Venice is my favourite "old place" in the world. I first visited in December 2005, and immediately fell in love with this fantasy city that has defied natural forces for hundreds of years. The beautiful thing about Venice is that so much of it is unchanged. When I visited the Vatican in November 2006, the tour guide pointed out a perspective map of Venice (in the Gallery of Maps, of course) dating from the 16th century. She said the map is so accurate, and the city has changed so little, that there are only two buildings on the map that do not exist today. I think that's marvellous.
I returned to Veneto over the weekend of 13-15 October 2006. On the earlier trip I made the acquaintance of Simone, whom I met up with on this trip. Simone lives on the mainland in a little town called Dolo-Mirano, which we used as a base for the weekend's day trips.
Our first stop was Verona, famed for its association with Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Verona is a beautiful city in its own right, with notable ruins, and a very pretty pedestrianised old town. It's also a massive tourist trap that wrings Shakespeare's play, and tourist's wallets, for every last euro. There are houses signposted as being Romeo's and Juliet's house respectively, the latter having a courtyard and a balcony. There is also a place known as Juliet's tomb. Of course, while there are some family names that mildy match the Montagues and Capulets, and suggestion of inter-family rivalry (then again, this is Italy), the whole thing is an elaborate extrapolation for tourist value. Take for instance the balcony at Juliet's house: it was constructed in the 1920s. And, it is worth pointing out, Shakespeare never visited Italy.
Our next stop was Padua, another beautiful city with a Shakespearean assocation, but, thankfully, less of a draw for tourists. Padua is a university town since blah. The pedestrianised shopping district is fabulous with every high street designer label one could imagine. I really liked the waterway in the park in the centre of town. We also visited the nearby Cathedral, where we queued for a fleeting few seconds glance at the relics of a dead saint. I saw his jaw. I don't know why it was decided to preserve his jaw.
On the Saturday night, I had dinner with Simone and a few of his friends. We went to a traditional restaurant on the outskirts of Dolo-Mirano. The meal was delivered in a multitude of courses with plates to share. I ate horse! The meat was cured, and finely shredded. It just tasted like smoked meat. We finished the meal with a few rounds of grappa. Ghastly stuff, but I wasn't prepared to be rude and refuse the offer.
The main event, Venice, was our daytrip on Sunday. We decided to get a ferry, which also meant we could sidetrip to two villas of note. Simone explained to me how the wealthy families of Venice maintained larger villas on the mainland, often linked to the lagoon by canals that provided a means of transport. Simone was able to tell me some of the history of these villas. Villa Pisani has been host to Mussolini, Hitler, and blah. Villa Malcontenta is said to have been named for the duchess who owned it, and cried herself to death.
Having previously used road and rail to travel between Venice and the mainland, it was a thrill to arrive on this occasion by ferry. And as with the mainland, it was a joy to have Simone offer me a local's view of Venice. He showed me the last traditional gondola builder on the island, and a spiral staircase (at the Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo) which appears in Moonraker. Another highlight was the trick third column on the Doge Palace. Hundreds of years ago, the Doge's Palace was not protected from the lagoon by the walkway that is there now. A person guilty of a crime was offered the opportunity to pass a simple challenge in order to be set free. With their hands bound behind their back, they were required to straddle around the lagoon-side of one of the Palace's columns. The prisoner might even be shown how easy it could be done. In reality, this was nothing but a cruel ruse. The prisoners were always forced to walk around a specific "trick" column that was not quite at a 90 degree angle. Consequently, the ledge was much thinner and impossible to successfully navigate (unlike the ledge and column used by the captors). The prisoner always slipped and drowned in the lagoon!
The highlight of the trip was the view of Venice from the top of the Campanile. On my previous trip, the city was shrouded in dense fog during an aqua alta, so it wasn't worth the ride to the top. The view is sensational, not only of St Mark's Square, but the cluster of islands that make up Venice. The Campanile is actually not original. The original collapsed in 1902 (check out this amazing photograph). The present campanile is an exact replica, completed in 1912.
