Venice, Italy

[video] Rerun - Venice's musical past: This is one of my earliest videos, which I repurposed from an in-person presentation. The editing really stinks, but hopefully the content holds up! 😀

[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] On this day, September 23, 1569, the Venetian Great Council issued a strict decree that the bell-ringer of St. Mark’s Campanile must be at least 25 years old. Why? 1. It required great strength and fitness to ring the largest, multi-ton Marangona bell. 2. The Marangona

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

[video] If it rains on you in Venice: Say to yourself, “I’m getting rained on. In VENICE.” 😉

[video] Join me for a quiet stroll on the far eastern edge of Venice - to the location of San Pietro di Castello, the original cathedral of Venice.

[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. 🙂

[video] “Do not spoil the wonder with haste.” — J.R.R. Tolkien To best appreciate a beautiful city, you need patience, an open mind, and at least 3 sunsets.

[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.

[image] To enrich your experience before you visit Venice: Some book recommendations, in 3 categories. HISTORY/CULTURE: Venice: A New History, by Thomas F. Madden The World of Venice, by Jan Morris Piazza San Marco, by Iain Fenlon The Genius of Venice, by Dial Parrott (one of the best

[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] For your Sunday: 28 seconds in Venice, looking up at Tiepolo’s heavenly visions.

[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 Piraeus Lion of the Venetian Arsenale: A ‘contemporary’ of Plato, it was carved around 360 B.C. in Ancient Greece; Inscribed with graffiti by Scandinavian mercenaries in the 11th century; And brought to Venice in 1687, where it has stood guard ever since.

[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.

[video] “No cars” - one of many things I love about “the Floating City”!

[video] In Venice, every sotoportego, narrow alley, and bridge seems to frame the perfect scene -- like this charming 'moving picture' by Yarin: 👇

[image] There’s a tiny unexplained detail in this scene (looking across the Giudecca Canal) that I found charming. So I took the photo. Did you spot it? 🙂

[image] The “other side” of Venice’s famous clock tower:  Unlike the complex astronomical clock on the Piazza side, the rear dial was designed for practical readability. Its outer marble ring has 24 Roman numerals and the solo clock hand projects from a beautiful gilded sun to indicate

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

[image] Here’s an in-depth exploration of the Four Tetrarchs on the corner of St. Mark’s Basilica:

[video] A small place designed for beauty: Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista, Venice, Italy.

[image] Did you know? Michelangelo spent 6-7 weeks in the island of Giudecca in 1529. He rented a house with a garden, preferring its quiet seclusion to the hustle-bustle of Venice proper. Rio di Santa Eufemia, Giudecca, Venice

[image] Well, so much for the end of community pages . . . Start sharing your Venice photos & stories again - you must be sick of just me! 😀

[image] The Palazzi Barbaro on the Grand Canal. In 1908, Winston Churchill and his bride, Clementine, honeymooned here. They stayed in the older, 15th century Gothic part, on the left.

[image] Small but mighty. High Baroque style in Santa Maria di Nazareth ("Scalzi") in Venice, Italy. (photo by Didier Descouens)

[image] Two years ago I was hosting a group in Venice and happened to show them a couple of turtle sites. They loved the beautiful churches, Venetian culture, etc., but those turtles REALLY fascinated them! 😅

[video] Heading up the Grand Canal toward the train station: To the right of the Rialto Bridge you’ll see a tower with an onion-shaped dome. It belongs to the church of San Bartolomeo, where the German merchant community worshipped for over 500 year during the Venetian Republic.

[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] I love these black and white images of Venice by Maroš — he makes modern shots look like a glimpse of the past.

[image] “. . . water all about us where never water was elsewhere—clusters of houses, churches, heaps of stately buildings growing out of it—and, everywhere, the same extraordinary silence." - (Charles Dickens, 1846) My 📸

[image] This little pink chapel is in San Canciano in the Canareggio district. Share your own Venice chapel photo!

[image] Have you seen this monumental “Face of Christ” in the Church of San Giovanni Evangelista in Venice? It is by the acclaimed Bosnian artist Safet Zec, who has close ties to Venice. Zec is known for his deeply emotional style that echoes old masters like Rembrandt. The 2003

[image] Venice will always be near and dear to my heart. But not for its Piazza, Grand Canal, or other lovely treasures. I go for its quiet spaces and its less exciting gifts. Once I even went there alone to cry, settle my thoughts, and reconnect with the good Lord. So, I keep going

[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] Before you ascend the 16th century staircase of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco in Venice, look up! You’ll see Prometheus peering down at you. Why? This bearded Titan from classical mythology leans out of a dark void, clutching a blazing torch, to bring ‘enlightenment’ to

[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.

[image] Good morning, and happy Sunday, friends! The gold-tinged light of sunrise in Castello.

[image] For fans of the Renaissance painter Paolo Veronese, the little church of San Sebastiano in Venice, Italy, is a gold mine. His works cover almost every paintable surface in the church, and it is also his burial place. The organ loft and painted shutters (below) are masterworks

[video] POV: Art will fill your spirit with light as no earthly possession ever could. 📍 Scuola Grande di San Rocco @ #Venice.

[image] In 1902, the famous bell tower of St. Mark’s collapsed, 1,000 years after its construction began in 902. It fell almost straight down, not over. The Venetians said it fell like “a gentleman.” Miraculously, no one was killed (except a cat) and there was only minor damage to the

[image] Today is St. Helen's Day (La Festa di Sant'Elena), so let's go to the far eastern edge of Venice to pay tribute at a little 13th century church dedicated to her. In 1211, some of her remains were brought from Constantinople to Venice, and according to historical traditions and

[image] Wisteria, a cat, and an out-of-control window-box plant in Dorsoduro. My 📸

[image] Porta Sant’Alipio of St. Mark’s Basilica, Venice. The mosaic, c. 1260-1275, is the only original 13th-century mosaic remaining on the west façade. Interestingly, it depicts the Basilica itself as it looked in the mid-13th century before the domes were heightened, pinnacles

[image] Walked Gardens of the Palazzo Sanudo, Venice, by Martin Rico y Ortega, 1890

[image] Mornings in Venice: Birds waking up, bells chiming, the sound of solitary footsteps in the next street, and the first rays of sun kissing the roof tiles. Add a hot cup of cappuccino and you have perfection! 🙂

[image] A Venetian capitello (street shrine) near Church of Angelo Raffaele. These served as sacred devotional spots and sometimes also provided practical public street lighting, as lamps inside illuminated dark alleys or blind corners at night.