Our Italian Adventure

 

(Above:  Steve, Gabriella, and me along Venice's Grand Canal at the Peggy Guggenheim Palazzo Museum.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

Steve and I met Gabriella last June while installing the invitational exhibit at Featherstone Gallery on Martha's Vineyard.  When she told us about her upcoming Guggenheim Fellowship in Venice, we immediately decided to cash in our refunded frequent flier miles from a canceled pandemic trip in order to visit her.  It was a great decision!

The weather wasn't exactly cooperative and there are so many tourists in Venice that sightseeing isn't as easy as it once was, but we had a wonderful time nonetheless ... especially since this wasn't summer!  Both Steve and I have been to Venice, but always in the summer when it is extremely hot.  

My first time in Venice was in 1968.  I was eight.  Venice stunk in low tide. My head was at the average height of the bags people were carrying ... which meant I was constantly being pushed around in the crowds. While my Dad was taking a photo of my little sister Wanda and I ... standing on the Rialto Bridge, a pigeon pooped on me.  I hated Venice.  

Thankfully, I changed my mind a few years and a couple of inches later.  (It didn't hurt that the city cleaned up the canals and forbid those living there to continue throwing household sewage directly into the water!)  Nowadays, there are boats selling fruits and vegetables, gondolas with singing gondoliers, lots of art galleries, numerous gelato shops and cafes, museums, street musicians, and a public sanitation department keeping most of the beautiful cobblestone alleys and piazzas free of trash.  

Venice is now facing "too much tourism".  Frankly, I think they created the problem!  There are now giant parking lots on the edge of the city and a "people mover" monorail to transport cruise ship visitors and those who come by tour bus or car from these parking areas into the city.  Parking in these lots isn't cheap but it isn't wickedly expensive.  So ... by making Venice "easy and rather affordable" to access ... well ... there's always a crowd.  Still ... Venice is magical.  For most of the day, we simply walked and walked, admiring the shops, the patina of peeling painted shutters, the flower baskets, the mix of architectural styles, and the rich colors that have survived centuries.  We wandered into a couple of free art exhibits that were still on view after the Venice Bienniale.  

We ran into a photo shoot.  Both the gorgeous model and the photographer were gracious about tourists interfering.  At one point, the model posed with a few gawking tourists.

We didn't purchase online entry tickets to San Mark's Cathedral nor did we wait in the impossibly long line.  We've been there before and there are so many other exotic houses of worship in Venice (as well as everyplace else in Italy!)  Most churches had modest fees to enter. Back in 1980, just after I graduated from The Ohio State University ... the summer that I turned twenty-one ... none of the churches had entry fees.  By 2003 when Steve and I went with our younger son Alex, most did charge a small amount but allowed photography (without a flash). Now, in a righteous attempt to maintain some semblance of sacredness, photography of any sort it forbidden.  Steve and I watched tourists disregard the signs. Once upon a time, such actions created the term "Ugly Americans".  Nowadays, every nationality seems "ugly".  The photo above, however, was taken in one of the churches without a fee that allowed photography.  I adore these ornate votives!

 I took several pictures there ... including one of the amazing floor!

 For the most part, however, I wasn't busy taking pictures.  I really just wanted to soak up the atmosphere and take note of the colors (including those just inside Italian clothing shops!)

As much as I adore Venice, Steve and I decided not to return for a second day ... not even if it promised more contemporary art experiences like this window covered in lipstick kisses!  We rented a car!  We decided to use it to visit places that aren't easily accessed without a vehicle!

By staying in Padua ... some thirty miles west of Venice ... we had other places to visit!  Here we are outside St. Anthony's basilica!  You can't tell by this picture, but it was raining!  (Inside was over-the-top but also another place forbidding photography.)

One of the reasons Padua was selected was because I also went there in 1980.  In fact, I spent my twenty-first birthday inside the famous Cappella delgi Scrovegni, also known as Giotto's Arena Chapel.  Back in 1980, I arrived around 2:00 PM.  Like many places in Italy at that time ... and still in many of the small towns ... things close for "lunch" from noon until 2:30 or 3:00 PM.  I waited and then spent the rest of the afternoon inside, often sitting on the few marble steps to the altar area to simply admire my surroundings.  I know this because ... well ... blogging hadn't been invented but I was actively journaling that summer and still have those copious notes.  I wrote: 

Finally, a lady approached with a large ring of keys. I got up knowing she'd open the door and I followed her to the entrance. A few other people gathered around and did the same. The door opened and we went into the dark chapel. My eyes were glued to the darkness, above and ahead. The lights gradually went up, and I felt at once at home surrounded by the frescoes Giotto painted over 680 years ago. 

