Colorful boats fill Venice as the Vogalonga returns after getting canceled last year.
The Vogalonga is a non-competitive celebration for all rowers.
This peaceful protest against wave damage caused by motor boats, and lagoon degeneration,
brings together Venetians and enthusiasts from around the world.
Before the pandemic, the Italian city of Venice was overrun with tourists – so much so, it was looking for ways to restrict their numbers. Now though, it’s got the opposite problem. Empty streets and waterways, in a city that very much depends on tourism revenue. DW’s Max Zander reports on how Venice is looking to strike the right balance, as it re-opens for business.
Venice, the capital of northern Italy’s Veneto region, is built on more than 100 small islands in a lagoon in the Adriatic Sea. It has no roads, just canals – including the Grand Canal thoroughfare – lined with Renaissance and Gothic palaces. The central square, Piazza San Marco, contains St. Mark’s Basilica, which is tiled with Byzantine mosaics, and the Campanile bell tower offering views of the city’s red roofs.
San Polo is a vibrant district centered around the much-photographed, shop-lined Rialto Bridge, and the Rialto Market, where stalls sell fish, fruit and vegetables. Nearby, in the canalside Erbaria area, locals meet for aperitifs and “cicchetti,” or small plates, before heading to dinner at trendy eateries. The Basilica dei Frari houses masterpieces by Titian and other Renaissance artists.
Italian authorities have approved a ban on cruise ships entering the historic centre of Venice.
The best-known form of transport on the waterways of Venice is the gondola. Today there are only several hundred of these unique, keelless boats left, and they have long been outnumbered by other vessels. But their elegant, sleek shape and gleaming black paintwork have made them a symbol of Venice. Many writers have described the romance of Venice by gondola, and many tourists are still willing to pay high prices to be rowed at twilight through the canals to the singing of a gondolier. But it is many years since gondoliers could recite verses from such Italian poets as Ariosto or Tasso while maneuvering their amazingly flexible craft around the sharp bends of the minor canals. A number of gondolas still serve as ferries across the Grand Canal, but the cost of maintenance makes their ultimate disappearance likely.
In this week’s “Cocktails with a Curator,” Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator Xavier F. Salomon celebrates Women’s History Month by examining two exquisite pastels by Rosalba Carriera that recently entered the collection through a bequest from Alexis Gregory and are on view for the first time on the third floor of Frick Madison. Celebrated for her technically innovative pastel portraits, Rosalba was one of the most famous artists of 18th-century Italy, particularly remarkable given the male-dominated society in which she lived. This week’s complementary cocktail is the Vesper Martini.
To view these paintings in detail, please visit our website: https://www.frick.org/rosalbaportraits
Lively Cannaregio is known for the 16th-century Jewish Ghetto. The Strada Nova is a popular local shopping thoroughfare, and the backstreets are a destination for crafts and vintage goods. Casual canalside restaurants and bars line nearby Fondamenta della Misericordia and Fondamenta dei Ormesini. The stately Ca’ d’Oro palace displays a Renaissance art collection.
The Venetian Ghetto was the area of Venice in which Jews were forced to live by the government of the Venetian Republic. The English word ghetto is derived from the Jewish ghetto in Venice. The Venetian Ghetto was instituted on 29 March 1516. It was not the first time that Jews in Venice were compelled to live in a segregated area of the city. In 1552 Venice had 160,000 inhabitants, including 900 Jews, who were mainly merchants.
Filmed, Edited and Directed by: Milton Kam
NELLA MIA CITTÀ (In my city) is my visual ode to Venice. The film observes the lagoon city and its residents during the relative scarcity of tourists in its streets. From the lustre of its famous spots to the anonymity of its quiet alleys, Venice feels as if ‘the future did not come,’ to borrow a line from the poem, which the film is based on.
Nella mia città is written by Anna Toscano and was taken from her book Doso la polvere, Milan, La Vita Felice, 2012
With music by Federico Toffano (cello), Liesl Odenweller (soprano), and Ivano Zanenghi (lute).
IN MY CITY by Anna Toscano
The future does not exist
the future does not come
in my city:
however long my step is
however much you have the favor of the wind
the number 2 does not go more than 22 km per hour.
How to get beyond the past
how not to look back
(at this speed)
with your neck always at three quarters:
time stops in piazzale Roma
so we live entangled
in the stories of peoples.
We stand, happy,
in a rearview mirror.
Castello covers a large vibrant area, with one section bordering St. Mark’s Square and dotted with luxury hotels. Farther from St. Mark’s, the neighborhood gets more laid-back, with casual bars where locals stop in for a glass of wine. Shops and eateries catering to all budgets line buzzing Via Garibaldi. In alternating years, the Giardini della Biennale park hosts the Biennale exhibition of contemporary art.
Boomers Daily 