The Italian Blog (or, what I did on my holidays...)

You may have noticed I've been a little bit quiet. This is because I've spent the past week in Venice! I did go with my usual intention of keeping up with emails, social media and the rest. I even packed my work-in-progress - but was hampered by packing four chargers and not a single adapter. #EpicFail. And you know how I love my Kindle! As it turned out, we were too busy sight-seeing to miss our phones and Kindles.

Basilica di San Marco

We got lost three times on the first day, and twice on the second day - and then we lost our map. But we soon realised this was the best way to 'discover' the real Venice, and we stumbled upon several fabulous churches (containing the most incredible art), along with museums, exhibitions and palaces. So we spent the rest of the holiday happily getting lost!

Lots of shopping!

We had a lovely hotel just two minutes walk from St Mark's Square. It meant we could get up early and explore the city before it grew too busy.

The Grand Canal

 I didn't fancy a ride in a gondola but a water taxi was provided as part of our transfer to and from the hotel, and that was fun - although every time we went under one of those little Venetian bridges I was reminded of the video for Madonna's Like a Virgin and instinctively ducked. 

The tickets to get into these places
were works of art in themselves!

The Basilica di San Marco

My favourite place was the Basilica di San Marco, because of the fabulous gold mosaic ceilings. The original basilica was built to house the relics (bones!) of St Mark the Evangelist - stolen from Alexandria by Venetian merchants with the help of two Greek monks (there's definitely a story there!). The mosaic over the entrance shows St Mark being welcomed to the city. The present building dates from about 1093 but has been greatly embellished and those gold mosaic ceilings cover an area of more than 43,000 feet.

Front Entrance

The Basilica is free to enter (hence the huge queues; once inside, you shuffle around in one long crocodile) but you can access various extras such as the museum, the treasury and the Pala d'Oro for a few Euros.  Entry to the museum also gains you entry to the gallery, where you can see the ceiling at close range, the famous bronze horses (the ones outside are replicas), as well as the outside balcony with views of St Mark's Square.

Palazzo Ducale

The Palace was the residence of the Doge - a kind of chief magistrate. The Doge's Palace was in the most part constructed in the 14th and 15th centuries, and some of the greatest painters of the 16th century were responsible for the beautiful ceilings that show scenes from Venetian history.

The Doge's Palace is on the left
(photo taken from the Basilica balcony)

The Doge's crowning took place at the Scala dei Giganti (The Giant's Stairway), so called because of the huge statues of Mars and Neptune at the top - symbolising the power of Venice over land and sea.

Scala dei Giganti
(The Giant's Stairway)

Fabulous ceilings -
you'll spend a lot of time looking up!

The Bridge of Sighs

The Bridge of Sighs was built in 1600 to connect the prison with the interrogation rooms in the Doge's Palace with two parallel corridors. While beautiful on the outside, it is fairly grim on the inside! The most famous resident of the prison was Giacomo Casanova, who managed to escape through the roof, re-enter the Palace and then walk out through the porta della carta (the entrance to the court). The bridge was given its name due to the story that prisoners would sigh as they crossed from the palace to the prison and caught sight of the outside world through the windows.

The Bridge of Sighs

Not so pretty on the inside!

The Campanile di San Marco

If you get the chance, you must view Venice from the top of this famous bell tower. Although originally built in the 10th century, it suddenly collapsed in on itself in 1902. It has since been rebuilt using as much of the original stone as possible. The queue is relatively short compared with other sites, there is a lift to the top and you can see the whole of Venice stretched out beneath you.

The Campanile di San Marco
(The Bell Tower of St Mark)

The bells, the bells!

View from the top

Teatro La Fenice di Venice

We stumbled upon this theatre by accident. We couldn't arrange to see a performance, as there weren't any during our visit, but for a few euros you can pay to tour the interior, which is pretty spectacular - as you can see from the photo below. The original building (which burned to the ground in 1996) was founded in 1792 and staged a number of world premieres, including operas by Rossini and Bellini. Maria Callas debuted here in 1947 and there are several souvenirs from her performances on display.

Teatro La Fenice di Venice
(The Phoenix Theatre of Venice)
(interior)

Ca' d'Oro

This is one of the palaces on the Grand Canal. The name means 'golden house', because it was once decorated with gold leaf. It's currently home to Baron Franchelli's art collection. There were lots of famous paintings (van Dyck, Bellini, Titian, etc) but they all went over my head a bit. Because I love old buildings, it was the palace itself which fascinated me!

Ca' d'Oro
(Photo taken from the Grand Canal)

The interior courtyard

Amazing tiled floors

Santa Maria della Salute

This minor basilica is on the other side of the Grand Canal, almost opposite St Mark's Square. It was built in 1630 to give thanks for deliverance from an outbreak of the Black Death in 1603. Most of the objects of art within the church reference the plague. It's an iconic part of the Venetian skyline and has been painted by many artists, including Turner and Canaletto.

Santa Maria della Salute

Iconic view!
Santa Maria della Salute

Websites:

Basilica di San Marco 

Palazzo Ducale

Teatro La Fenice di Venezia
Ca' d'Oro

Related Posts:

A Writer's Holiday - in which I visit Tuscany, Florence and Luca
When in Paris ... 


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