Venice 2016: Lido, Castello, Architectural Biennale, Naval Museum

On the morning that our 7-day Vaporetto boat pass was set to expire at 11am, our plan was to take it for one last ride to Castello, the last district that we had not explored yet.  From there, we could leisurely walk through the district and then back home to Cannaregio.  While we were on the boat, I realized that if we took it a mere two more stops to the end of the line, we would be able to take a quick look at the beach island Lido and still have time to jump back on and return to Castello before the pass expired.  Rich's knee was hurting (as it had been throughout our trip) so he decided to wait at the boat station while I made my brief explorations.  Knowing only that Lido was a "beach" island, I was perplexed when I could not spot the beach.  I walked for a few minutes east and west along the boardwalk but all I could see was a resort area with hotels, restaurants and a paved path on which people were riding bicycles.  I did not realize that I had to walk south across the island to get to the other side in order to find the beach.  As it turned out, it would have taken too long anyways and I would not have returned to the Vaporetto in time.  If we ever return to Venice, I would love to spend an afternoon riding bicycles on Lido.

It was not a wasted trip though since I did get to see the resort atmosphere of Lido, which includes tennis courts and a golf course.  While the vaporetto boat was crowded on the way to Lido, when we hopped back on to return to Castello, we more or less had the boat to ourselves since who else would arrive at Lido at 10:30am and leave at 10:45am?  So we had a nice final "boat cruise" and got some great views of both Lido and Venice island.  I found a new way to take a "selfie" by taking a photo of my reflection in the Vaporetto mirror.  Because it was not crowded, we also had the opportunity to watch the boat operator as she deftly maneuvered the Vaporetto across the waters and smoothly into the next dock.

Castello is the largest of the six districts and is home to the Venetian Arsenal,  a collection of shipyards and armouries built in the 12th Century where parts for merchant trading vessels and naval ships were built and assembled.  The ornate main gate, the Porta Magna, was built around 1460 and is guarded by two stone lions brought in (or maybe stolen like the treasures in San Marco?) from Greece. The Arsenal was responsible for much of the Venetian Republic's economic wealth and naval dominance until Napoleon's conquest of the area in 1797 destroyed large portions of it.

The Arsenal was rebuilt and is used today as a naval base, research centre and exhibition venue for the Venice Biennales.  Every odd-numbered year, Venice hosts an Art Biennale where artists representing countries from around the world are invited to exhibit their works of visual contemporary art.  We would have loved to have visited Venice during the Art Biennale, but unfortunately we came on an even-numbered year when the Architecture Biennale is held.  The theme for this year's 15th bi-annual International Architecture Exhibition addressed how architectural design could and has been used to improve living conditions and quality of life.

The Biennales are ticketed events where you can buy entry to a single pavilion or a day (or multi-day) pass to enter multiple pavilions.  We had not bought tickets to any events, but when we got off at the Bacini (Arsenale North) Vaporetto stop, we found that several free exhibits were on display for Architectural Biennale so we decided to take a peek.  We started out in a sculpture garden with a series of large-scaled sculptures. I wasn't able to discern whether they were meant to convey a specific theme or how they reflected the overall theme of the exhibition, so I enjoyed them for their artistic merit instead.

GangCity is a multi-media visual display that explores the environmental, social, economical and geographical influences that lead to the formation of gangs and the impacts of gangs on cities and neighbourhoods.  A photography essay comments on how poverty, social inequalities and civil conflict lead to conditions that allow criminal elements to prosper, transforming areas into commercial hubs for drugs, trafficking and other illegal activities.  Particularly disturbing are the images of the person weeping over a casket, the innocent young girl clutching her doll while sitting next to a gun, and the young boys rapturously holding rifles raised above their heads.

Various objects on display illustrated gang symbols, iconography and customs.  Despite gangs being associated with criminal activities, religious symbols seem to play a major importance in their lives, as shown by the mattress shaped like a cross, and common tattoos featuring the rosary and the Madonna. The "heart" shape is also very common in tattoos including the heart stabbed with a blade, or engraved with a name such as "Mom".  Other objects on display included lamps shaped like golden guns at their base, necklaces, earrings and prayer books.

Another section of the exhibition dealt with improving living conditions in prisons after Italy's 2013 human rights conviction in the European courts for degraded prison environments.  Since then, various projects have been developed in conjunction with architects and university departments aimed at improving conditions and integrating ideas of the designers with those of the detainees.  The Milan Opera Prison is working on a better "Talk Area" where prisoners can meet with their families in an environment that provides more privacy, lighting, and open spaces.  Even more specifically another meeting area will be designed for visiting children and will include gaming areas and outdoor spaces.

My favourite part of the GangCity exhibition was the series of sculptures of gang members, conversing while seated, pointing a gun, or just standing menacingly.  What was great about these sculptures was that they were all formed by fitting together cardboard inserts like the ones used to separate wine bottles within boxes, yet they were so expertly done that you can immediately identify the resultant figures, and even read emotion or meaning into their gestures or poses.

