Italian Trip Diary -- Day #13 -- Along the Brenta Canal from Padua to Venice

Monday, June 25, 2001 -- Padua to Venice along the Brenta Canal:

Unfortunately, our trip from Padua to Venice was set for Monday.  It is the day that most of the villas along the Brenta Canal are closed.  In fact, it is also the day that there are no boats on the Canal between Padua and Venice (the way we had originally intended to make the trip).  Nonetheless, we took the road along the Brenta Canal and saw some of the villas designed by Palladio and his followers – two up close.

The Brenta villas were built along the Canal by the Venetian nobility as retreats from the unhealthy summer climate in Venice.  Many were designed by Palladio, although others were completed much later in a neo-Palladian style.

We stopped at the Villa Pisani near Stra, which was supposed to be open on Monday.  Unfortunately, on that particular Monday it was closed to allow an arts and crafts show to be set up.  We had to content ourselves with a walk along the front façade and garden walls. 

Villa Pisani on the Brenta Canal, built in the early 18th century for the Venetian Doge, Alvise Pisani.
Photo by Blomme-McClure

It is a very large house with an imposing central pavilion designed in the Palladian style by Giralamo Frigimelica and Francesco Maria Preti.  The house was built for Alvise Pisani, who was named Doge of Venice in 1736.  In later centuries it was used by Napoleon and hosted Hitler's first conference with Mussolini in 1934.  

Central pavillion of Villa Pisani with George walking away after finding it was closed the day of our visit.
Photo by Blomme-McClure

Detail of Telamones (male Carytids) on the central pavilion of Villa Pisani.
Photo by C. Koiveneumi

There is a large stables on the opposite side of the formal gardens from the villa.  The gardens extend in both directions and include a Belvedere folly and a formal maze with a viewing gazebo above it.

Stables across the back lawn from the Villa Pisani.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

Folly arising from the center of the formal maze in the gardens of Villa Pisani.
Photo by Blomme-McClure

Day lilies surrounding classical statue along the wall of the stables at Villa Pisani.
Photo by Blomme-McClure

We passed several more villas as we drove along the canal toward Venice.  We detoured along a side canal to Mirano to see the Villa Morosini XXV Aprile, which is now a public library surrounded by a park.  The Palladian-style symmetrical two-story façade with pedimented loggia on the second floor in the central bay is quite lovely.  

Villa Morosini XXV Aprile in Mirano is now a library.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

 We ate lunch on the terrace of the River Pub across the street from the villa/library.

Returning to the Brenta Canal we continued driving toward Venice through an increasingly industrialized area.  To reach Venice by car, you cross the Venetian lagoon on a bridge parallel to the railroad tracks and arrive at a huge parking garage where the Hertz office is located.  While I finalized the papers to turn in the car, George and Carl negotiated with a porter to take our luggage to the hotel.  They decided that I would accompany the porter with the luggage while George and Carl would take the vaporetto to Piazza San Marco and walk to the hotel from there.

The Piazzale Roma and the adjacent train station comprise one of the biggest intermodal transportation hubs in the world.  Everything and everyone coming into Venice must switch from a land-based mode of transportation (train, bus, truck, car) to some form of water-based transportation (water taxi, gondola, vaporetto, freight boat, barge).  It is a bustling place where porters and longshoremen move the baggage and freight from one conveyance to another.

Our luggage and I were taken to the side of a canal where luggage from a bus (probably a tour group) was being loaded onto a freight boat.  After all of the bus luggage had been stacked on the boat, the porter loaded our luggage, the luggage cart and me onto the boat.  The porter and the driver hopped on and we were off down the canals toward the hotel.  

Grand Canal from the back of the freight boat with our luggage.  Photo by McClure

At some point, after negotiating several smaller canals and crossing the Grand Canal we got mixed up in a huge traffic jam of gondolas, water taxis and other freight boats.

