Church of the Madonna dell’Orto
The Church of the Madonna dell’Orto was built around the middle of the 15th century by Fra’ Tiberio da Parma and took the name of Madonna dell’Orto due to the ancient picture of the Virgin that was found in a garden nearby and which was then taken to the church. Building on the church lasted for about one century and the result was extremely worthy of note: the façade is still the best example today of Venetian Gothic architecture from the 15th century. The row of niches that were originally galleries that ran down the wings of the building, now hold the statues of the twelve Apostles. Inside there is a nave with no transept and side aisles with chapels that are separated by two rows of Greek marble columns. The picture of the “Vergine con Bambino” that gives the church its name hangs alongside the Chapel of San Mauro and is a fine example of art work from the 14th century made from soft stone. Inside there are frescoes by Palma il Giovane, Ponzone and Tintoretto.

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A city on water

The first description of the inhabitants on the lagoon comes from the 6th century AD and was written by the Roman Cassiodoro:

It appears as though you slide across fields with your boats because from afar you cannot discern the canals from the sandbanks… and whilst in other cities you tether animals to the front of the house, you, with your houses of wicker and reed, tether your boats.

Even in those days, the city’s relationship with water was clear. It is a relationship that has distinguished Venice and her inhabitants ever since.
 
Since the beginning of its history, Venice has lived alongside water and transformed it into its major sources of income: salt extraction, fishing and river and maritime commercial traffic.

  
 
Over the centuries the city gradually extended its control of the seas and the ensuing commerce. In fact, the Adriatic was known as the Gulf of Venice.
 

The city’s development brought with it a transformation in the natural environment: in order to grow, the city needed to make living space out of the water, orchards, fens, mud and sandbanks. More and more land was reclaimed thanks to millions of poles driven into the mud, which then became land to build on. An entire forest of upturned trees lies at the base of the city.
  
The Venetians
The Venetians have always placed the utmost importance on water and its regulation: for centuries they have controlled the flow of rivers, even diverting their outlets to prevent the slow but progressive flooding of the lagoon. Over the centuries, the flow of the Brenta, Dese, Sile and Piave rivers has undergone substantial diversions to allow Venice and its lagoon to survive.

Great attention was given to providing drinking water and its use was regulated by specially formed magistrates. 
 
Birth of the Regatta
The regata or rowing race is the most specifically Venetian of local competitive events and has always exerted considerable appeal for both Venetians and visitors.

The earliest historical evidence relates the races to the celebrations surrounding the festival of the Marys and date from the second half of the 13th Century. However, it is probable that similar events were already popular: Venice was essentially a seafaring city and ready reserves of expert oarsmen were a prime necessity.

The etymology of the term regata is uncertain. Some trace it to the word riga (line), others to the verb aurigare (to compete in a race); and others again to ramigium (rowing); in any case, the Venetian term “regata” entered the main European languages to denote a competitive event raced in boats.

During the Renaissance regate were organized mainly by the Compagnie della Calza (associations of young noblemen) but from the mid-16th Century, the Venetian government appointed specific noblemen - called direttori di regata - to arrange and supervise the races.

 The competition
A typical regatta has always comprised various races using different kinds of boats and on the occasion of a regatta, the Lagoon in front of St. Mark’s and the Grand Canal is always teeming with decorated craft of all kinds, full of passionately keen spectators.

To clear the course of the race and to keep order, the regatta used to be preceded by a fleet of bissone, typical long boats containing noblemen standing in the bows and armed with bows. Their job was to pelt the more unruly of the spectators with terracotta shot. Now the bissone still head the procession before the races, but they no longer perform a disciplinary function.

The Regata Storica as we know it now, with its commemorative cortege acting as a prelude to the competitions, was conceived at the end of the 19th century for the 3rd Biennale d’Arte as a way of offering another tourist attraction.

For this period I can rental charming apartments locate in the center of Venice.