The next free exhibition was called Sarajevo Now and was created in an attempt to draw international attention to the cultural vacuum that exists in the capital city of Bosnia since the end of the Bosnian War in 1995.  The description of the project reads " “Ravaged by war and siege, Sarajevo is today held hostage in a situation of political paralysis, with no end in sight.”  Initially being the only ones in the exhibit, the curator followed us around and spoke passionately for over 20 minute about his cause to restore and revitalize the Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina.  Also known as the Museum of the Revolution, or the People's Museum, it played an impactful role during the war.  He showed us a model of the museum under siege and the skyscrapers facing it where snipers shot down on the square below.  Red strings are used to illustrate the path of the bullets.  Throughout the war, despite taking major hits and suffering structural damage, the staff defiantly and valiantly kept the museum open.  Their bravery became a symbol of strength, resilience and active defiance.  Photographs show the museum walls and stained glass art riddled with holes from bullets and grenade blasts. 

Now 20 years after the war, the museum is in very poor physical condition with no heating and leaking roofs.  This is due to neglect and lack of political will regarding allocating funds to its maintenance and upkeep.  This is such a shame since in addition to its historical significance, the Historical Museum is also a fine example of modernist architecture.  Using photos, postcards and physical artifacts, the Sarajevo Now exhibit shows what the museum looks like and some items from its collection.  One showcase contains examples of items used or created out of necessity during the 1425 day Siege of Sarajevo.  These include a USA Vegetable Oil tin container turned into a watering can, books with holes in them damaged by grenade shrpnel, cigarettes hidden in school text books (used as currency during the siege), and an improvised lamp made from a hospital drip and stones.  A donated can of corned beef became a symbol of the insufficiency of humanitarian aid, since the international community would donate food but would not step in to join the war or help stop the suffering.

A series of photos called "Sarajevo Then And Now", taken by Jim Marshall in  1996, 2011 and 2016, compare the state of streets and buildings immediately after the war and in current day after restorations have been completed.  I was saddened by the level of destruction incurred during the war, but happy to see the contrast two decades later.

More photos by Charlie Koolhaas, titled "Views of Sarajevo" taken in 2015, provide further examples of how beautiful the city is today with its varied architectural styles.  Looking at these photos, it was impossible to tell that a war ever happened here.  I felt a sense of pride for the citizens of Sarajevo for the wonderful job that they did restoring their city.

It is too bad that the same consideration has not been awarded to the Historical Museum. In spite of the lack of government funding, supporters of the museum are proposing a low-cost temporary solution to try to slow down the degradation.  Suspended on scaffolding, a giant transparent vinyl tarp could be used to cover the museum, protecting it from further water damage and providing a small amount of heat.  Putting a positive spin on the situation, the informational write-up about this project boasts that the "vinyl skin leaves the decay and patina of the original building intact while juxtapositioning the old and the new."  But more importantly, this do-it-yourself act of bypassing the government would be another example of civil defiance and a way for the people to take back their city.  The final statement of the write-up states that "The museum .. belongs to everyone...Budgets and benefactors no longer rule."  I hope that being in the Venice Architecture Biennale will generate the awareness and support needed to move this worthy endeavour forward.

The Sarajevo Now Project is presented by Urban-Think Tank, an interdisciplinary design collective dedicated to research, practice, teaching and artistic production with a focus on the "informal city where poor residents settle land rapidly outside of state control."  Over the past two decades, they have done work in Caracas Venezuela, Capetown South Africa and more.  In the same space as Sarajevo Now, U-TT exhibited examples of its global projects including one called "Empower Shack" aimed at upgrading 68 houses in Capetown to provide better spatial, ecological and social environments.  Red banners hanging from the ceiling ask probing architectural questions such as "Should Architects Prioritize Aesthetics or Ethics?", "Can Cultural Education Transform a Neighbourhood" and "Who Has the Right to Build a City?".

We were ready to leave the Arsenale North area and walk back west through the Castello district in order to visit the Naval Museum.  First we stopped to take a look at a docked submarine across the canal.  Using Google Maps, we headed towards the bridge that would take us to the other side of the canal but were dismayed to discover that the bridge was blocked off for construction!  Google Maps did not show another bridge off this mini "island" of Arsenale North and our Vaporetto boat pass had expired.  It seemed a bit steep to pay another 7.5 Euros each just to cross the canal but it did not seem like we had much choice.  We even considered flagging down a small boat that was rowing across the water to see if they would consider giving us a lift.  We were trapped!!  We found out later on when we looked at Google Earth that there actually was a bridge at the southern-most point of this stretch of land but it was not evident on Google Maps. 

