Venice in a day
Venice in a day.
It’s difficult to plan a single day and night in Venice, but with 28 hours and a carefully selected itinerary we experienced the wonder of this most magical of cities. Our plane arrived quite early in the day so with map and google in hand we set off with determination to discover Venice.
The concierge at the Hotel Gardena provided excellent logistical advice about the most efficient way to visit the places on our itinerary and with mild weather and diminishing crowds, we had a fantastic day.
Walking the streets, lanes, canals and bridges is the most interesting way to navigate the city as there is always a wonderful view or unexpected delight over the next bridge or around a corner. We lost our way often, but it didn’t really matter that it took longer than expected to reach destinations as getting there was a joy in itself.
First on our list, the Peggy Gugenheim Museum which houses her extraordinary collection of important modern art, in a palazzo on the Grand Canal, which was her home. A young intern gave an impromptu and fascinating talk about a “sculptural” piece by the American artist Donald Judd, who I did not know and after a long wander through the collection and sculpture garden we decided on lunch in the museum outdoor café . A sandwich and glass of wine restored our jet lagged bodies and we marched on to the Galleria Acadamia, a collection from the early renaissance to the late eighteenth century, of predominantly artists from Venice and the Veneto. The palazzo in which the gallery is located is lovely itself and we lost ourselves in 17C Venice for a delightful couple of hours.
View of Grand Canal from the Peggy Guggenheim museum
La Fenice, Venice’s famous Opera House was next on our itinerary and was such a treat. The theatre was inaugurated in 1792 when the notables of Venice decided that the city must have a theatre and proposed an architectural competition in which the winning design was adopted.
Giannantonio Selve ‘s contribution won and the building duly constructed, but only the façade survived a fire in 1836. The theatre was reconstructed in a year, but in 1996 it was once again almost destroyed in an arson attack but again faithfully constructed. La fenice ( the phoenix) like its namesake has emerged from the fire twice.
La Fenice
By late afternoon and tiring, we caught a public water transport up the canal to a station near the hotel, and experienced the city’s wonder from the water. These ferries provide public transportation in Venice , public good and good governance a hallmark of this once independent republican city state.
After a short break we convened at a small bar in a piazza near our hotel where we sipped Lugana wine and watched the sunset. Dinner at an excellent restaurant , Zanze XV1 ended our day perfectly.
We rose very early and set off to St Mark’s square to witness the sunrise over the lagoon and to walk the almost empty streets in the growing light was a delight.
The Piazza when almost empty seems even more magnificent, the church and adjacent Palazzo Ducale, testament to the greatness of the city economically and culturally since the 13 th century when they were constructed on the lagoon.
Sunrise over the lagoon
We also walked on the the Chiesa della Pieta, Vivaldi’s church, where he directed and composed for the famous orchestra of orphan girls, who lived in the adjacent Ospedale della Pieta’. The Vivaldi Baroque orchestra regularly performs in the church , but sadly, not on the one night of our visit.
We had time to visit both the Ducal Palace and return to Vivaldi’s church prior to our departure for Trieste, the former opulent and magnificent and the latter a simpler but moving experience. An oval fresco painted on the ceiling of the church by Tiepolo, is said to show a likeness of Vivaldi’s face on one of the figures .
The tour of the Palace took us on a walk through the history of the city where the leader , the Doge was elected by eligible electors, and was supported by elected officials. The Venetian republic withstood attacks and maintained its independence as a republic until Napoleon’s invasion. The magnificent rooms, lavishly decorated display the work of Titian, Tiepolo, Paolo Veronese and Tintoretto, the most famous artists from the city and the Veneto region.
Our time in Venice almost at an end we returned to the hotel via ferry and headed to the station feeling that we had experienced a wonderful taste of its beauty. My happiness was dealt a rude blow when I realised that I did not have my handbag with me containing passport, phone, money and cards. I had little time before our train and literally ran to retrace my steps back to the hotel where it was discovered in the luggage room. Disaster averted!
A Very full day. I hope you are both well and recovered from the long flight Venice will always be a favourite of mine I have only been there twice but so much to see. I’d love to spend a month off season
ReplyDeleteStill suffering with jet lag but pushing through so as to experience it all. I wish I had far longer in Venice but we did what we could and loved it. X
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