My Introduction to Italy: Venice

Venice Museums and Churches

Venice like some many cities of architectural wonder was born out of desperations, much like Mesa Verde.  Islands within the Venice Lagoon were habited during the times of the Roman Empire, but Venice as we know it now really took off when the Roman Empire fell and the cities it once protected, such as on the mainland area of the Venice Lagoon fell prey to barbarians of the north.  Citizens of ex-Roman cities flocked to the islands of Venice seeking shelter.  On those islands a unique culture and societal system emerged, one I was recently able to experience on my tour of the Mediterranean. 

The "Bridge of Sighs", son named because it is though prisoners would sigh at their last sight of Venice before walking from their trail on the left to the prisons on the right.

We arrived in Venice the evening of Halloween, and although we managed to walk around the island a bit, flaunting a bit the Venetian mask I had brought while enjoying a beer and sandwich dinner.  However we were severely jet-lagged and needed a long sleep before engaging in some serious tourism.  The next day we were ready to make the most of our remaining two and a half days in Venice.  We started by making a bee line to the nearest water bus stop.  The main island of Venice is not so big as to be unwalkable, but when constantly afoot on old stone streets my feet tend to hurt, and without transportation that floats, we would have been unable to visit other islands of the lagoon.  We just made the age cutoff (twenty-nine) for the Venice water bus young person pass, granting three days of unlimited passage on the islands’ water buses for a significantly reduced fare.

The Palace of the Doge's across the grand canal.

My introduction to the water bus was not as I imagined it would be.  I had read in guide books and heard on travel shows how easy the water bus system was to use.  After finding the right floating dock that served as a pick up point for the line we wanted I dug my nose into my newly purchased guide book reading about the various neighborhoods of Venice and their attractions.  I was thrown off guard and almost off my feet when the dock shook with the ferocity of what I imagine a magnitude 7 earthquake feels like.  Even before I could regain my bearings I heard David state “I think our water bus is here.”  It seems the water buses have a very tight schedule to keep and maintain their timeliness by docking at ramming speed, allowing the floating dock to slow them down.  I would become accustom to this jolting over our stay.  I will say despite the aggressive docking procedures, the water buses themselves are surprisingly stable for how choppy the water of the canals and lagoons can get. 

The courtyard of the Doge's Palace, rooms of import surround the courtyard and were added on over hundreds of years.

Before starting our trip to Venice, I had just finished reading the section of The Innocents Abroad where Mark Twain visited Venice.  Based on his account, there was one not to be missed building, the Doge’s Palace, and that museum made our first goal in Venice.  The Doge’s Palace is located in St. Mark’s Square (so named because St. Marks body is supposedly interred in the adjacent Basilica).  After the loss of the ruling Romans, Venice became a republic, although not every person could vote.  Any male adult of the aristocracy whose birth was registered in the golden book maintained at the Doge’s Palace could vote (up to two thousand) for the governmental Senate and overseeing Doge, a position similar to our president today.  The Doge’s Palace was the setting of all governmental doings.  Everything from holding elections in one massive room, to senate sessions, and civil and criminal trials were conducted within its walls. 

The largest room of the palace, where elections were held.

Of the number of committees created to govern and rule over aspects of Venetian law and life, the most feared was the Council of Ten.  Comprised of ten members plus the Doge and six of his advisors (actually making it a council of seventeen), this committee constantly worked to root out treason and plots of subversion that undermined the republic.  Ancient Venetians took the health of their republic very seriously, setting up means of for tattle tails to inform the council of misdeeds via the Lion’s Mouth.  The Doge’s Palace was left unlocked, allowing Venetians to enter the palace at all hours and slip an anonymous note into the mouth of an engraved face which would then fall, like through a mail slot, into the offices of the Council of Ten.  This engraved face among the others of Venice were called the Lion’s Mouths and were strategically placed all over Venice with each mouth calling for specific types of secrets.  Got a neighbor with the plague who needs to be quarantined?  There’s a Lion’s Mouth for that. 

A room for senate meetings in the Doge's Palace.  Benches like these line the walls of almost every room in the palace.

