/ October 11, 2016 / No comments
5 things I love about Venice
Today, we let our minds
travel all the way to fantastic Venice! Cats Love Athens' beloved friend Caterina guides us through this magical city by presenting her 5 most favourite
places. Enjoy!
“The Floating City” or “the Bride of the Sea” are among the several nicknames that this unique island of the Adriatic Sea has been given through the ages. Either regarded as a vastly touristic spot, a destination of art lovers or a historical commercial town of the Roman Empire, Venice is a city like no other in the world since its lack of actual roads and land transport is replaced by the constant fluidity of archipelago which adds a unique sense of movement and serenity to the city’s daily life. No wonder why William Wordsworth called Venice “the Eldest Child of Liberty”, and Hugo Pratt’s fictional hero, Corto Maltese, is supposed to have had his own house in Cannaregio district in Venice for some period of time.
The Garden of Santa Elena
Santa Elena is a tiny island on the eastern side of
Venice, connected to the city with a bridge. Tranquil, and next to Giardini
(the big garden of Venice), where the Biennale of Architecture takes place, the
island is a beautiful residential area with a “floating” park whose view is the
archipelago itself.
1.
Lido
di Venezia
Lido is the island where the Venice Film Festival
takes place every year, and if you’re lucky enough or plan to be there in September,
you can have the exciting experience of seeing some of your favorite actresses
and actors on the red carpet. Apart from its festival side though, Lido is a
seasonal paradise with little canals, a sandy beach full of seagulls and green
roads which can lead you to Malamocco, a small, sunny, Mediterranean-like
village where the only things you can hear is the rare sound of sailing boats
and the bell-ringing of the local church.
1. Libreria
Acqua Alta
Acqua Alta is a term used by people in Venice in order
to describe the tide peaks and flooding of the city which periodically occurs
sometimes during winter. The bookstore which took its name by the Venetian
phenomenon, has been characterized as one of the most beautiful bookshops in
the world, and its cozy, bohemian atmosphere brings in memory the stacked
shelves of Shakespeare and Company bookstore in Paris. However, most of the library
shelves in Acqua Alta are old gondolas, and the bookshop’s cozy reading spot is
not a small piano room, but a chair next to the canal. A cat can also be found
strolling around books in English, Italian and French language, making it clear
that this is a place for book lovers!
Ghetto
di Venezia
I found out about the Venetian Ghetto through a film
by artist Mayank Austen Soofi which was screened at the Waterlines Artist
Residence’s event at Ca’ Foscari University. The Ghetto is the Jewish
neighborhood of Venice which apart from its cultural difference and historical
significance, has the tallest buildings in the city, known as the “skyscrapers
of Venice”, a famous Jewish Museum, art galleries, and an annual conference on
Hebrew Studies. Although the height of the buildings is not as impressive as it
might sound, the story behind them is: due to the increasing number of Jewish
people in Venice, and the fact that Jews were compelled not to live anywhere
else in the city between 16th and 18th century, the
habitants of the Ghetto had no other option but to build extra floors to their
existing houses. Divided into two parts which are known as the Old and New
Ghetto (Ghetto Vecchio and Ghetto Nuovo), the area is also worth visiting for
its Holocaust Memorial.
1.
Peggy
Guggenheim Collection
Venice is an art city, not only because of the
Biennale, but also because it hosts a wide range of institutional initiatives that
embrace many forms of artistic expression. Facing the Grand Canal in Dorsoduro
district, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection differs from the majority of Renaissance
palazzos and museums in Venice as it is specialized on modern and contemporary
art. With a program full of children’s activities and a garden as an outdoor
space for the sculpture permanent exhibition, the museum offers an excellent
contemplation on 20th century art movements, as it includes works of
Cubism, Abstract Expressionism, Futurism and Surrealism, with works by
Kandinsky, Chagall, Brancusi and Pollock, among others. My favorite part is the
recently added Hannelore B. and Rudolph B. Schulhof collection of modern and
contemporary masterpieces like Anselm Kiefer’s “Thy
Golden Hair Margarethe”, Jasper Johns’ “Three Flags”, and Agnes Martin’s
“Rose”.
*special thanks to Caterina
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