Venezia

View from the Rialto, my first day in Venice in April.

Dan and I always take our picture together by the Tetrarchs when we're in Venice together....although I was by myself, I thought I'd keep up the tradition. (None of these pictures are very good--I only had my phone camera with me. But many more before me have given Venice her due in photographs, so I show here only a minimum of my trip.)
Even more than the few months I spent in Venice, living on the Giudecca, I tried to live like a local, shopping at the Rialto (above; I forgot to take a picture of the fruit stands and my fish and cheese stand pictures are even worse), commuting via traghetto, or a gondola shuttle across Canal Grande (below; one stands during the ride), patronizing gelaterie and pasticcerie, and visiting friends.

I just can't get enough of Venetian Renaissance facades of colored marble, as in S Maria dei Miracoli (below) and the Scuola San Marco, still a working hospital.
Venetian Gothic, too, is lovely, as in Tintoretto's parish church, S Maria dell'Orto (below) and Ss. Zanipolo, just to the right above (where the Bellini family was buried).
He's buried in the church; here's his memorial. I saw plenty of wonderful Tintoretto paintings and Bellini paintings and scuplture and prints and drawings and altarpieces; that's why I was there, and why I love my job.
I also visited San Michele, the island cemetery. I'd wanted to go for a decade, but never had the chance. It is really beautiful, an extended garden, with graves of veneziani and a few famous people. I said hello to Stravinsky and Diaghilev.



A few more pictures, from Ca d'Oro, with its funny collection but the last Mantegna; the university, where I spoke for a conference (the Renaissance Society of America), my primary reason for the journey; my apartment was just behind Goldoni's house; this apt gave me access to a Grand Canal door and view; watching the boats from my slippery little platform eating a gelato was a pretty amazing experience.









And finally, a hint for you, dear reader, on what else preoccupied yours truly in Venice. (And no, it is not that Italians spend a fortune on their kids' clothes, although that is true.)


(For another hint, see my trench in the photo above, and for the last hint, see my posts for the last time I was in Venice, Sept. 2007.) Any guesses?