With the intention of 'doing' all of the attractions at the famous Piazza San Marco we set off early to avoid the tour groups.
The Piazza is about 10 minutes walk from our apartment across tiny bridges and through alleyways and lanes. We decided we would do the Palazzo Ducale (Doges Palace) first as there was no queue and only a few tour groups gathering for the onslaught.
The huge building around a central quadrangle was the seat of venetian government for almost seven centuries and consisted of a complicated system of senates, courts and tribunals which managed every aspect of life from foreign affairs to local issues. The membership was based on the principle that wealth equals power. If you were male and wealthy you had a place in these tribunals, the largest of which was 1200-2000 males from the weathiest families. Given the difficulty we have getting a committee to make a decision it must have been hell! Although the final word was given by the Doge himself : sort of a combination of demi-God, King and Prime Minister.
The rooms in this Palazzo were to house all of these groups and to accommodate criminals before sentencing - the dungeons were cold and dark in contrast to the rest of the buildings. We walked across the Bridge of Sighs which is an enclosed bridge that lead from the courtrooms to the jail: so-called becasue the prisoners sighed when they realised they wouldn't see daylight again.
The courtroms were very dark, with lots of dark wood and huge paintings depicting the glorious victories of Venice of the time. It included quite a few of the Doge with the Madonna and Child, just to reinforce his god-like position. And some of the religious paintings about the crucifixion had venetian buildings in the background, just to go the whole hog!
Ewan and I have perfected the art of hovering near tour groups where the guide is speaking english. You look very intensely at a particular artwork which the guide is not discussing, listening carefully to the tour guide and then we'd exchange information if they said anything interesting. We have had variable success with audio guides so sometimes we make do with the english written information provided, unless there is none, which was what happened at the Galleria Accademia.later in the day.
We enjoyed these very impressive rooms, some of which displayed the coins, armour and weapons used over many centuries. Ewan was most impressed with a 15th C.machine that fired 10 arrows like a machine gun : very advanced engineering for the time! It was a fascinating series of buildings and seemed to be a remakably successful government although very complicated.
After strolling around there for a couple of hours we needed a coffee. The Piazza is surrounded by ancient stone buildings with huge arches housing very old cafes that have seating inside where the chandeliers and velvet curtains are, and outside on the Square under umbrellas. The larger ones have musicians playing from small stages to entice the customers. We stood up to have a quick coffee and some delicious almond tart ( a local delicay so we had to sample it!). In Italy if you sit down it costs more.
Next we combined a few visits into one. The Museo Correr and the Archaeological Museum are in the same building, and the Caro exhibition - the British contribution to the Venice Biennale - was intermingled in the same space too. A little confusing but quite a range of work ranging from ancient statues to venetian pottery to modern art all mixed together. Another few hours sliped by so lunch was definitely needed. We found a seat in the Correr Museum cafeteria overlooking the Piazza and spent lunch time resting our feet and enjoying the view of the activity below.
After admiring the huge Tower in the middle of the Square we decided we should climb it, although I wasn't sure my aching feet would make it. Imagine my surprise when I realised it had a lift! How disappointing (not!). We queued for a few minutes and then sped to to the top to enjoy the panoramic views. The photo that has the cranes in it shows the direction of our apartment and the work being done on the Ospedale. With the rooftops, lanes, canals and the sea it was a very spectacular view.
Intent on making sure we made best use of our prepaid tickets we headed for the Grassi Gallery which is the sister one to the modern art gallery we had visited the day before. This was certainly a surprise and not a nice one !. If you want to upset Ewan just ask him what he thought of this gallery. He looked through the first floor and refused to go to the second as it looked as if it was more of the same, and it was.
I have to agree that this was appalling: so avant garde that it left us both for dead. Basically a superb large stone building that had been an old Palazzo had been recarpetted, and all of the walls covered, in a vey lurid red black and white carpet based on a blown up version of a turkish carpet: you'll have to see the photos below to get the idea. The artworks were one to each very large room and totally lost in the vibrance of the carpet and walls. On the first floor the artworks were very plain canvases and large, but on the second floor they were tiny and only one in every enormous room. See if you can spot the artwork in one of the photos below! It had cost about $15 to go in and we found it hard to see the value, but as I said about the other gallery : each to their own. I guess it provoked a reaction in us and maybe that was the point??!!
Although almost reaching art overload we headed for the Galleria Academia with its extensive collections from many eras. In retrospect it may have been wise to forgo yet another gallery as we started to lose it. You know it's going badly when Ewan came out of a room and said to me "Good news: not a single Madonna and Child painting in that room!" Usually they are my favourite religious paintings and although some of these were superb, paticularly one by Bellini, I had clearly reached my limit.
Finally I looked at a painting showing the Madonna presenting the baby Jesus (with lots of gold rays springing out of his head) to a man who had a questioning look on his face. I said to Ewan " That guy is asking her what in the hell she's done to his hair!" Then I started to giggle uncontrollably. At this point Ewan suggested gelati and a rest for our weary legs - I think he was concerned I'd completely lose it if I saw another religious painting. So we didn't really do justice to the artwork there , but best to leave something for next time anyway.
The joy of technology is that when you really want to find good gelati you can, even in Venice. Gloria guided us to the nearest Grom gelateria: there are Grom shops all over Italy, and very beautiful gelato they make too. After a bacio and nocciello gelati I had regained my calm. Ewan did comment that the US military probably didn't envisage their GPS system being used to locate gelaterias when they invented it!
We thought we'd head for home and decided to walk because I had forgotten my vaporetto ticket. With a combination of Ewan's advanced navigation skills, a very detailed map and eventually the help of Gloria we finally returned home to collapse and read our venetian murder mysteries. More importantly our aching feet definitely needed a well-earned rest.
Pasta at the local trattoria followed by an earl grey tea and almond pastries finished off a big day!!
Tomorrow we have no intention of going to a single art gallery.
Your very cultured but slightly hysterical artlover,
Dianne
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