Italian Trip Diary -- Day #17 -- Venice to Rome

Friday, June 28, 2001, Venice to Rome:

On the last morning in Venice we took the elevator to the top of the campanile.

Campanile on Piazza San Marco with the Basilica on the left.  The tower rises 323 feet.
It was originally built in 1514, but collapsed in 1902 and was rebuilt in 1912.
Photo by Blomme-McClure

The views of the city are splendid and just as we reached the viewing platform the sun began to break through the clouds.  The domes and spires of San Marco below bathed in early morning sunlight,

Domes of the Basilica of San Marco from the top of the Campanile.
Photo by Blomme-McClure

La Salute rising across the Grand Canal,

Punta della Dogana (left) and Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute (right) at junction of the Grand Canal (foreground) and the Guidecca Canal with the Church of Santissima Rendatore in the left background.
Photo by Blomme-McClure

and San Giorgio Maggiore

San Giorgio Maggiore by Palladio was begun in 1566.  The facade was under restoration in 2001 when we were in Venice.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

perched on its own island in the lagoon

The island of San Giorgio Maggiore in the Venetian Lagoon with a corner of the Ducal Palace (left)
 and the Piazzetta with the twin columns topped by the Venetian Lion and 
St. Theodore Slaying the Dragon.
Photo by Blomme-McClure

were all splendid sights and reminders of the delightful days we spent in Venice.

Palazzo Ducal from the top of the campanile showing the rhythmic facade on the exterior 
and the more haphazard facade in the interior courtyard.  
Photo by Blomme-McClure

Piazza San Marco from the top of the campanile.
Photo by Blomme-McClure

The evangelist St. Mark preaching from the highest ogee arch of the facade of the Basilica of San Marco,
with angels climbing up the arch toward him amid the spires.  Most of the sculpture on the facade dates from 1414 to 1419 and is by  Paolo di Jacobo delle Masegne and Nicolai di Pietro Lamberti, although some that fell in an earthquake in 1511 were later replaced by Giorgio Albanese in 1618.
Photo by Blomme-McClure 

The campanile rises above the facade of a building along the Piazetta.
Photo by Blomme-McClure

Santa Maria della Salute across the Grand Canal.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

At noon we took a water taxi to the airport,

A favorite gondolier who worked from the basin near our hotel.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

Traffic jam on the way to the airport.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

crossing the lagoon along San Michelle

The cemetery island of San Michelle in the lagoon between the city and the airport.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

and arriving at a dock right next to the airport terminal.  The flight to Rome was uneventful, but then the fun began.

We took a taxi from the airport to the Jolly Hotel (where we had stayed at the start of our trip) -- but in the confusion of getting out of the taxi one bag was left in the trunk (warning to travelers #1 -- always count your luggage during transfers).  It happened to be the bag that had all of our prescription drugs in it (warning to travelers #2 -- always carry your prescription drugs in you backpack).  Frantic calls to our doctor in New York were followed by a trip to the Farmacia Internazionale (Piazza Barberini 49, Rome) where the pharmacist spoke little English and was reluctant to give us many of the prescriptions (warning to travelers #3 -- always carry copies of your prescriptions and a list of prescriptions with generic names as well as brand names).  Fortunately for us, a proctologist from Baltimore who spoke Italian was in the store and was able to intercede on our behalf.

When we got back to the hotel, there was a phone call from the taxi driver saying that he had found the bag in his trunk and that he would drive back into the city to return it -- if we would pay him for the round trip fare.  We agreed and eventually he arrived with the bag all ripped open with the contents rifled through.  We gladly paid him an excessive 'ransom' to get the prescriptions back, but then found ourselves the laughing stock of the hotel staff for paying off 'Al Capone, the bandito'.

Exhausted from the journey and subsequent events, we stumbled across the street for pizza at Il Pomodorino (Via Campania 45e, Rome, 06/42.011.356) where we requested a table served by our friend, Emmanuela.   

