Coaching for Pizza: A Final and Interesting Day in Venezia

Monday, 18 February, 2019

I thought that we should start this post with a bit about the history of Venice.

After all, this wondrous city on a lagoon has . . .

. . . a lot more going for it than just romantic

gondola rides in the early morning mist

A total of approximately 59,000 hardy souls call Venezia their home.

Despite the constant threat of the city flooding due to their famous acqua alta (high tides) or perhaps because of them, Venetian refugees took to these islands when 5th-century barbarians started to overwhelm the more traditional villages located on the Veneto's Adriatic coast. These asylum seekers first settled on Venetian the island of Torcello.

By 726 A.D., they had elected their first Doge, a combination of mayor and overlord.

Venice was one of the most rich and powerful of the city-states during the Middle Ages due to its strategic location on the Adriatic Sea and its strong seafaring based business interests.

Then the Black Plague decimated the city in 1575, claiming about one-third of the Venetian population.

At about that same time Genoa to the west took over much of the naval trade that had made Venice powerful for hundreds of years, so a change in strategy was needed in a hurry.

The decision was to charm Europe through incredibly daring Venetian art. Venetian artists used sensuous colors and sly social commentary even with religious subjects in their paintings.

By the end of the 16th-century, Venezia was known across Europe for its colorful painting, snappy music and 12,000 registered prostitutes.

Napoleon conquered Venice in 1797 and, of course, his soldiers looted its art.

Maybe the prostitutes too.

By 1817, about 25% of Venice's population lived in poverty.

Up next was an Austrian occupation of Venice in 1848-49, during which a cholera epidemic and massive food shortages hit the city.

These were not fun times for Venice.

Finally, in 1866, Venice joined the independent kingdom of Italy and things have generally looked up ever since.

A huge exception to that was the WWII years of 1942-44, when Mussolini's Fascist regime ordered the mass deportation of Venice's large Jewish population to the Nazi controlled death camps.

After WWII, Venice's population began to dwindle as Venetians left to find work in Milan and other industrial centers.

For almost 1,300 years, Venice has survived wars, pestilence, starvation and invasions but now faces its greatest danger, this time from Mother Nature.

Despite President Trump's inane ramblings, the biggest threat to Venice today is the rising sea levels due to global warming, there, I said it!

The acqua alta is becoming a more common occurrence yearly as sea levels slowly continue to rise.

All of this is what makes Venice such a unique, historic and incomparable city.

In the morning I was up early as I knew my journey home the Varese would take about five hours if I made good train-metro-train-bus connections along my route back to the safety of the Villa Skorpion II.

The Hotel Flora provided me with a good, complimentary breakfast so I was out the door at 7:00 a.m. with camera in hand wanting to take more pictures in the early morning sunlight.

Unfortunately, not many Venetians were on the streets at this, for them apparently, ungodly hour. I did like the light fog that hung over the lagoon giving the city a good photographic look.

Let's take a look at what I saw . . .

A tribute to Venice's seafaring history

Which way to go?

The Gondoliers Union says that

it was too early to start work just yet

Laurie and I took a gondola ride the first time that we came to Venice about 13 years ago, it is a once in a lifetime experience.

Just once and definitely not alone.

Strong Union those gondoliers have

as the gondolas are all still asleep

I wonder if he was the ones throwing

all of the confetti that is on the streets

this morning from Sunday's revelry?

Fat baby stare down

Piazza San Marco's Campanile

The Basilica di San Marco . . .

. . . has lots of . . .

. . . colorful mosaics

The iconic winged lion that

is the symbol of the city of Venice

The Doge's Palace

The position and power of the Doge rose greatly since that first election back in 726 A.D.!

The fog rolling in at the edge of

Piazza San Marco

The Astronomical Clock overlooking

Piazza San Marco

Some of the Basilica di San Marco's

colorful columns

A well read winged lion on the façade

of the Basilica di San Marco

More sleeping gondolas

This metal piece is called the

Ferro di Prua

Its purpose is to offer some protection to the gondola's bow during a collision and to balance the weight of the gondolier positioned at the stern.

The six prongs under the main blade represent the six districts into which Venice is divided.

The domed space between the main blade and the first prong represents The Rialto Bridge, easily Venice's most beautiful bridge on the Grand Canal.

Looking across from Piazza San Marco

to the island of Giudecca as the Sun rises

Lots of mooring piles in Venice

Some more colorful than others

Santa Maria della Salute

It did not open for another 30 minutes and I had plenty of other things to see.

The ornate Flag of Venezia

Venetians are known for their

artistic flair

Wait, that baby's cheeks!

It's Richard Nixon, right?

I like old street address signs

If you decide to seal any of your

documents in wax, this is the place

to buy the needed stamp and wax

You can also find fine powder to fulfill

any and all of your own artistic needs

How come we don't see random

wall decorations like these in Camarillo?

As my morning trek took me to L'Accademia Bridge I spied . . .

. . . a photo op

No, not the view of the Grand Canal

from the L'Accadamia Bridge . . .

. . . THIS one of this lovely lady celebrating

Carnevale to the fullest on this chilly,

foggy Monday morning

Spectacular!

Don't you just hate it when your eyes

are closed when you're sculpted?

I think that this is old

Too early and too cold

for gelato

Did I really just write that?

An umbrella toting dragon?

A little food, a little wine . . .

I love these . . .

. . . old signs that direct you around Venice

Did that dragon just eat St. George's arm?

BLASPHEMY!

The Grand Canal is just now starting

to come alive

Potable water abounds

Possible University of Washington

Huskies Carnevale mask for Laurie

In The Rialto district, a butcher

that specializes in horse meat

I know that it is somewhat un-American to say this, but from our time living in Catania, Sicily in 2008 and 2009, I am a big fan of sweet, grilled equine flesh.

At a vegetable market near the

Rialto Bridge

I was not really sure what this was.

An old face at the Fish Market

OH, MY!

I was strong.

It looks to be about 9:30 a.m.

"No Mafia,

Venice is Sacred"

You see these green lamps along

the Grand Canal

Regal, colorful homes and businesses

along the Grand Canal

A Gondolier getting ready

to start his work day

But first all gondoliers need

some time to chit-chat

Small, colorful mementos

of Carnevale

I was now in the middle of the San Polo district which has two sites of great interest that I wanted to see today and they were conveniently right next to each other.

The first was the Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa Dei Frari commonly referred to as simply the I Frari.Here one can find the works of three great Renaissance masters: Donatello, Giovanni Bellini and Titian.