Instead we decided to walk back to the Vaporetto stop to take the boat from there and thought maybe we could sneak on for the one stop without being checked for a ticket.  Luckily en route to the Vaporetto, we passed the curator from the Sarajevo Now exhibit who was out on the wharf taking a break.  We complained to him that we could not get off the island whereby he pointed to a sign 20 feet away from where we were standing.  It turns out that during the Biennale, there is a free shuttle that ferries people between Arsenale North to the main Biennale exhibition site.  So rather than schlepping back on the Vaporetto and possibly requiring to pay 15 Euros, we had a private boat ride across the canal.

At the main Biennale site, we checked out one more free exhibit which presented a proposal for a drone airport, or "Droneport".  The envisioned design involved a system of earth-based "vaults" made of pre-fabricated form-work that would allow local communities to create their own ports.  The goal for these droneports is to provide a method for cheap delivery of goods and medical supplies to remote areas of poor countries that lacked roads.  A prototype vault has been erected for the Biennale, but this was part of the ticketed events so we could not get in to get a closer look at it.

After this unexpected half-day detour, we stopped for some lunch before continuing towards the Naval Museum.  At the Hopera Coffee & Bakery, we indulged in our final cicheti meal of the trip, ordering caprese salad (even though it was not local to Venice), calamari rings, and another deep-fried breaded "croque monsieur" since Rich liked it so much the previous time that he tried it.  Along the way, we passed more canals and pretty bridges and I was amused to see a clothesline with laundry hanging across the canal.  Hopefully the owner didn't care too much about his clothes since they would be difficult to retrieve if they ever fell down.  Then as we walked along the Riva S. Biasio we finally came across something that I had been wondering and complaining about since we arrived in Venice.  Given that Venice is actually a series of many small land masses spanned by bridges, it has always irked me that the bridges were designed with steps as opposed to ramps.  I have watched many an unfortunate tourist try to drag his luggage up the steps as well as some elderly local women hauling their shopping carts.  Why would they not have ramps instead so that the wheeled carts and bags could be more easily pulled over the bridges?  Well finally in Castello, we found ramps!  Climbing the steps on so many bridges has been very painful on Rich's bad knee and he has needed to ice it regularly.  Since we could not easily bring an ice pack in our carry-on luggage, we usually buy a bag of frozen peas from the grocery store which can be used as a handy make-shift ice pack.

Finally we arrived at the Venice Naval Museum (Museo Storico Navale) which hosts a collection of vessels, weapons and other artifacts related to the naval and maritime history of Venice.  Unfortunately the main museum which boasts 5 storeys, 4000 square feet and 42 rooms is closed for renovations for the unforeseeable future. Luckily, the Pavilion of Ships, a smaller space used for the conservation of the larger boats, was still open so we still were able to see part of the collection, abet in a much smaller quantity.  The highlight of the vessels on display was the early 19th Century Royal Barge, used by King Vittorio Emanuele II in 1866 during a ceremony to mark the occasion of Venice joining the Kingdom of Italy.  In 1959, it was used as a funeral boat to carry the body of Pope Pius X to Rome for burial.

We saw another grand funeral barge built in 1870 in the Arsenal and was used until 1940 to ferry former Arsenal workers from the navy's chapel San Biagio to the cemetery island St. Michele.  The huge barge was pulled by only four oarsmen, which must have been quite the tiring feat, especially since they also acted as the gravediggers.  The rowers were usually dressed in colours matching the barge, which is black with yellow/gold ornamentation from stern to bow, representing a flaming torch of faith, a winged sphere representing the soul rising to Heaven and an angel blowing the horn of resurrection.

A few other vessels that I found interesting included a ship with a large torpedo sitting on top of it, and a couple of sail boats that had pretty designs painted on them.  Unfortunately it was really difficult to get information about the individual boats since the English writeups were on plastic plaque cards that I found difficult to correspond to the vessels that they were referring to.  It was really too bad that the main museum was closed since there would have been much more to see, and perhaps it would have been better curated there.

This turned out to be a long, hot, tiring day as it was quite the hike to get back to our home in Cannaregio after walking all around Castello.  We had two more days in Venice before heading off to Iceland. But by then, we had visited all the districts at least once, our boat pass had expired so we would have to spend 30 Euro each to buy 2-day passes, and the forecast called for rain both days.  Given all that and the fact that we were tired and Rich's knee still hurt, we decided to just relax in our beautiful home swap for two days and rest up for the next leg of our trip.

We had a wonderful time in Venice and highly recommend to anyone who wants to visit that you should definitely check out the districts outside of the main touristy areas of San Marco and San Polo.  I would love to come back to Venice again some time in the future, especially if I could attend the Art Biennale.  If we did return, I would spend more time in San Michele, ride bikes in the Lido, go to the Naval Museum if it reopens, visit Torcello and see the Opera House in San Marco.  But even if we don't get the opportunity to return, I would say that we have toured Venice quite thoroughly already.