In the intervening forty-four years, much has changed.  The door I entered in 1980 was the one used for nearly seven hundred years.  It is now permanently closed and locked.  In fact, the entire chapel is located inside a lovely fence.  Now, visitors must book a ticket for a timed entry.  There is no "lunch break".  Summer hours (including October) are from 9 AM to 10 PM.  It's 9 - 7 for "off season".  Access is from a separate building.  Once permitted to enter, one walks to a glass enclosure to watch a fifteen minute Italian video with English subtitles before proceeding through another glass doorway, up a wheelchair ramp, and into the chapel through a door that opens near the altar area.  This is done because the entire place has undergone intense conservation and is now in a temperature and humidity controlled area.  I'm glad that the Arena Chapel is protected.  I'm especially happy that Steve and I booked an evening entry.  Without light from the outside, Giotto's frescoes were all that were illuminated.  Although I could have spent more time, the twenty allotted minutes felt quite right ... and photography was permitted.

Next we visited Villa Maser, north of Padua.  This Palladin designed estate was amazing and parts of it are still occupied by the current owners!  There's a carriage house and extensive garden areas.  Frescoes covered the walls.  Like many of the churches, photography was not allowed inside.

Wine is still being produced in the vineyards.  We had a snack and sampled two of the red wines produced there.

 

We also went to Petrarch's house.  It is south of Padua in a most charming hillside village.  Photography was permitted ... which was nice.  The wooden ceilings were all ornately painted and the walls were covered in frescoes illustrating many of Petrarch's poems. 

Petrarch's dying wish was to be buried in the nearby church ... and if this wish wasn't granted, to be buried just outside of it.  Well ... he didn't get his dying wish (but maybe because the marble tomb on its gigantic pillars wouldn't fit inside the doors!)

The area around Padua was littered with ancient estates.  We drove by former mansions in decay.  We drove by some converted into schools, hotels, and especially wedding venues.  Such was Villa Selvetico.  The place was gorgeous.  Room after room of restored frescoes and marble floors were outfitted with comfy chairs, silk damask curtains, and antique furniture ... perfect for a destination wedding. 

Most of the frescoes were much later than those at Villa Maser and elsewhere.  I had to wonder how a curator or even an owner were to decide what century to preserve when places like this existed through several centuries, dozens of generations, ever-changing styles, and the ravishes of time.

We visited while a very fancy, all day wine tasting was in progress.  Those who bought tickets could sample various wines every hour, starting with sweet in the morning and ending with dry near evening.  From the looks of it, there was lots of wine and more than ample pourings.  We saw lots of these people walking off the alcohol around the thermal pools that surrounded the hilltop villa.  It was indeed a beautiful place.

Yet, I think my favorite villa was Castello Catajo. Only a small portion of this enormous place was open to the public and yet the rooms seemed to go on and on.  Photography was not permitted inside.  The signage was in both English and Italian ... and was very well written.

Photography was permitted in the areas open to the outside.  The place was so rich in history that Steve and I think Netflix ought to create one of their historic series based on it.  Sure ... these television shows generally follow "a person" or a "lineage" ... but why not "the ghosts" who must haunt a place like this!  So many important people came here at one time or the other.  There are tales of money, arranged marriages, social climbers, warfare, greed, and a desire to preserve all of it.

In my mind's eye, I could almost see scenes being filmed on the grounds ... around the lilypadded ponds and in the maze of carefully clipped hedges and trees that seemed straight out of a Harry Potter chapter.

We also went to Monselice.  We hoped to get inside the castle but that didn't work out.  Thankfully, however, we popped into the town's arts council (thinking it was some sort of tourist information office) and were treated to the tower!  One of the people working there simply grabbed the keys and walked us up for great views! He told us about the nearby pilgrimage chapels which we later visited.

Because the castle tour didn't work out, we went out into the countryside for a typical Italian lunch ... at a place with a restaurant cat.  Nope!  This cat doesn't actually belong to the restaurant.  He just hangs out there! 

Beside the restaurant was Bolin Vineyards.  We tasted several wines and I ventured out into the field.  Apparently, this area is undergoing some sort of experiment that requires the grapes to wither on the vine.  The man pouring wine couldn't explain more.  Withered or not, it was pretty and the honey bees were feasting.

Not only did we purchase a bottle of wine but we got their olive oil too ... just to remember the trip for several more months to come! (I wrapped it in two plastic bags and it came home perfectly in our luggage!)

