Giles Blog: Italy 2017

VENICE

DAY 7

It was time to move on and we took the bus to Rome Termini where we were going to take the Italo Train to Venice via Florence and Bologna. The state railway is Trenitilia and Italo is a privitaly owned railway that leases the track from Trenitilia. It only has two routes, Salerno to Milan and Salerno to Venice. It is equipped to run on the high speed lines, reaching up to 300 km/hr.

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The Italo Train

It was well furnished with leather seats and our ticket, Prima, gave us free refreshments, a cookie and coffee.

We arrived to time:

From Snopes.com
Claim: Italian dictator Benito Mussolini made the trains run on time.
Status: False.

We were staying at another apartment booked through VRBO and we phoned the owner from the station to say we were going to arrive at the Rialto Vaporetto (water bus) stop as planned and we would meet her there. All went to plan and she recognised us as we had sent a photo ahead of time. We were staying quite close the the Rialto bridge and we were soon established in our new home for the next five nights. It was well appointed and in a good location, opposite a gelato shop, who could ask for more?

This was our third visit and we had seen many of the high points so we could be quite selective on where we went and what we did this time around.

DAY 8

Our first full day and we wandered to the Eastern end of the island. We started out passing through St. Mark's Square with the Bell Tower, the Basilica and the Doge's Palace. We had previously been into the Basilica and the Doge's Palace and the line up for the Bell Tower was far too long for us to wait. Venice is full of tourists.

St. Mark's Basilica

One of the famous cafes on St. Marks Square

Masks are popular


And so are the gondolas

Along the waterfront

The Porta Magna at the Venetian Arsenale

The Arselane is a complex of former shipyards and armories. Construction of the Arsenale began around 1104. It became the largest industrial complex in Europe before the Industrial Revolution. Labourers and shipbuilders worked building ships that sailed from the city's port. With high walls shielding the Arsenale from public view and guards protecting its perimeter, different areas of the Arsenale each produced a particular prefabricated ship parts such as munitions, rope, and rigging. These parts could then be assembled into a ship in as little as one day.

The Campo SS Giovanni e Paolo

We thought this was quite amusing

DAY 9

Today we bought an all-day ticket on the Vaporettos. Whereas 7.5 euros seemed a bit steep for a single journey, the day ticket was only 20 euros and that was better value.

The Venice Lagoon has many islands, we had visited Murano, famous for Venetian glass and Burano, famous for lace, once before. We decided to go back to Burano and visit the Lace Museum.


Burano Lace Museum

An example of needle lace

There are a number of techniques in the production of lace. Whereas Ruth and her lace group are bobbin lacers, traditionally Burano has made needle lace for many years.

Demonstrating needle lace

Not surprisingly there are many shops selling lace items, we weren't sure how many were locally produced as much of the lace you see in shops is made on machines and likely from countries far from Venice.

One problem of our own making was happily resolved. One of our jackets was left behind in a washroom and on realising this on return to the room it had gone! A French tour group was in at the same time and had left and it turned out that they had picked it up thinking it belonged to one of their party. Fortunately we tracked the group down and retrieved it.

One of the many shops

One of a number of Burano canals

Canal side

Another lace outlet

We had a pleasant lunch and return to the dock to catch a vaporetto to Lido, which sits on a long island at the outer edge of the lagoon and then connected to another vaporetto that ran back to the main island and goes right around it. So we had a little cruise of our own making passing by the area where the cruise ships dock. There were three altogether on this day, adding even more tourists. It was a nice day.

DAY 10

We started out over the Rialto Bridge to visit the Fish Market where there are always interesting things to see.


The Rialto Bridge from the Fish Market (with gondola)

Octopus, very popular

Perch, Salmon and Cod

Things with eyes


Bream, also very popular

The Fruit and Vegetable Market if close by the Fish Market and it has an amazing array of product.

Crystallised fruits

Soft Fruit

Asparagus plus

Plenty of colour here

When we were last in Venice we were impressed by the paintings in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco. The building was the seat of a lay Brotherhood established in 1478, named after San Rocco and popularly regarded as a protector against plague. In 1564 the painter Tintoretto was commissioned to provide paintings for the Scuola and his most renowned works are to be found upstairs in the Sala dell'Albergo and the Sala Superiore. All the works in the building are by him, or his assistants, including his son and they were executed between 1564 and 1587. Works in the ground floor hall are in homage to the Virgin Mary, and concentrate on episodes from her life. In the upper hall works on the ceiling are from the Old Testament and on the walls from the New Testament. Together, they show the biblical story from Fall to Redemption. It is a remarkable place. There are few windows and the level of light was rather low.

A detail of the ceiling in the Upper Hall (Scala Superiore)

General View of the Upper Hall

The Crucifixion

The Apotheosis of St. Roch

Saints Mark and Marcellinus being led to Martyrdom

The Massacre of the Innocents

The Lower Hall


The Adoration of the Magi

The final place we visited was the Peggy Guggenheim Museum, a modern art museum on the Grand Canal. It is one of the most visited attractions in Venice. The collection is housed in the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, an 18th-century palace, which was the home of the American heiress Peggy Guggenheim for three decades. She began displaying her private collection of modern art to the public in 1951.