Venice 2016: Day Trip - Dolomites Tour

As a change of pace from touring the districts of Venice, Rich and I wanted to take a day trip to the mainland to visit the Dolomites, a mountain range several hours north-west of Venice that form part of the Eastern Alps.  Using the same strategy that worked so well for our After Hours Doge's Palace and San Marco Basilica tour, Rich found another "small group" tour led by a driver/guide in a minivan that seated a maximum of 6-8 people.  This 8.5 hour Dolomites day trip was offered by Viator.com and cost around $220 Canadian per person.  Compared to a later bus tour that we took in Iceland that seated over 30 people,  this tour was so much more convenient, efficient and enjoyable.  The larger the group, the longer you have to wait at each bathroom or coffee break stop.

The pickup point for the tour was at the Tronchetto Car Park at the west end of Cannaregio, where the road bridge connecting the island to the mainland could be accessed.  We were among the first people to arrive for the tour, along with another family of three.  Once another couple showed up, our guide Carlo decided that he had his quota and ushered the seven of us towards his minivan that was parked in the car park.  The family of three climbed into the back of the van and since the other couple were both taller than us, they climbed into the middle leaving Rich and I to squish into the front with Carlo. It was a bit tight for me but it allowed us to be able to take photos through the front windshield.  Having spent the last week idyllically on the car-less island of Venice with its canals and palazzos, it was a bit of a shock to see highways, traffic, power grids, industrial factories and high-rises.

But once we drove beyond the boundaries of mainland Venice and into the countryside, we started to see greenery and get our first glimpses of the mountain ranges.  It was interesting to see the numerous road signs warning of snow and slippery conditions when we were less than an hour away from Venice, which rarely gets any snow.  We ended up driving over 3 hours north, high up into the Dolomites, making many stops along the way to tour points of historic and geographic interest.  Carlo's heavily accented English made his running commentary a bit difficult to understand, but he was very knowledgeable and brought us to all the best vantage points for photo opportunities.  He also insisted on taking multiple photos for us at each stop, so I now have more photos with Rich and I in them together than on any other vacation.

Our first stop was near the town of Longarone where we looked upon the Piave Valley, dubbed the "Valley of Death" when the nearby Vajont Dam was bridged in October 1963.  This resulted in a massive flood that killed around 2000 people, destroying Longarone and other nearby villages.  I researched this tragedy on Wikipedia after our vacation and found out more details. The "megatsunami" was caused by a massive landslide from the mountain Mont Toc, which resulted in 260,000,000 cubic metres of rock and forest being hurled into the reservoir, displacing 50,000,000 cubic metres of water and generating a 250 metre (820 foot) wave.  Shamefully, there were apparently many warning signs of the impending disaster including minor landslides in previous years but these were all ignored by the government and the Dam owners.  Even worse, the government refused to accept any responsibility after the fact, deeming it an act of God, and so the victims' families received very little compensation.

After that sobering tale, we moved on to Pieve di Cadore, the birthplace of Tiziano Vecelli, better known as Titian.  There are so many Italian artists whose last names start with "Ti" (Tiepolo, Tintoretto) that for the longest time, I did not realize that Titian and Tiziano were the same person.  Before actually entering the comune, Carlo stopped to give us a nice view of it from afar.  Once in the comune, we saw the statue of Titian in the centre of town, as well as his childhood home.  From the edge of the comune, we were able to get a stunning view of the countryside with the mountains in the background.

We were given the opportunity to have a coffee break in Pieve di Cadore and chose to do so in the historic coffee shop "Gran Caffé Tiziano", located in the basement of a heritage building.  As we continued our drive, we made a couple more stops in Commune di Valle de Cadore and San Vito di Cadore to take photos of pretty churches set against the Dolomite Mountains as a backdrop.

Next we headed towards the town of Cortina d'Ampezzo, a popular winter sport resort which hosted the 1956 Winter Olympics.  Prior to entering the town itself, we stopped by the location of the Ski Jump Competition.  Later in Cortina, we saw black and white photos from those Olympics including one of the same ski jump site that we had just visited.  At the 1956 Ski Jump event, Swiss competitor Andreas Däscher introduced the new technique of jumping with his arms held at his side as opposed to raised over his head.  This technique proved so successful that it became the new standard for the sport.

Before entering Cortina, Carlo gave us another opportunity to get a panoramic view of the town.  As usual, he ran around grabbing each family's camera to take photos of them against the gorgeous setting.  Cortina D'Ampezzo was the primary location of the classic 1963 Peter Sellers/David Niven film "The Pink Panther".  By coincidence, Rich happened to watch this old movie on the flight home from Venice and recognized the ski town as the one we visited on the tour.

The promotional writeup for our Dolomites tour advocated that this "Small-group tour with a maximum of 8 ensures a more personalized experience".  This was no exaggeration as we discovered half-way through our tour, when our guide Carlo gave us a choice for lunch and for the rest of the day.  He said that the official agenda of the tour included stopping for a leisurely lunch at a restaurant in Cortina.  However if we preferred, we could pick up a "picnic lunch" and he would take us to a great location to eat it where we could enjoy more scenery.  Our group unanimously agreed to this new plan. 

