in three or four places; we’d seen the sign on the way to the church but there was an ‘alley block’ when we got out so went through the rabbit warren to find it. It takes a couple of minutes, 2 euro each, just wait at the jetty until you’re seen from the other side. The other people on the boat kindly took a photo, slightly out of focus, but we like it.

On the St Mark’s side a few minutes walk took us to Palazzo Zaguri, a 14th century palace now used for exhibitions but previous owner Senator Zaguri was apparently great friends with Casanova and yesterday’s erotic poet, Baffo, both of whom would have been frequent visitors. Today’s fun fact.

The current exhibition is the treasures of Tutankhamun, a good place to visit on a wet day and it kept us occupied on three floors (sloping terrazzo, you could have rolled jaffas on them, quite an odd feeling walking in parts). They had audio guides but they were very wordy and we gave up, there was so much to see and good reading notes that you could skim if you wanted, and you were blinded by all the gold eventually. All the items were copies, we found out at the end, having wondered if a few which were in glass cases may have been real, but the detail in most of them was incredible; inlay of jewels (probably glass), delicate painting…..it was really well done.

There were two virtual reality films with headsets, one which took you through the door into the tomb and through all the treasures and the other……neither of us can remember, there had been so much to see, and the room was full of yelling 9/10-year-old kids that we could barely hear the commentary. They were rushed through the rooms from the exit, seemed only to look at very little, and rushed out while we were looking at the three caskets – wouldn’t you think the teachers would at least point them out, that death mask is one of the world’s greatest treasures and the smallest one even had a replica of a mummified body.

It was well worth visiting, very interesting and a great opportunity to see all of these items from simple headrests, chairs and beds to the coffins, golden chariots and so much jewellery.

We had a quick, late lunch in a busy little place with takeaway pizza and cicchetti (we ate in), delicious apple pastries for dessert – there are lots of places like that tucked away. Back to the hotel to do a bit of packing up, had dinner at the Asian place across the street (good food) and then it was off to Scuola Grande di San Teodoro for Verdi’s Four Seasons – a bit of culture to round off the Italian adventure.

https://www.scuolagrandesanteodoro.it/en/home-2/ This is a late 16th century building, now a conference venue and concert hall throughout the year with a couple of programmes running. We’d seen light opera here a few years ago, well worth a visit. It’s free seating so we paid for ‘skip the line’ front three row seats and got there early so were in the front row. Neither of us is musically minded but it was amazing to see the skill of the violinists from two meters away. It was a really lovely evening, and of course on the way home………gelato from the shop next to the hotel. Even at 10pm there was a short queue.

And that’s all for the Italian adventure. We’ll be in Rome early tomorrow afternoon, not sure what we’ll do, then it’s off to the airport for our Friday afternoon flight to Sydney. Eight weeks gone in a flash!Read more