After conviction by the Council of Ten or one of the other judiciary committees not dealing with treason, prisoners were sent across the Bridge of Sighs (so named because it is thought prisoners would sigh at their last view of Venice) into the prisons.  I was aghast at how horrible the prison cells were.  Some were as small as office cubicles with a door only three feet high and a single window the diameter of a softball above.  When I mentioned this to David, he reminded me these prisons were about punishment, not about rehabilitation like our prisons of today. 

The chamber of the feared Council of Ten in the Doge's Palace.

Admission to the Doge’s Palace (eighteen euro) grants visitors access to four museums in the Saint Mark’s Square area.  For a difference of six euro we were able to upgrade our tickets to include eleven museums of Venice.  I love history and art museums and in all we visited six of the museums Venice has to offer. 

The prison connected to the Doge's Palace by the Bridge of Sighs.  Many of the cells had short doorways such as these with a single small window above.

The first museums we visited after the Dodge’s Palace were the closest ones, the Correr Museum and Archeological Museum.  These museums partially encircle the upper floors of Saint Mark’s Square.  They contain the rooms of the palace from which monarchs ruled after the fall of the republic in 1797.  Moving through the museums brought us to the more interesting exhibits which focused on the lives of Venician citizens.  Each room was dedicated to a specific aspect of Venetian life ranging from their industries (boat building, glass and lace manufacturing, and trade) to an impressive coin collection exhibiting almost every coin made by the Republic in its one thousand year existence. 

The Doge's Palace as seen from the island San Giorgio Maggiore.

At some point (I’m not sure when) the Correr Museum turned into the Archeological museum whose focus is on ancient art.  The sheer number of ancient statues was a bit overwhelming.   So I honed in on the explanatory plaques to guide me through the menagerie of stone.  Probably the most interesting exhibit to me was on ancient duplicates.  I had this idea that prior to the twentieth century every piece of art was unique.  I had no idea that as far back as the middle ages artist were literally making copies of painting and sculptures, doing their best to make an exact duplicate, or triplicate, or hundrethicate.  In the Renaissance of all times when art was supposed to be undergoing revolution sculptors were still copying statues made five hundred years prior. 

The ballroom of the palace from which monarchs ruled Venice.  The upper balcony housed orchestras.

The next museum on my list was the Museo di Palazzo Mocenigo, a small museum on the top floor of a house.  I wanted to visit this museum despite its small size because it had an extensive clothing collection of various times of Venice’s existence.  Also it featured a perfume exhibit across a number of rooms.  I spent so much time sniffing herbs, spices, flowers, and combinations I couldn’t smell anything for about an hour after we left. 

Typical clothing of Venice is shown in the Mueso di Palazzo Mocenigo.  The large red capes of the men were worn by elected officials.  Other Venetian aristocracy wore similar capes of a flat black.

The last of the must see museums we wanted to visit was the Glass Museum.  I knew nothing about the history of glass making before visiting this museum, which provided not only a history of the trade, but examples to match. 

A perfume exhibit in the Mueso di Palazzo Mocenigo.  Visiotors can smell mixes of spices in the glass boxes and then see the origins of the spices on the map above.

Glass was invented in the middle east in the first century.  By the fourth century the knowledge of glass making had made its way to Venice, mostly due to the strong trading connections of Venice.  Even though the Venetians did not invent glass making, they sure perfected it and expanded on the already existing techniques.  Glass making became so prevalent on the Venetian Islands it became a fire hazard, and all glass making workshops were sent to the Island of Murano, where the Glass Museum we visited and all glass making shops exist today. 

An exhibit of glass from the third or fourth century at the Venitian Glass Museum.

Despite the skill of Venetian craftsmen, secrets of their trade got out and eventually the industry declined, causing the closure of many furnaces.  It was within this time though that glass bead making became the bread and butter of Murano.  Unlike blowing glass or using molds, beads are made by dripping a melted silica mixture onto a wire that is constantly turned.  The museum had thousands of different beads made this way on Murano.  Now Murano’s glass industry has somewhat recovered due to the development of modern art, with large pieces dramatic and colorful. 