Carlo brought us to the Latteria Gastronomia in Cortina where we bought a bag of buns, selected cheese and meats and each of us was made a custom sandwich.  Rich picked Speck, an Italian delicacy of flavoured, smoked, cured ham while I selected Mortadella, which is a large Italian pork cold cut that is flavoured with spices, pepper, berries and pistachio.  We both chose "strong" as opposed to "mild" cheese but were not expecting the thick wedges of cheese that were put into our buns.  It was fun to look around the store to see what other regional fare was available.

If I had a cooler, I would have loved to have brought home some of the spinach spätzle, or the various stuffed ravioli that were local only to this area and not available in Venice.  I settled for buying a bag of cookies made of meringue stuffed with a creamy lemon filling, which I shared with everyone else at our lunch spot.

Carlo brought us to the beautiful Lago Ghedina, about 40 minutes from Cortina, at an altitude of 1457 meters.  With its emerald-green water and the view of the mountains in the background, it was amazing how much this scene resembled Lake Louis in Alberta.  The restaurant Ristorante Al Lago Ghedina sits at the back of the lake.  We ate our lunch while admiring this gorgeous setting, but were eaten alive by mosquitoes.  Italian mosquitoes must inject a different strain of venom than what we are used to in North America because our bites swelled up much larger and itched for much longer than usual.

Following lunch, we made one more stop at the Parco Naturale Delle Dolomiti D'Ampezzo to get a last look at the mountains from below, before heading up into the Dolomites themselves.  Taking a toll road and driving progressively higher, we climbed up to a viewing point about 2400 meters in altitude.  We were on our way to see the "Tre Cime di Lavaredo", three peaks of rock standing side by side.  We did not consciously spot these specific three peaks while we were up there, but one of our photos may have captured them.

While looking up at the mountains from the villages below provided some excellent views, it was nothing compared to the spectacular sights we saw once we were in the midst of the mountain peaks.  It felt strange to see all the snow on the slopes and to even be able to stand in a snowbank and make a snow ball, when the temperature was over 24 degrees Celsius and we were walking around in short sleeves.

Carlo pointed to some holes in the rock and told us about them.  During World War I, much of the fighting between Austria and Italy took place in these mountains, specifically the Tre Cime di Lavaredo, Mount Piana and Mount Cristallo  because of their strategic positions.  Italian troops dug caves to provide a safe haven for troops and munitions.  Some of these caves are still accessible to hikers today.

Descending from the mountains, we stopped at Lago Antorno where from farther away, we had a better view of the Three Peaks of Lavaredo.  Next we visited Lago Misurina, the largest natural lake in the Cadore area, for more photo opportunities.  Around 10 hotels line the lake, which was used for speed skating events during the 1956 Cortina Winter Olympics. 

The final stop of our tour was the large dam at Lago di Santa Caterina which was created in the 1930s.  Two large stone lion sculptures surround the pathway along the top of the dam.  The Santa Caterina church can be found across the road.  By now, we had seen so much gorgeous scenery that it felt like an embarrassment of riches.  It had been a long day and most of us fell asleep for a while on the ride back to Venice.

Venice 2016: Santa Croce - Ca'Pesaro

For the first five of our twelve days stay in Venice, Rich and I were accompanied by our friends Yim and Murray.  Since they only had limited time for their visit, we set an aggressive pace to ensure that we covered all the tourist sights and Venetian experiences that were on their agenda.  In those five days, we walked all around our home district of Cannaregio, toured the Islands, took two amazing walking tours in San Polo and San Marco, and saw the highlights in Dorsoduro. We had a wonderful time with them, but by the time they left us to continue their journeys, we were ready to take a much more leisurely pace.  So it was quite the luxury for us to plan just a quick visit to the Santa Croce district for a couple of hours before heading home to put our feet up for the rest of the day.

We would explore Ca'Pesaro, the palazzo that has been turned into Venice's Museum of Modern Art.  The beautiful, Baroque, marble palace was built in the 17th Century for the wealthy Pesaro family (whose tomb we saw on our walking tour of the Santa Maria dei Frari church).  The architect was Baldassarre Longhena, who also designed the Salute church and Ca'Rezzonico, which we saw in Dorsoduro.  The museum houses 19th and 20th century paintings and sculptures, but very few of the original collection of the Pesaro family, since most of this was auctioned off by the time the last Pesaro passed away.  It is interesting to me how these palazzos all seem to have an entrance by land and by water.  We learned on our city walking tour that the nobility usually entered by water so that they did not have to walk on what was then dirt roads.

The works are displayed in 15 rooms with each having a different theme, exploring artists and their changing styles, impacted by social and political trends and influences through the decades of the 19th and 20th Century.  The works in Ca'Pesaro were much more to my taste than the Punta Della Dogana Contemporary Art Museum that we visited in Dorsoduro and we still spent a good chunk of time exploring this modern art museum. 