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San Marco Holidays

LOCATION
This apartment is located in the exclusive neighbourhood of San Marco, an area located in the very heart of the old town in which the most important noble families in Venice live.
Piazza San Marco is probably the best known spot in town, and it is so important amongst locals that it is said that everyone who lives in Venice passes beyond San Marco at least once a day. The wonderful square in front of the cathedral, full of children who feed the birds, souvenir sellers and cafés with live music (some of which are probably the most expensive coffee bars in Italy!), is definitely a must for those who visit marco Polo’s town. As you walk around it, don’t forget to have a look at the Palazzo Ducale (Duke’s Palace) and its Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs), which joins the courtroom with the ancient jail. For those who are not scared of heights, we recommend climbing the tower, which overlooks the entire town and gives you the most spectacular sights in Venice. If you prefer not to get so high, you could go for a ride on a Gondola around the Channels!
This apartment is very close to the Vaporetto stop, and in a high area. Therefore, you need not fear the yearly floods (the so-called acqua alta) in Venice, for they never reach the apartment area! Connections to the minor islands around Venice (including Burano, Murano and Lido di Venezia) are also available.

DESCRIPTION
This apartment has been recently renovated and provided with a wooden beam ceiling. It is located on the second floor (without lift).
The apartment includes one bedroom with a Queen size bed, the second  bedroom with 2 singles beds ,  one bathroom with a shower, a fully equipped kitchenette and a comfortable living room area that includes a fireplace.
This apartment is provided a dishwasher, a microwave oven, independent heating, AIR CONDITIONING, a TV set (TV only in Italian), a fireplace and stereo player.
The size of the apartment is roughly 65 square metres. For more informations:
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Venice’s newest art gallery, the Museo Vedova, by celebrity architect Renzo Piano has put a 21st century twist on the art of picture hanging.

Dedicated entirely to the work of the Venetian abstract art pioneer Emilio Vedova (1919-1996), paintings at the Museo Vedova don’t hang at all - they float.

Suspended in the air by a fleet of robotic shuttles moving along a track fixed to the ceiling, the paintings glide through the exhibition space at various heights, periodically coming to rest at strategic points under the lights before floating away to a different position.

The paintings are brought out together in series according to their chronological or thematic contexts and then whisked away to a storage space at the back of the museum to be replaced by others.

The public can view the paintings from the floor or from an elevated wooden mezzanine along the wall.

Set to open on June 3 for the 53rd Venice Biennial art exhibition, the Museo Vedova is located in the artist’s former studio, a renovated warehouse at the historic Venetian salt docks.

Explaining how he came by the idea for the museum, Renzo Piano explained, ”the warehouses are narrow and long and so it made sense to imagine that down at the far end, a bit hidden in the shadow, would be the storage facility, and out of this, as if by magic, the works would appear in a certain order. From this came the idea of mobility, whereby it’s not the spectator who goes to the artwork, but the artwork that comes to the spectator”.

Piano was introduced to Vedova in the 1980s by the composer Luigi Nono, with whom the two collaborated in designing the set for the premiere of Nono’s opera ”Prometheus” at the 41st Venice Biennial in 1984.

A frequent visitor to Vedova’s studio, Piano said, ”there was always the feeling that one day that imposing warehouse, a rather magical place or kind of cavern, could be the home for his works. He had always imagined this…and it was obvious that it wasn’t a question of hanging works the way one normally does”.

Emilio Vedova was a seminal figure of the post-war avant garde, emerging from the anti-fascist art group ”Corrente” in Milan to co-found the ”Fronte Nuovo delle arti” in 1947, a short-lived but prominent movement which looked to the neocubism of Pablo Picasso as the model for a modern new aesthetic.

His career exploded in the 1950s with a solo show in the prestigious Catherine Viviano Gallery in New York followed by his inclusion in the landmark exhibition ”Gruppo degli otto pittori italiani” at the 26th Venice Biennial in 1952, which established him among the foremost abstract artists in Italy.

Vedova would return to the Biennial eight years later to claim the Grand Prize for painting.

From the dark geometries of his experiments with cubism, Vedova’s work from 1950 onward grew increasingly abstract, placing him in league with the European ”Art Informel” movement that paralleled the work of abstract expressionists in America like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning.

”My [works] are not creations, but earthquakes,” Vedova once said.

”They are not paintings, but breaths”.

Vedova’s experimenting would eventually carry his work off the canvas altogether into the groundbreaking new terrain of artificial light play and installation art, for which he was featured in the Italian pavilion at the 1967 International and Universal Exposition in Montreal.

Vedova died in 1996 at the age of 87.

