Venice, my Italian lover.

Pubblicato da euthasia agosto 31, 2019

Venice, my Italian lover.

Venice is one of my favourite Italian cities.

I have visited it many times; my parents brought me to Venice for my 13^th birthday, my uncle and little cousin invited me to go on a day trip with them, I went there on a school trip to see the Biennale's International Art Exhibition, I went again with my friend from Denmark, and then again to visit a Venetian friend of mine. And yet, every single time this city manages to shock me with its beauty. I’m truly enamoured, and I can’t wait to show you my favourite places (and favourite pictures) through the years.

The first thing to know when going to Venice is that it’s impossible to visit the city by car. Anyone who’s familiar with Venice knows about its peculiarity: it’s basically a city built on water, and most public transportation happens by ferrets, boats or gondolas. The best thing is to get to Venice by train, since the station “Venezia Santa Lucia” is right in the centre of the city; my personal advice to people who are traveling by car is to park your vehicle at “Venezia Mestre”, and then to take the train from there to “Venezia Santa Lucia”. The train ride is very cheap and short (twelve minutes), and it’s way easier and cheaper to park at “Venezia Mestre”.

Once there, my very favourite thing to do is... walking around. Ferrets and gondolas are crazy expensive, so most of the time I prefer moving on foot, and however, getting lots in Venice’s alleys is an experience by itself. If you have some money to spare, though, observing the city from the water will allow you to discover a lot of different points of view.

If you want to be sure to see all the most popular spots, you can simply walk along one of the most peculiar elements of the city: the canal that flows all the way through it.

View of the Grand Canal (Canal Grande) from the Scalzi Bridge (Ponte degli scalzi),
named after the nearby Chiesa degli Scalzi,
literally the "church of the barefoot monks".
It dates back to 1934 and is one of four bridges over the Grand Canal,
right in front of the train station.

View of the Grand Canal from a ferry.
You can see the Rialto Bridge in the background of the second picture.

The Rialto Bridge (Ponte di Rialto) seen from a ferry.
This is the most famous Bridge that crosses the Grand Canal,
as well as the oldest: it was firstly built back in the XIII century.

View of the Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge.

View of the Grand Canal from the Academy Bridge (Ponte dell’Accademia),
so called because it’s near to the Galleria dell Accademia,
one of the top museums in Venice.
You can see the Basilica of Saint Mary of Health in the background.

Basilica of Saint Mary of Health (Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute).
This church was built in the XVII century, when a wave of plague
assaulted Venice killing almost a third of the population.
Hoping to be freed from the plague, the citizens dedicated the church to
the Virgin Mary, who was thought to be a protector of the Republic.

Saint Mark’s Square (Piazza San Marco),
with Saint Mark’s Campanile (Campanile di San Marco)
and Saint Mark’s Basilica (Basilica di San Marco).

Saint Mark’s Basilica is the most famous Venetian church
and one of the best known examples of Italo-Byzantine architecture.
It is adjacent and connected to the Doge's Palace.
It is also possible to visit the inside of the church, which is very beautiful
(but sadly I don’t have any pictures of it).

Saint Mark’s Campanile is the bell tower of St Mark's Basilica.
The tower is 98.6 metres (323 ft) tall, and it is possible to reach the top
and observe an amazing view of the city and the little islands around.
This is absolutely one of my favourite places to go, since the panorama is
astonishing and the price is moderate.

The Bridge of Sighs (Ponte dei Sospiri), which connects the Doge's Palace
with the prisons. This bridge offered prisoners a final opportunity
to look at the city before being imprisoned or killed for their crimes,
hence its suggestive name.

Now, I would love to spend a moment on two of my many trips to Venice: my visit at the Biennale, and my participation to the Festa del Redentore (literally, Celebration of the Redeemer).

The Festa del Redentore is a traditional holiday in Venice, and it’s celebrated on the third Sunday of July in the whole city, but especially in the Giudecca island. It is connected to the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer (Chiesa del Santissimo Redentore) which was commissioned by the Venetian Senate back in 1576. It was designed by the great architect Palladio and built as a votive church to thank God for saving the city from a major outbreak of the plague. Every year after that the doge and senators constructed a floating bridge and walked across it in procession from the city to Giudecca to attend Mass in that church, so to keep celebrating the grace received.

Nowadays, five centuries later, the tradition is still very much alive. Apart from the religious elements, the holiday is characterised by a huge firework display on Saturday night and by various regattas performed on traditional Venetian boats.

I’ve been lucky enough to participate to the Festa del Redentore as the host of a Venetian friend of mine, so I’ve also had a peek on the less touristic side of this holiday. The time spent preparing all the food and the table (where we would eat together with family and friends), the decorations, the lights, the fireworks, the atmosphere… It really felt magical.

The floating bridge, right in front of the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer.

Fireworks from Giudecca.

Finally, I wanted to talk about the Venice Biennale. Established in 1895, it has been for over 120 years one of the most prestigious cultural institutions in the world. I visited the International Art Exhibition in 2017, one of my favourite school trips ever, but there are actually other kinds of exhibitions and festival,s all connected to the same organisation, that concern music, cinema, theatre, architecture and dance.

If you want to read more about this, click here to visit the Biennale’s website.