We first encountered a couple of iconic sculptures by Auguste Rodin, "The Burghers of Calais" and the "Thinker", which we have seen different versions of in Paris, Washington D.C. and Toronto.  Being so familiar with Rodin's work, it was more exciting to discover new Italian sculptors who we had never heard of before.  One of my favourites was Adolfo Wildt, whose expressive marble busts were compelling to look at.  These included representations of real people that he knew including his benefactor Franz Rose and landscape architect Johann Larass, as well as works of Classic Romanticism such as the pair of sculptures titled "Fiery Character/Gentile Character".  It was interesting to look at the bust of Franz Rose from the side, since it appears as if the tips of his massive mustache have broken off.  But since both sides of the mustache have the same appearance, it must have been intentional?

Other sculptors that we encountered in this collection included Giacomo Manzu, who created the large statue of a Cardinal, Arturo Martini whose styles varied as he worked in various mediums including terracotta ("The Prostitute") and bronze ("The Sprinter"), and Leonardi Leoncillo who created brightly painted polychrome earthenware sculptures ("The Venetian Partisan").  The most strikingly positioned work is that by Napoleone Martinuzzi, whose seated bronze boxer with his arms flexed on his thighs, can be spotted from down a long hallway.  It was also fun to be able to walk all the way around this sculpture and look at it from different viewpoints.

There were works by well-known masters whose distinctive styles could be easily identified.  These included Marc Chagall, Gustav Klimt, Joan Miró, and Wassily Kandinsky.  I mistook a Surrealist painting by Yves Tanguy (who made the earrings for Peggy Guggenheim that are on display in her museum) for Salvador Dali, since their dream-like styles seem quite similar to me.

Just like for the sculptures, I admired paintings by Italian artists that I had never heard of before.  I was drawn to the vibrant colours of "A Ghost Crossing Europe" by Armando Pizzinato, which is said to be an "allegory of the alliance between the working class and peasantry", created to commemorate the hundred year anniversary of Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto.  I liked Plinio Nomellini's "Symphony of the Moon" as much for its unusual polyptych framing as I did its dark and moody atmosphere.  I'm not sure who the artist was, but I was amused by what appeared to be a painting of a series of outhouses because of the legs that seem to be sticking out from the one on the right.

Making our way through all the rooms of the modern art museum was thoroughly enjoyable, as there were so many works that we found delightful and intriguing.  But there was more!  As an added bonus, the upper floor of Ca'Pesaro housed a very interesting Oriental Art Museum with over 30,000 objects (mostly from Japan) that were donated by the Count of Bardi in the 19th Century.  We saw an array of weapons including spears with heads of all shapes and sizes, some with Chinese characters carved into them.  In one room was an enormous litter or sedan chair that was probably used to transport royalty.  It had a long pole that stretched out on each end so that multiple people could support the weight of the chair, which appeared to be extremely heavy.

I was fascinated by the detailed diagram of the 18-step process required to put on all the various components of a Japanese armour.  Each step even had a name to indicate which component was next, from the shorts to the gloves to the boots and so forth.  Unlike the Medieval European metal armour, the Japanese version was designed to be light-weight for easy movement and was better for defending against projectile objects like arrows than it was for shielding against direct thrusts from swords or spears.  Earlier versions used small rectangular plates of lamellar armour made from leather and then later, from iron and steel.

Always fond of chess sets, Rich was transfixed by the beautiful 18th Century Chinese chessboard whose pieces are made from white and red-tinted ivory and sit on intricately carved spheres. Both the sides of the chess board and the table that it rests upon are decorated with ornate floral inlays.  Each pawn, representing a soldier on horseback, is carved from a single piece of ivory.

We ended a great day at the museum with what we considered to be one of our best Aperol Spritz experiences–a gorgeous view of the Grand Canal in the museum café, a cool breeze in the air, an ice cold, perfectly mixed drink with the prerequisite ice cubes, olive and orange slice, and a free bowl of potato chips to top it off.  And following what was a relatively short day, we were able to return home for our first afternoon nap of the trip.  Life was good.

Venice 2016: Dorsoduro - Peggy Guggenheim, Ca'Rezzonico, Punta della Dogana

We deliberately scheduled a day with rain in the forecast for our first visit to Dorsoduro, since our itinerary included visiting a church, an art museum and a palazzo, all of which would put us indoors for large parts of the day.  One thing we have discovered in Venice has been that when it rains, it often pours.  Rich and I learned this the hard way on our first night in Venice, when we casually went for a stroll, bringing just one umbrella to share to ward off the threat of rain.  Caught in torrential rains, thunder and lightening, we had to duck under the awning of a closed shop to wait for the inclement weather to subside.  Having learned from this experience, we made sure that each of us had our own umbrella for our day trip to Dorsoduro.

