Venice, Italy.

[image] "I stood in Venice, on the Bridge of Sighs; A palace and a prison on each hand: I saw from out the wave her structures rise As from the stroke of the enchanter's wand..." (Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage). My 📸

[image] A stroll in Venice’s lovely sestiere of Dorsoduro — with the supposedly cursed Ca’ Dario in the background.

[image] A mistake many 1st-time visitors to Venice make: They have the wrong shoes. Venice is old, with uneven pavement, so stubbed toes and twisted ankles are more likely. It’s a walking, stair-climbing city. Thick, wide, flexible soles are the best. 🙂

[image] “In Ireland,..we have a popular imagination that is fiery, and magnificent, and tender” John Millington Synge The Playboy of the Western World A great production at the National Theatre with a cast including Lorcan Cranitch, Siobhán McSweeney, Nicola Coughlan and Éanna Hardwicke.

[image] Happy Sunday, friends! I hope today has some peaceful moments in store for you.

[video] Ancient Art. Renaissance home. The Tribuna: Grimani Palace Museum, Venice. This room of ancient sculptures is considered one of the most prestigious and significant collections of the Renaissance, with a highly valued mix of original Hellenistic and Classical Greek marbles,

[video] A golden April evening, one year ago! 😊

[image] If there had been internet in 1505, Giovanni Bellini’s San Zaccaria Altarpiece would have broken it. Church of San Zaccaria, Venice, Italy.

[image] The 500 year old ceiling in the sacristy of San Giobbe in Venice, Italy. Aptly for a church devoted to Job, the panels depict Old Testament prophets and saints.

[image] The high altar of the lovely Gesuati, Venice, Italy. The tabernacle beneath the baldacchino is covered with inlaid lapis lazuli.

[image] In Venice, stop by Ca’ Rezzonico to check out all the terrific carved heads. (There are 5 in just this random photo of a corner of the palace.) There’s one over the main entrance that reminds me of someone but I can’t decide who . . . perhaps Captain Kangaroo? 🤔

[image] The pretty church of San Rocco in Venice. The white stone facade with round and triangular pediments gives it an elegant, classical aspect.

[image] Did you know? The famous Pietà church in Venice didn’t get its Neo-Palladian facade until the 20th century. Built from 1745-60 to replace an earlier version where Vivaldi served, all hope of finishing the facade collapsed with the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797. It

[image] The little Church of San Giorgio dei Greci, Venice’s only Greek Orthodox Church. Next door is a icon museum for those interested in the art of sacred icon paintings.