Easily the most beautiful city in the world, with a thrilling and powerful and ultimately tragic history.
This is just a modest house and entrance, but it gets the point across that this is the norm - there are no roads, and no cars. There aren't even bicycles allowed on the cobblestone passageways - pedestrians only.
I could post a million pictures of the canals and boats and walkways - every few steps presents a new and completely captivating viewpoint. And it's so easy to get lost - tiny alleys open onto enormous squares, which you cross to enter another tiny alley, which may or may not deadend in a cluster of private houses.
St. Mark's Square, the heart of Venice:
On the left is the campanile, which is cracking AGAIN. Originally built in the 9th century, it was most recently rebuilt in 1906. In 1902 the tower developed a large and ominous crack. The square was immediately evacuated, and within days it collapsed into a massive pile of bricks, taking out the caretaker's cat (who had apparently not been notified of the evacuation). Its latest fissure is worrying everyone, although that's the least of the piazza's concerns. The (stolen) columns in the center display some fantastic (stolen) sculptures, including St. Mark as the winged lion, which once acquired quickly became the symbol for Venice. Most often displayed with his paw on a book, he is occasionally seen with the book and a sword. In the rare instances when he only has the sword, this symbolizes Venice at war. The Doge's Palace (on the right in the photo above) houses a terrific collection of paintings of various winged lions (mostly with books).
Like canals, winged lions are everywhere in Venice and make for addictive photo-collecting - they're all so different and striking:
Anyway. This next bit is for Loren: a couple of Venitian merchants stole St. Mark's bones from Alexandria in 828, and covered his body with a layer of pork to smuggle him back (knowing the muslims wouldn't touch a pile of pork with a ten foot pole). After that there was all kinds of chaos and confusion about where his head ended up, and the relics got misplaced a couple of times, but now supposedly rest in the basilica (the domes of which you can see just behind the doge's palace in the shot above).
So we've been to Venice lots of times - my husband is lucky enough to have family there (Mirella, who is D.O.C., and Tony, who was actually born in Abruzzo and moved to Venice as a boy), and they are the dearest, most generous couple alive. But this was the first time we have been there for Carnivale, and it was GREAT. The people-watching was spectacular:
It was so FUN to put on our costumes, capes and hats (all made by Mirella) and masks (handmade in a tiny shop in Venice that Tony knew of) and wander the city. (And my camera fit so nicely under my cape!) Even though there was a sea of people around the piazza, we could escape down a side alley and within a minute or two enter a peaceful square completely devoid of people:
Every day included parades (scheduled and not), musical events, balls and formal dinners, comedy performances, and lots and lots and lots of masks:
Even the lion got into the act:
We did take a break one day and head out to the islands of Burano and Torcello. Burano is famous for several things, most visibly the colorful houses, proudly painted in bold and varied hues. I think the only rule is that you can't have the same color as your immediate neighbor:
It's also the source of the REAL buranelli (those ubiquitous circular yellow cookies you see all over Italy, especially popular in the airports as souvenirs). Those made on the island are DELICIOUS and Mirella (who is an excellent cook) says all others are inferior imposters, warning a) don't waste your money on any not made here, and b) it is hopeless to try to recreate them - there is some Burano secret ingredient that is impossible to duplicate. (Of course I am going to try and will report accordingly.) Torcello, the oldest region of Venice, is a great glimpse into how Venice probably looked fourteen hundred years ago - tiny marshy islands, just a few simple canals, mostly trees and wildlife and small farms.
I know the world is HUGE and there are lots of places I'll certainly never see, but we continue to return to Venice for so many reasons. Next visit - Vogalonga!