In addition to the cutting edge new Museo Vedova, his works are also on display at the nearby Peggy Guggenheim collection as well scores of other galleries and museums around the world.

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                                                                                          Biennale Art
The 53rd International Art Exhibition opens on 7th June 2009
The 53rd International Art Exhibition, titled Making Worlds // Fare Mondi // Bantin Duniyan / Weltenmachen // Construire des Mondes // Fazer Mundos…, directed by Daniel Birnbaum, will open to the public from June 7th to November 22nd 2009 in the Giardini and the Arsenale exhibition venues, as well as in various other locations around the city. (The press preview will take place on June 4th, 5th and 6th 2009).

Two Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement will be awarded to Yoko Ono and John Baldessari – two of the most important artists of our time. 53rd International Art Exhibition
2009  Press accreditation
print media, broadcast media, Internet media  Biennale Art
53rd International Art Exhibition
The 53rd International Art Exhibition will run June 7th to November 22nd, 2009.
A renewal project will be in place on the occasion of the 53rd Exhibition: the Arsenale area will be linked to the city via a new bridge; in addition, the former Italian Pavilion in the Arsenale will become the “Padiglione Italia”, and the former Padiglione Italia in the Giardini will become the “Palazzo delle Esposizioni” of the Venice Biennale.

The history of the Venice Biennale began in 1895, when the first Art Exhibition took place. Accreditation for the Preview days
In order to get press accreditation to the Preview of the 53rd International Art Exhibition (June 4th, 5th, and 6th 2009), Press crews (newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations, television networks, and Internet-based media) should follow the regulations for press accreditation. Deadline: May 16th 2009.

Professionals (Chairmen, Directors and Curators of museums, Heads of cultural organizations and other professionals involved in the Contemporary Arts area) should request invitations for the Preview (Deadline: May 2nd 2009; for further information please contact the Organizational Secretariat, Tel. +39 041 2753311).

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                                                                                                      This came about principally due to the diplomatic involvement of Doge Sebastiano Ziani.
Pope Alessandro III, as a mark of his gratitude to the city, gave the Doge a blessed ring, pronouncing “Ricevilo in pegno della Sovranità che Voi e i successori Vostri avrete perpetuamente sul Mare” (Receive this ring as a token of sovereignty over the sea that you and your successors will be everlasting). He then imposed the wedding between Venice and the Sea “Lo sposasse lo Mar sì come l´omo sposa la dona per essere so signor” (Marry the sea as a man marries a woman and thus be her Lord).
 
From this moment, the simple ceremony of the Sensa (N.o.E.) became a major - and very popular - representation of the myth of the Serenissima, “Queen of the Seas”.
Once each year, the Doge would “marry” the Sea, and throw the Blessed Ring into the lagoon as a sign of eternal fidelity.
To consolidate the Sensa as one the major anniversary celebrated in the Republic´s calendar, another Benefit came from the Pope.
 
The Pontiff, indeed, was grateful per la poderosa assistenza e per il cortese ospizio donatogli nella persecuzione da esso patita per Federico Barbarossa Imperatore (for the great assistance and hospitality he was offered during the persecution he suffered under Emperor Federico Barbarossa), and thus granted indulgences to all who visited the “Ducal Chapel” (the Basilica of San Marco), in the eight days (later 15 days) following the celebration.
 
 The religious incentive to get God´s forgiveness brought every year more crowds of pilgrims to the lagoon for the celebration of the Marriage to the Sea.

The venetian character, inclined to combine the Sacred and the profane, carryed to initiate, in 1180, the Fair of the Sensa, with displays of the best local handmade products, and merchandise from the Orient.
 

                                                                                                      The secret itinerary of the Doges Palace begins on the upper floors of the Doges Palace. As you climb up the lavishly decorated Golden staircase that expresses the great wealth that the Venetians once possessed you come to a tall wooden sturdy door that’s always locked, except for those lucky enough to have reservations to enjoy a very different tour of the Doges Palace.

The secret itinerary of the Doges Palace literally takes you into the inner sanctums of the brain of Venice. Rooms and chambers that were previously off-limits to everyone, except the most trusted members of the Venetian government. Behind the vast expanses of the grand halls and chambers of the public-face of the Doges Palace lay a warren of offices, corridors and other rooms where the secret work of the Venetian Empire took place.