Italian Trip Diary -- Day #15 -- Venice

Wednesday, June 27, 2001, Venice:

After early breakfast at the hotel (the waitresses were arguing – it seemed to be the thing in Venice) we took out our street map (required knapsack material in Venice) and found our way to San Zanipoli (short for St. John & St. Paul in Venetian dialect – go figure) in the tranquil 'back country' of Venice where the canals are narrow and largely empty and the tourist crowds thin out noticeably.

The façade, which is incomplete, is in a vertical gothic style done in red brick with decorative elements in multi-colored marbles.  

Basilica di San Giovanni e Paolo a.k.a. San Zanipoli was begun in 1333.  It is dedicated to two
obscure Christian martyrs, not the two Apostles.  It is a Dominican preaching churches and the
burial place of 15 Doges of Venice.  Photo by Blomme-McClure.

Main door of San Zanipolo showing transition from finished marble surround and unfinished brick facade.
Photo by Blomme-McClure

Unfortunately the lovely tiled piazza in front of the church (where Katherine Hephurn fell into the canal in 'Summertime') was surrounded by scaffolding.  

Equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni by Andrea Verrocchio, bronze, 1486
 on Campo San Giovanni e Paolo.  Photo by Blomme-McClure 

The interior is in brick gothic with a semi-circle of lancet windows behind the altar.  

Interior of San Zanipolo has steel supporting cross beams.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

The Chapel of the Rosary on the left of the altar contains large paintings by Veronese. 

Monument of Pietro Mocenigo, Doge from 1474 to 1476, by Pietro Lombardo,
Istrian stone and marble, 1476-1481.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

There are numerous monuments and chapels dedicated to doges and other Venetian notables. 

Tryiptych in Chapel of St. Vincent Ferrier by Giovanni Bellini.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

The last chapel on the right aisle contains a notable triptych by Giovanni Bellini with St. Vincent Ferrier in the center flanked by St. Christopher and St. Sebastian (that perennial favorite of Italian painters and gays).

Triptych (detail) by Giovanni Bellini of 'St. Christopher, St. Vincent Ferrier, and St. Sebastian', oil on wood panel,
circa 1464.  Photo by Blomme McClure

By trial and error we made our way to Santa Maria dei Miracoli, a lovely small church set on a small serene campo beside a canal.  The multi-colored marble façade is composed of a bottom story with inset classical columns with a single middle door surmounted by a second story with five irregular arches supported on inset classical columns which is in turn surmounted by an enormous round arch punched with a large rose window surrounded by three smaller circular windows and two marble rosettes. 

Upper facade of Santa Maria dei Miracoli, a Venetian Renaissance gem, designed by Pietro Lombardo,
built from 1481 to 1489.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

Lower facade and entrance door of Santa Maria dei Miracoli.  The superimposed columns
and multi-colored marble are a feature of Venetian Renaissance architecture.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

It is a lovely and dynamic composition.  The interior with a single nave under the giant barrel vault is less remarkable.

From Campo dei Miracoli, we somehow made our way to another church, San Francesco della Vigna, which had some lovely art.  The main facade of the church was designed by Andrea Palladio in 1562.  

Main facade of San Francesco della Vigna, by Palladio, 1562.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

The rest of the exterior and interior of the church follows the designs of Jacobo Sansavino and was built between 1530 and 1554.

Nave and altar of San Francesco della Vigna, designed by Jacobo Sansavino.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

The church contains the Badoer-Giustinian Chapel with an altarpiece and side walls by Pietro Lombardo and his workshop that Sansavino salvaged from an earlier church on the sight.

'Saint Jerome (center) with St. Agnes, St. Michael, St. James, and St. Anthony' by Pietro Lombardo
and other members of the Lombardo family and workshop, marble, circa 1500-1530.
Photo by Blomme-McClure

Panels from the former choir screen were incorporated into the walls of the chapel.