Luckily the rain had subsided by the time we got off at the Salute Vaporetto station in Dorsoduro, although it was to return in full force several more times throughout the day.  This gave us the opportunity to take some photos of the exterior of the beautiful baroque Santa Maria della Salute Church and walk down the narrow eastern tip of Dorsoduro, with a view of the Grand Canal on one side and the Giudecca Canal and Giudecca Island on the other.

Completed in 1681 as one of the last "plague churches", Santa Maria della Salute Church was built as an offering to the Virgin Mary (also known as "Our Lady of Health" or "Salute" in Italian) in exchange for deliverance from the "Black Death".  Its impressively large dome with the sculpture of the Virgin Mary at the top could be seen from afar as we approached it by Vaporetto along the Grand Canal.  Inside, hung over the altar and various chapels are paintings by Titan and Tintoretto (who seem to have decorated most of the churches in Venice!).  Most impressive within this church is the elaborate golden papal throne of St. Pius X that is decorated with statues on both sides.

The main attraction to see in Dorsoduro is the Peggy Guggenheim Museum.  We prepared for this visit prior to arriving in Venice, by watching the documentary "Peggy Guggenheim - Art Addict" to learn more about this fascinating woman and the impressive art collection that she amassed.  Some of the points made by the movie included "Art was most important part of her life" and "Art mirrored her own strangeness".

Although born into the wealthy Guggenheim dynasty, Peggy Guggenheim inherited significantly less money compared to her cousins, since her father died prematurely in the sinking of the Titanic before he could grow his fortune. She still had enough money to be able to feed her passion for Modern Art, which she learned about from French-American artist Marcel Duchamp and was encouraged to pursue by close friend and lover Samuel Beckett.  She began buying and exhibiting works of Abstract Expressionism, Surrealism and Cubism from then up-and-coming artists who have since become household names, such as Wassily Kadinsky, Henry Moore, Alexander Calder, Raymond Duchamp-Villon and many more. Her buying sprees ramped up at the start of World War II as she tried to save as many works as possible, from artists including Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst (whom she was later briefly married to), Joan Miro, Man Ray, Salvador Dali, Paul Klee, and Marc Chagall, and saved many artists as well by helping them flee to the United States to escape Nazi persecution.  Peggy Guggenheim's list of friends and lovers (which in her autobiography, she claims to number over 1000) reads like a "Who's Who" of famous Bohemian writers and artists.

After several efforts at running art galleries in London, Paris and New York, Peggy finally moved to Venice and purchased the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni which became her home until her death, as well as the current location of her museum.  Built in the 1750s for the noble Venier family, the palace was owned by Contessa Luisa Casati (immortalized in a famous painting by Augustus John, owned by the Art Gallery of Ontario) between 1910-1924, before Peggy bought it in 1949.  The palazzo sits on the Grand Canal and has a magnificent terrace facing the water, where the iconic sculpture (Angel of the City, 1948) by Marino Marini of a "well-endowed" nude with outstretched arms sitting astride a horse guards the ornate gated entrance.  Alexander Calder's bright orange steel sculpture (The Cow, 1971) rests on the open portion of the terrace.  It is reputed that Peggy Guggenheim had her own private gondola that must have docked here.

The entrance by land is no less impressive as it leads directly into the Nasher Sculpture Garden, which provides a lush green backdrop for sculptures by artists such as Max Ernst (In the Streets of Athens, 1960), Henry Moore (Three Standing Figures, 1953), and Germaine  Richier (Tauromachie, 1953).  It appears that more pieces of art continue to be added to the garden after Peggy Guggenheim's death, including a sculpture (The Cloven Viscount, 1998) by Mimmo Paladino.  The garden also hosts exhibits on temporary loans including contemporary works of art, as does one of the wings of the museum.

Paintings and sculptures are displayed in the rooms throughout the museum.  It was especially interesting to view black and white photographs of Peggy Guggenheim from when she was still living in the palazzo.  Some of her old furniture still remains, and some of the art pieces are still situated in their original locations.  In other cases, rooms have been modified from how they appeared as Peggy's living spaces into configurations more conducive to an art museum.

 

While the Peggy Guggenheim collection contains works of familiar styles such as Picasso's Surrealist paintings, Marc Chagall's Jewish scenes with floating animals, or Salvador Dali's dreamscapes, what was more interesting to me was to see earlier works by artists who had not developed their iconic styles yet or by lesser known artists that I was not familiar with.  So it was fascinating to see a work by Jackson Pollack that did not involve his famous paint splatters, or to find out that he had a brother Charles Pollack that also painted abstract expressionist works as well.  I admired the blue glass sculptures by Egidio Constantini that were based on sketches by Picasso, especially when they were set on window sills against the background of the Grand Canal.  I also liked the earrings made for Peggy by Yves Tanguy, and the elaborate wire sculpture by Alexander Calder that Peggy hung above her bed.
 