We had a full day in Verona, one of the only days during which it didn't rain!  The ancient amphitheater was undergoing construction repairs, but I think anything from the Roman era must constantly require at least some maintenance!

Verona is a shopper's paradise, and although I'm not much for shopping, it was fun to look into all the windows ... especially along the one high-end, pedestrian street that is totally paved in marble!

There's an elevator to the top of the tower but we opted to walk up.  The views were terrific.  At one point, bells started ringing.

Thankfully, these bells ring only after the tourist traffic hours!  They were this close ... as in, one man reached up and touched the largest bell!

Verona is best known as the location Shakespeare used for Romeo and Juliet.  There's a courtyard in the middle of historic Verona with a stone balcony known as Juliet's Balcony.  It is a popular tourist destination, especially for star-crossed lovers, despite the fact that Shakespeare never mentioned a balcony (or even know what one was!)  It wasn't until the 1930s when this 14th century facade got the stone balcony. 

 Hilariously, the walls between the street and the inner courtyard are covered in graffiti despite the signage with threatens a heavy fine!

There's also a shop on this courtyard selling little heart-shaped locks for people to sign and attach to a provided fence.  The building itself includes a museum in which the bed from the 1968 film is on display.  People paying to visit the museum take turns walking out onto the balcony and posing for the tourists in the courtyard.  It was all very fun and silly ... over a fictional character!

With all the rain from days earlier, the river was high and a bit rough.  Steve and I walked over two of the ancient bridges. 

We also took a funicular to the top of the nearby hill and then walked back down in order to visit three of the city's churches.

This photo isn't one of the churches in Verona.  The ones to which we went were all places with entry fees that forbid photography.  Each, however, was as ornate (or more ornate) than this one in Padua.  By this point, the soaring pillars, statuary, tablets of remembrances, floor placards, mosaics, reliquaries, and architectural elements were starting to blur together.

Most of the side altars in all these places had giant canvases depicting saints and Biblical scenes.  The realism was amazing.  Proportions, lighting, a sense of space were obviously studied and well crafted.  Many actually had signs listing the artist and the date when the commissioned painting was installed.  Surrounding these masterpieces were detailed frescoes and marble carvings.  Every surface seemed embellished by a talented hand.  Between the churches and the villas, Steve and I must have seen thousands of artworks that have survived centuries.  Yet, most of these fine treasures are not by people whose names are found in art history books.  Even Wikipedia doesn't have a listing for most of them.  There's a name but not necessarily "a life".  My mind swirled with conflicting thoughts about fame and fortune and my personal desire to "leave something behind" as if to mark my place on earth and establish some sort of pinpoint on the long timeline of art history.

Our final day in Italy was spent in Vicenza.  There are too many places to visit for just a day.  We picked the Palazzo Leoni Montanari, a museum with a variety of exhibitions on display ... including a selection of Russian icons from their permanent collection. It was particularly well done and very informative.  We were literally face-to-face with many of these precious objects.

A solo retrospective was devoted to the often satirical and truly brilliant, contemporary work of Javier Jaén (who I am now following on Instagram).  That skull was created using cigarettes ... with the "white end" facing one direction for the "bone" and the other, tobacco end, facing the opposite direction for the spaces that are eyes and nose and mouth.  From Barcelona, Jaén works in several languages when needed ... including English ... as he's often illustrated articles for the New Yorker and other American publications. 

Another exhibit featured marble and bronze sculptures that were a rage in the 1730s for wealthy collectors (like the Russian Tsar, etc.), especially this giant sized one called the The Fall of the Rebel Angels by Francesco Bertos. Carved from a single block of marble, sixty or so figures are finely carved in every detail ... fully in the round.  How this was done is anyone's guess.  How much this five foot or so tall sculpture weighs is also a mystery.  The lighting slowly shifted from dim to bright.  

 

These very different exhibits were all housed in this extraordinarily elaborate palazzo.  Again, I couldn't help but to think of the thousands of artists and artisans who spent lifetimes slaving over their craft in hopes that "something lasts".  Well ... all this did last and Steve and I saw it. Yes, it was inspirational ... not in the sense of me wanting to work in any of these media.  I'll not be approaching my own artwork in response to all these Italian treasures.  I will, however, be working with the knowledge that it isn't up to me to determine what might make it to the next generation and what will be forever lost.  Centuries from now, nothing of mine might remain.  Even if something is still around and has my name attached ... well ... the odds are that it will be like most of the thing we saw:  a footnote!  I am happy to continue knowing this because ... WOULDN'T IT BE WONDERFUL to make something that is seen for that length of time! Now ... back to work!