Your wife thought it would be extremely romantic to spend a couple of days in Venice while in Europe and you just can’t get over that sticky feeling
Image by Lynn (Gracie’s mom) - I’m here & there via Flickr
all the advertising for the Vegas version is giving you, can’t you?
Well let yourself be led on a not-love-at-first-sight tour through a city that well deserves all the attention it gets.What you are about to experience coming to Venice for the first time can be horrible if you enter the city limits with all the prejudice acquired from the Casanova tales, the Carnival kitsch and the tourist stampede tours someone will try to push you in sooner or later. This is why I find it important to offer a glimpse at the city I much love and have visited more times than I can remember.
The first thing you must bare in mind when crossing the lagoon is that Venice had been an empire. La Serenissima fought out its existence by taming the sea, constructing barrier Lido islands and setting up majestic buildings on water, when it ran out of land. The wooden pilots – imported oak tree poles that elevate the houses around the canals just stand there to prove the ingenuity and persistence of the Venetian character. You are facing a historic document of a society with immense political and economic power deployed to protect its trading monopoly.
When facing the historic splendor of the Venetian lords one should bare in mind a very clear timescale of certain important historic events and compare the development of the naval city to the events taking place in their trading counterparts, looking upon certain achievements in the perspective of voluntary or even more often compulsory cultural exchange with the Byzantine empire, the Arab world and the rest of Italy and further Europe. So while taking the Vaporetto through Canal Grande look upon the palazzos as if they were houses of your fellow citizens of La Republica Veneziana, which you have visited on various important occasions, approaching them through the side canals not to be seen publically before the deals were closed. Some of them you avoid, knowing the disputes, which might arouse from impolite receptions, some of them you fear, because the families that govern their reception halls have the power to grant you life or death. Breathe in. Smell the thickness of the stale sea and imagine it in morning mists on important days such as the election of the new Dodge from the Signoria, a selected council of ten supervising the efficiency of the senate of 200. Admire the Dodges residence, Palazzo Ducale, and imagine the purpose of it being connected with the bridge of sighs to the prison. Look at the bronze Quadriga above the entrance to St. Mark’s basilica and see in your mind’s eye its path from the conquered Byzantium. Take in the dimension of Piazza San Marco and let your imagination play on the fact that it was often called “the drawing room of Europe”. But most of all get lost on the little side streets of Venice, just so you get a proper feeling of the ingenuity with which the Venetian postal service had to equip itself. And don’t forget to glance up in the evenings, you just might catch a glimpse of a proper Venet
Image via Wikipedia
ian apartment and wish you were a citizen of Venice for a day or two.
What you and your darling might want to do before heading for a romantic weekend is take a look at the latest version of Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, a magnificent tale of romance and sacrifice (for her) and a vivid illustration of the power of wealth within the historic social structure (for you).
Oh and by the way – since you’re going to Italy, this might be a good time to start practicing the rolling of the »r«, since the natives will be less hostile if you do it at least half way through.
All the best and have a great time in Venice!
- Getting lost in Venice’s web of history (nationalpost.com)
- Who can stop the slow death of Venice? (guardian.co.uk)