Traffic jam on one of the narrower canals from the prow of the freight boat.  Photo by McClure

At the next 'corner' the porter decided that the land route would be faster than waiting to get to the 'water door' of our hotel.  He grabbed the cart and the bags and the driver and the porter hoisted me out of the boat.  Off we went through a maze of small alleyways until we arrived at the 'land entrance' of our hotel (Albergo Cavalletto e Doge Orseolo, San Marco 1107, Venezia, 0039 041 52 00 955, http://www.sanmarcohotels.com/cavalletto/).  I paid the porter the agreed upon 100,000IL for transporting me and the luggage to the hotel.  I was graciously received by the front desk staff and escorted to a lovely corner room on the third floor.

In the meantime, George and Carl took Vaporetto #81 (it turns out that there are several different routes and both local and express versions with this number) down the Giudecca Canal

Gesuati (Church of St. Mary of the Rosary) on Giudecca Canal viewed from Vaporetto #81.
The church was designed by Giorgio Massari in the Palladian style and built between 1726 and 1743.  Photo by C. Koiveneumi

and around the Dogana to the San Marco stop.  

Punta della Dogana (foreground) and Santa Maria della Salute (behind).  The Dogana was built between 1678 and 1682 on the point where the Giudecca Canal joins the Grand Canal.  It was the customs house for the Republic of Venice.  Photo by C. Koiveneumi

From there they made their way to the far end of the Piazza San Marco 

Piazza San Marco, the 'Times Square' of Venice.  Photo by C. Koiveneumi

and thence to the Cavalletto, arriving nearly an hour after me and the luggage. 

The Cavalletto is through an arch near the northwest corner of Piazza San Marco and over a small bridge.  It is on a 'corner' where the canal broadens and then turns – running directly behind the buildings on the north side of Piazza San Marco.  

Water Entrance to Hotel Cavalletto (Albergo Cavalletto e Doge Orseolo).  Photo by C. Koiveneumi

Our room was on the corner of the building overlooking the canals on two sides.  When the windows were open,  it was filled with the cacophony of the gondoliers and their customers, since the corner of the canal opposite our room was where the gondolas were loaded, unloaded and tied up for the night.  

Gondolas on the canal from the windows of our room at the Hotel Cavalletto.  Photo by C. Koiveneumi

However, when the windows were closed the room was extremely quiet.  Carl had the single room next door which also overlooked the gondola basin.

That evening we walked through Venice to the Rialto Bridge on the Grand Canal.  

Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice.  There are shops in the pavilion in the center of the bridge.
Photo by Blomme-McClure

Like the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, it is always packed with tourists.  It is one of only three bridges over the Grand Canal, although there are several tragettos – the wide gondolas that cross the canal on a regular time table.  Since the Rialto is a very high bridge, it affords lovely views of the palazzos lining the canal in both directions.

View from the top of the Rialto Bridge looking up the Grand Canal.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

On the far side of the bridge we found Trattoria alla Madonna (San Polo 594, Venezia, 041.5223824) which had been recommended by a New York friend.  It is in a narrow alleyway off the Fondamenta del Vin which runs along the canal from the end of the bridge and was readily apparent from the line of customers waiting in the alley to be seated.  Apparently it is always packed and anyone who wants to minimize the wait should be there when it opens.  There are no reservations, although some customers appear to get preferential treatment.  The specialty is fish and seafood and all of the varieties that we tried were fresh and delicious.  The prices are reasonable (for Venice) and the service is friendly, but fast paced (not a problem for New Yorkers, but possibly annoying for those accustomed to a more leisurely meal).

After dinner, we took another route back to the Piazza San Marco.  The square is never uncrowded (actually Carl got up early and went jogging several mornings and reported that it was quite peaceful in the early morning).  In the evenings the orchestras of at least four outdoor cafes create an aural competition offering jazz, show tunes, light classical and Venetian (Vivaldi, Scarlatti) music.  The one playing Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” received the loudest cheers that evening.  Even with all of the people milling about and the clash of musical styles it is a magical urban space.  

While we were there (the Biennale was in progress) there was site-specific installation called 'Water and Fire' which lit up the second floor windows on the west side of the square.  LED screens alternately showed licking flames of red, orange and yellow and falling water of blue and white.  The square itself was alternately bathed in a warm red glow from the 'fire' and an icy blue glow from the 'water'. 

Basilica of San Marco bathed in light of 'Water and Fire' installation.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

It was a lovely work of site-specific art that brought added uniqueness to an already indelible place.