On the secret itinerary of the Doges Palace you will visit the Chancellor’s Office, a powerful position in the days of the Republic. Like the position of the Doges, was an appointment for life. All state processions were led by the Chancellor, and the Chancellor was the man responsible for writing all the secret documents of the state. Typical of the Venetians mentality, they ensured that all critical  members of  their government remained loyal to the state by paying them generous salaries. The Chancellor of the Republic was earning the equivalent of 600,000 € a year back in the 14^th Century! For such a powerful position you’ll note his office was extremely small.

Next you’ll visit the upper Chancellors Offices where over twenty secretaries worked assisting the Chancellor in the preparation & storage of secret documents. These workers also enjoyed privileged positions and high salaries. The interior of the Chancellors office has the form of a ship, and in fact most of the rooms on the secret itinerary were constructed of wood and built by workers from the Arsenale.

The famous ship-building yard of the Venetian Republic where they once boasted they construct a ship in just one-day. The office is split into two-levels like a ship with railings separating each part, and the doors that you see throughout the secret itinerary of the Doges Palace are again in the style of one’s you would find on a ship. Self closing doors, with special hinges that closed them air-tight to prevent any over hearing things from the corridor outside. The secret documents were stored in the cabinets that line the rooms and along the top of these cabinets you’ll see the family crests of previous Chancellors. The Venetians did such a good job of protecting their secret documents that Venice now possesses the 3^rd largest collection of documents of antiquity in the World.

The corridors between the rooms are of simple wooden construction, narrow and dimly-lit it feels as if you are walking through the confines of the hull of a great ship from ancient times. The next stop on the secret itinerary of the Doges Palace is the gruesome torture chamber. Here the three state inquisitors would torture prisoners with one simple device. The prisoner would have his hands tied behind his back and the rope would push-out and disjoint the poor prisoners shoulders and back-bones as he was propelled towards the ceiling. For added theatrics, prisoners awaiting to be tortured would be in cells either side of the ropes were they could see and hear their colleagues being tortured. The torture chamber is illuminated by a single window that would project light into the eyes of the person being tortured so that he wouldn’t be able to see his inquisitors.

Continuing on through a warren of rooms and corridors we arrive at the famous prison cells of the Doges Palace that are one of the highlights of the Secret Itinerary of the Doges Palace. The same prison cells in which Casanova was imprisoned and from where he later escaped. Casanova was a very popular man with the women of Venice, but unfortunately not-so popular with the powerful men whose wives Casanova had conquered. After several attempts to arrest Casanova on trumped up charges, his enemies finally got their way when books on magic were found in Casanovas rooms. Possession of such books could lead to the death penalty, but fortunately for Casanova the law had been changed just six-months earlier and so he received a prison sentence instead.

The cells with low ceilings were not very accommodating for a man some two-metres tall. But, having good connections Casanova was granted an armchair, exercise time in the attic of the Doges Palace, as well as food brought to him from good-wishers from outside the prison. The “I Piombi” prisons, were so called because they lay directly below the lead roofs of the Doges Palace. These wooden cells beneath the lead roofs would be intolerably hot in the summer and freezing cold in the winter months.

Casanova attempted twice to escape from the prisons. The first attempt failed as he was transferred to another cell just before he had a chance to escape via a whole in the floor he had made with a piece of marble and iron that he found while taking exercise in the attic of the Doges Palace. His second attempt from another cell was more successful and after a meandering route through the Palace he actually walked through the main entrance of Doges Palace, “La Porta Della Carta” to his freedom. You’ll see both cells as well as the attic of the Doges Palace on the Secret Itinerary.

In fact, for some, the stroll along the narrow gangway directly beneath the roof to admire the incredible beams and structure of the timber framing that dates back to the 16^th century is the real highlight of the secret itinerary of the Doges Palace. The sheer weight of this timber construction would normally require supporting columns, but the Venetians found a way to have them self-supporting so that the vast expanses of the “Sala Maggiore” where up to 2,000 elected officials of the Venetian government would conduct their business is not cluttered with columns and pillars supporting the roof. The wooden beams with bathed in salt water for several months which fossilized them making them as hard as stone. And the residual salt prevented woodworm from destroying them!