Reliefs of Old Testament kings and prophets by the Lombardo workshop with angel heads by Sansavino, in an
adaptive reuse of the choir screen of the former church.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

Detail of relief of Job (I think) by Lombardo workshop with Sansavino angel head.
Photo by Blomme-McClure

Giovanni Bellini's 'Virgin and Child with Four Saints and Donator', oil on wood, circa 1507, 
in San Francesco della Vigna.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

'Last Supper of Christ' by Girolamo da Santacroce, circa 1540.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

After San Francesco della Vigna we found our way to lunch at a table along side the canal at Trattoria ai Greci (Castello 4988, Venezia)

George (in red) and Carl (in rose) canal-side at Trattoria ai Creci.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

with a view down the canal to the leaning tower of San Giorgio dei Greci which appeared to be about to fall into the canal.

San Giorgio dei Greci with leaning Campanile.  This Greek Orthodox church was permitted by
the pope in 1539 and was completed by 1550.  The bell tower was added in 1592.
Photo by Blomme-McClure

After lunch we walked across Venice to the Accademia Bridge, passing the church of San Zaccaria on the way.

Church of San Zaccaria built in the early Venetian Renaissance style between 1458 and 1515.
Photo by Blomme-McClure

 Actually, George stopped at a cyber-café on the Campo San Stefano for about an hour to catch up on e-mail (our Italian internet connection didn’t work in either Padua or Venice) while Doug and Carl went on ahead.  The Accademia Bridge is another of the three bridges over the Grand Canal.  Unlike the Rialto, it is a wooden structure with very little grace or special presence – it just gets you across the Canal and provides a great vantage point for looking up

View up the Grand Canal from the Accademia Bridge.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

and down the Canal.

View down the Grand Canal toward Santa Maria della Salute and the Dogana.
Photo by Blomme-McClure

The Accademia has a vast collection of (mostly) Venetian art.  The paintings are often very large – many were created to be altarpieces in churches and chapels.  All of the great Venetian artists – Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto, Bellini, Lotto – are represented, sometimes by great masterpieces.  Yet, it is fascinating how some paintings by lesser artists catch the eye and remain in memory, while those selected by curators and noted by guidebooks disappoint and become dim.

George caught up with us in the galleries, allowing Doug a chance to revisit some of the works with special appeal.

Emerging from the Accademia, we found a café along the canal for refreshments and then walked through the “left bank” or Dorsoduro to Santa Maria della Salute. 

Grand Canal facade of Santa Maria della Salute designed by Baldassare Longhena.
Photo by Blomme-McClure

This Baroque church was designed by Longhena, who won a competition to build a church to celebrate the deliverance of Venice from the plague (beating out Palladio).  The church is distinguished by a huge dome supported by large snail-like buttresses that rises above an octagonal base that sits at the top of an enormous staircase ascending from the Canal.

High Altar by Longhena is centered on a Byzantine 'Madonna and Child' from the 12th or 13th
century and is topped by a Baroque sculptural group of 'The Queen of Heaven Expelling the Plague'
from 1670 by Josse de Corte, a Flemish sculptor.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

 

Interior of Santa Maria della Salute.  Photo by C. Koivuniemi

The interior seems quite austere compared to the exuberant exterior, but has a distinct charm and is a treasure house of Baroque art (probably great, but seen through eyes saturated by the works in the Accademia). 

'Descent of the Holy Ghost' by Titian, oil on canvas, 1545.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

The geometric marble floor

Marble floor in Santa Maria della Salute.  Photo by C. Koivuniemi

serves to focus the observer to the center of the church under the great dome.

Dome on octagonal drum, Santa Maria della Salute.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

We took the vaporetto from the steps of La Salute back to San Marco and thence through the Piazza to our hotel.  That evening we had dinner outside at Ristorante Al Theatro (San Marco 1916, Venezia) which sits next to the site of Venice’s opera house, La Fenice.  La Fenice burned down several years ago and is now under reconstruction.  Apparently, there have been some previous attempts to rebuild it which have ended in corruption rather than construction.

We had delicious food and were amused watching confused tourists going by with maps – many were back several times during the course of the meal.  Venice is that sort of a place and part of the fun for us was getting lost and discovering new and interesting places.