A small room was dedicated to the art of Peggy's daughter Pegeen Vail, who died from an overdose at age 41 after battling depression all of her life.  Pegeen's art spanned two styles–surrealism and naïve art, known for its childlike simplicity and frankness.  Pegeen's death was just the latest tragic event endured by Peggy Guggenheim since losing her father in the Titanic sinking.  Her niece and nephew died under mysterious circumstances, one of her lovers died on the operating table during a routine operation and her various marriages all ended in divorce.  Despite all this, Peggy endured and left the world a lasting legacy in her art collection.

Peggy Guggenheim loved her art, her men, and her dogs, not necessarily in that order.  Throughout her life, she was photographed with one or more dogs at her side.  Guggenheim is buried in the Nasher garden and her beloved dogs are buried right next to her.  A plaque lists the names of 14 of her dogs, along with the dates of their births and deaths and the quote "Here lie my beloved babies".  It seemed a bit creepy that she named one of her dogs Pegeen, which was also the name of her daughter.

Ca'Rezzonico is another of the many palaces found along the Grand Canal.  Today, this beautiful Baroque palazzo is used as a public museum displaying 18th Century Venetian art, furnishings and artifacts collected from numerous other buildings and museums.  Frescoes by noted Italian artists of the time grace the ceilings of most of the rooms, as do luminous Murano chandeliers with intricate glass decorations of flowers and other ornaments.  I was particularly astonished when I saw some antique period furniture that had very similar shapes and decorations as the ones found in our home swap.  It made me feel like we were living in a modern version of a palazzo.

One room displayed decorative tables with such elaborate carvings that the pieces almost felt more like art than furnishings.  I was amused by the scenes depicted in a series of paintings in another room, which all seemed to share the common theme of a female figure inflicting pain or torture to a male figure. In a room full of pottery, I took note of a tea set that was decorated with playing cards and wondered if this was used during a bridge match.

The third floor of Ca'Rezzonico contained the private painting collection of Italian art critic and painter Egidio Martini, which include works spanning from the 15th Century through the 20th Century.  Maybe it was because I was tired and punchy by the time we saw these paintings, but somehow I found them to be extremely cheesy and humorous, especially the chubby cherubs prancing with a leopard, an armoured man who appears to be torturing his captive with tickling, and some air-borne cherubs who seem to be blowing bubbles on woman's bare butt.

Strolling along the Grand Canal, we watched the "Traghetto" ferry as it made its way back and forth across the stretch of water.  This is an inexpensive alternative to cross the canal and experience riding in a gondola.  Two men row a large gondola that fits what looks like 10 or more people, and at 2 Euro per person (for tourists, .70 Euro for residents), they will row you from one side of the canal to another.  I'm wondering about the safety of this ride though since the boat we watched seemed to almost tip as the numerous people shifted their weight as they tried to disembark.

Rich and I returned to Dorsoduro another day to spend more time exploring some of the many small art galleries found in the area.  I especially liked the wood sculptures by Loris Marazzi, who makes extremely realistic-looking carvings of coats, boots, shoes, umbrellas, hats and even underwear and bras.  There were some interesting paintings whose scenes are actually comprised of a bunch of numbers drawn very closely together.  In a black and white photograph, we saw proof that Venice does get snow, even though the canals don't seem to freeze over.   I intently inspected a framed painting of a bunch of people walking around, but the work had a depth and 3-D feel to it, since the people were painted both on the canvas and on the glass in front of it.

We also visited the Punta Della Dogana Contemporary Art Museum, which is a triangular-shaped former customs building situated at the eastern-most tip of Dorsoduro.  Unfortunately, we did not find the art to be very interesting.  It is sad to say that our favourite part of the museum was the building itself and the views of Giudecca that it provided, as opposed to the works that were on display.

 

I know that some contemporary art might be extremely minimalistic in terms of design, shape or colour.  But it was difficult to navigate through an entire museum filled with what I considered to be bland and boring works that did not spark any sense of excitement or whimsy.  Enormous rooms were mostly empty except for a few works hung on the wall that were entirely white or beige with hardly any discernible patterns on them.  Often the most colourful thing in the room was me!  Maybe we were just unlucky regarding which temporary exhibits were currently on display, but nothing here particularly interested me.

The closest thing to whimsical that we saw was an installation with an automatic-player piano and a series of fish sculptures that glowed in multiple colours as lights shone on them.  I'm not sure whether any message was attempting to be conveyed but at least it was bright and vibrant and musical.  Since I like sculptures, I did enjoy the marble robe with that simulated fabric with many folds, and the shiny metallic nude that was strategically positioned in front of a beautiful archway.

Prior to leaving Dorsoduro, we went to the hip and happening Campo Santa Margherita for one last cicheti lunch and of course, yet another Aperol Spritz.  At the Osteria Cicchetteria al Bocon DiVino, we had some trout mousse on toast, several skewers of breaded meats and potato, a battered version of the "Croque Monsieur", and some grilled squid and scallop.