The Last two rooms on the Secret itinerary of the Doges Palace are the offices of the state inquisitors and the offices of the judges of the infamous council of ten. Each chamber boasts works by a famous Venetian artist. The first with works by Tintoretto, and the second with works by Veronese. These are the only rooms on the secret itinerary of the Doges Palace with original decorations and furnishings. The chamber of the three judges shows another method of maintaining secrecy in that the cabinets that were used to store documents each had 3 locks. Each of the three judges had one key each and so it was impossible to open one without all three being present.

After the secret itinerary of the Doges Palace you re-enter the public areas of the Palace where you can take a tour of the other parts of the Palace including crossing the bridge of sighs and admire the works of other Venetian masters on display, as well as other works by Sansovino, Palladio, Antonio Da Ponte & many others. Combining a tour of the Doges Palace with the secret itinerary of the Doges Palace you can expect to spend around three-to-four hours to see everything!

 Andrea Palladio was born in Padua on St Andrew’s Day, 30 November, 1508. To celebrate this quincentenary, the Centro Internazionale di Studi di Architettura Andrea Palladio, Vicenza and the Royal Academy of Arts, London, with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), are mounting a major exhibition. It will open in Vicenza, (palazzo Barbaran da Porto, 20 September 2008 – 6 January 2009), it will then move to London (Royal Academy of Arts, 31 January – 13 April 2009) and will close in the United States of America in Autumn 2009.
This exhibition will seek to use both traditional and innovative media through which to present the full range of the work of this exceptional architect and his legacy. It will place Palladio within his contemporary historical context and will explore aspects of Palladio’s work which have not been adequately presented before. It will include an extensive selection of original drawings, as well as relevant paintings, medals and coins, architectural fragments, sculpture and books and manuscripts. This material will be complemented be large-scale architectural models, video and interactive computer animation. The exhibition will present to the public a rounded, engaging and essentially new synthesis of what is known about Palladio’s life, architecture and influence.

The exhibition will be structured so as to present these three aspects of the architect:

1. The life of an architect
2. Making a new architecture
3. An eternal contemporary

The life of an architect

This section will present the stages of Palladio’s life chronologically, including along the time-line sub-sections illustrating general themes or particularly important episodes. Aspects of the historical and architectural context will be evoked by the works and objects exhibited when they became important for Palladio: thus his contact with Rome and modern Roman architects will appear when Palladio makes his first visits to the city.
Palladio’s life is an extraordinary one: his story – which he deliberately conceals in his book – is that of an extremely gifted skilled craftsman, who managed to “self-fashion” himself so as to become an architect, intellectual, friend of the great and the learned, and - long before his death - one of the most renowned architects in Italy and in Europe.
The biographical section will trace Palladio’s social and intellectual transformation with portraits, drawings, and key documents, and present material relating to those who most influenced him. It will show his relations with the nobility of Vicenza, who adopted him as “their” architect and his ever closer ties with the governing elite in Venice. Space will be given to an undiscussed aspect of Palladio: his dialogues at a distance, often mediated by his friend and patron Marcantonio Barbaro (ambassador in France, then for six years ambassador to the Ottoman Sultan in Istanbul), with France, Spain, and with his great contemporary Sinan. Gulru Necipoglu has agreed to curate the important section on Palladio and Sinan.

Making a new architecture

While chronology and context will be amply respected and explored in the biographical introduction, in the section devoted to Palladio’s architecture, Palladio’s ideas and working procedures will be presented, not only through original drawings and objects, modern models and computer displays, but interactively, as with the Villa Game, developed for the Vicenza Villa exhibition of 2004.
This section will seek to give the public an immediate sense of why and how Palladio studied Roman antiquities and the book of Vitruvius; how he discussed with his patrons; how he designed his buildings.
Attention will also be given to the way in which Palladio invented or adapted structural solutions so as to obtain the formal and spatial effects which his architectural preferences called for, especially as regards vaults and roof trusses.

An eternal contemporary

Palladio has always been, for many successive generations of architects, a contemporary: his voice present and pertinent, not only through the original words of his book, but in translations in many languages. No other architect (till Le Corbusier) has spoken so clearly and compellingly, emphasising the unchanging truths of architecture, and effecting dramatic conversions to his way of designing, like that recorded by Giacomo Quarenghi in an autobiographical memoir.
There are so many architects and buildings influenced by Palladio, in many countries, that no general survey is likely to do justice to them all.
To present the character of Palladio’s influence the exhibition will concentrate on a small selection of examples. These will show how Palladio’s system of architecture was transportable to countries and contexts far from the Veneto, and easily adaptable. The ablest Palladians in fact were those who best understood that to enrich their own work with Palladio’s ideas meant to extend his method, adapting it to the needs of their own place and time, rather than building precise facsimiles of his works.
The architects who will be presented here are the two great masters of the “Vicenza school”: Palladio’s jealous Vicentine follower, the brilliant Vincenzo Scamozzi and his inventive English admirer Inigo Jones. Lord Burlington, who bought most of the surviving drawings, will be presented, above all in relation to Chiswick.
A great architect whose work Burlington deplored, but who nevertheless was often inspired by Palladio, Francesco Borromini, will also be included, though to date he has never been interpreted as an imitator of Palladio.
Jefferson’s house at Monticello will be presented. So too will be important masterpieces commissioned by Catherine the Great of Russia: Cameron’s neo-Palladian villa at Pavlosk; Quarenghi’s Academy of Sciences at St Petersburg, and his palace for Alexander at Tsarskoye Selo.
A concluding section will recall Le Corbusier’s interest in Palladio and the parallels between these two founders (and propagandists for) new architectures.
Leading specialists will be responsible for these sections on Palladianism.

Love 2009 - New Year’s Eve in Venice

Venice is one of Italy’s most romantic cities so it’s fitting that they will ring in the new year with a giant group kiss in St. Mark’s Square. According to Love 2008, the new year of 2008 will be the new year of love. Thousands of kissers plan to gather in Piazza San Marco starting at 10:00 pm to start the new year with a gesture of love and peace. They’ll also toast with glasses of bellini, the sparkling wine and peach juice cocktail made famous in Venice.

The City of Venice web site has a live Piazza San Marco webcam so hopefully we’ll all be able to enjoy the giant kiss. Maybe the kiss will inspire you to make traveling to Venice your new year’s resolution.

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Shopping for Venetian Glass, Masks and Italian Foods

For the three weeks before Christmas — from December 2 through 24 — Campo Santo Stefano is transformed into a holiday village. Unlike most Italian holiday fairs, this one is filled entirely with craftsmen and food producers, whose displays are housed in 30 little wooden cabins. The square is lined with a backdrop picturing Venetian palaces, giving the whole scene a festival atmosphere.

Sponsored by the Artisan Association, the market features Christmas ornaments and decorations of Murano glass, traditional carnival masks, ceramics, jewelry, marbled paper and other Venetian craft specialties. The glass ornaments vary from delicate iridescent colored balls that look like bubbles frozen in mid-air, to fanciful blown shapes and little glass baubles in bright primary colors

Murano glass is also used in jewelry, alone or worked into designs with silver and gold. Carnival masks can be as simple as the red, gold and black eye masks or elaborate creations from the studios of San Polo. To see more masks, visit this sestiere near Rialto Bridge, a part of Venice less often visited by tourists.

One section of the Campo San Stefano market is devoted to Italian specialty foods – traditional cakes and sweets, fine olive oils, vintage balsamic vinegars and other locally made gourmet products fill the booths. Look for creamy white almond-studded nougat, fruit-filled panetone from nearby Verona, bags of specialty pastas, tiny biscotti, dried porcini mushrooms, candied chestnuts and delicacies made with precious white truffles from Alba.

The market’s festive atmosphere is heightened by musicians, concerts and entertainment, with some programs designed especially for children. Along with a shopping venue, the Christmas Market is a gathering place where Venetians and travelers mingle. Located in the sestiere of Dorsoduro, the square adjoins the Peggy Guggenheim Museum, not far from Gallerie dell’Accademia, and is an easy walk from San Marco via the Accademia Bridge across the Grand Canal.

Find more gifts and holiday decorations at the Mercatino dell’Antiquariato, which fills Campo San Maurizo with antiques and art throughout mid-December. Not all the antiques are priceless heirlooms, and sharp-eyed shoppers can often find treasures here, though few bargains. At the least, it’s a chance to see some fine examples of Murano glass from its glory days, or real Burano lace – hard to find on Burano, amid the Asian-made imitations sold by street vendors on the island

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