Tablescapes such as this garden scene were popular in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Speaking of modern art, the Venetian Museum of Modern Art was the last museum we visited the morning we left Venice.  I am by no means a fan of modern art, but after the overwhelming number of Renaissance and Gothic statues of the Correr Museum I wanted a change of pace.  Art in the Venice Museum of Modern Art can only be as old at the mid eighteenth century.  The museum is set up so that visitors start with the oldest pieces of art and progress to the newer pieces.  By the time we got to the newest pieces, I was walking straight through the rooms which looked more like construction sites than an art museum.  I actually mistook a yellow air duct tubing as a part of a renovation project, not the art piece “tube” that is was.  David noticed the placard explaining the piece as we walked out the building.  A few days before our trip to Venice I actually read an article where a custodian at an Italian museum accidentally threw out a piece of modern art which resembled a pile of trash.  I understand now how that mistake could be made.

Some of the most recent and largest pieces in the Glass Museum.

While I wasn’t thrilled with the modern art, I think it made me appreciate the art of the Renaissance all the more, which is good since our next stop on our itinerary was Florence, birthplace of the Renaissance.  The upper floors of the museum featured an Asian art collection, which was some private collection of swords, board games, suits of armor, hats, and other random pieces that some Venetian noble acquired on his trip around the world. 

It's no wonder custodians can mistake modern art for a pile of garbage that needs to be cleaned up, as this piece in the Venetian Museum of Modern Art shows.

The last museum I want to mention is one I could have skipped, it was the Venice Museum of Natural History.  I love natural history museums, and not necessarily large ones.  I’ve already posted about how I much I loved the Paige Museum of the La Brea tar pits, and that museum is tiny.  Unfortunately the Venice Museum of Natural History was lacking any sort of original display or interactive features.  It was basically room upon room of stuffed animals on display with no English explanations.  Even the Italian explanation plaques were brief.  It was very canned.  I am happy we did not pay for entry (it was included in the Museum Pass). 

Here I am so excited going into the Venetian Museum of Natural History.  I would be so disappointed going out.

Aside of museums, Venice has a lot of churches.  We visited six of them.  The first, San Giorgio Maggiore was probably my favorite because it has its own island.  It’s also filled with large modern art sculptures that contrast nicely with the sixteenth century brass altar. 

We saw this giant mesh head in the church of San Giorgio Maggiore.

We also found the church from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.  It’s the church in the movie that was converted into a library underneath which they find the shield with the map on the dead knight’s body.  In reality only the outside of the church was used in the movie.  The church was not converted to a library, but an art gallery.  Art is just everywhere in Venice. 

The island and church of San Giorgio Maggiore.

One more thing which seems to be everywhere in Venice are bell towers.  From our hotel room, I would hear every morning starting at six several bell towers chime the hour.  While it really only take fifteen seconds to chime six the entire occurrence takes a few minutes, because the towers are not synced.  First one will start, then another ten seconds later, then another a few seconds after that.  Bells and the constant sound of suitcases rolling over stone streets (no cars) make up the sounds of Venice.  In a way the constant sounds of tourists struggling with their suitcases is a sign of the health of Venice’s economy.  Without tourism Venice’s economy would have sunk faster than its land is currently sinking into the lagoon. 

David standing in front of the Venetian church used in Indiana Jones and he Last Crusade.

On the first day I was confused as to the stack of tables strung along the streets of Venice.  What  I thought were tables are actually walking platforms placed in line when a rather high tide is expected and the streets flood.  Thankfully we missed such a high tide, but it serves as a reminder as to why we should visiting Venice now and not later.  Venice is going under.

The absolute last thing we accomplished in Venice and one of my favorite was a trip to the fish market (although this market includes produce and butchers as well).  The market wraps up by the afternoon, making a morning visit a must.  The market place was filled to the brim with seafood so fresh, some of it was still moving.  I’m not kidding.  At one point I saw a fish monger picking jumping shrimp out of the ice surrounding his shrimp display, throwing them back onto the pile with their buddies who had resigned their fate. 

Some of the products still move at the Venetian fish market.

Beyond the stalls of sardines and swordfish were the produce stands.  Of course their were oranges, bananas, and apples, but what really caught my eyes were the piles and piles of sun dried tomatoes.  I love sun dried tomatoes and I could not believe how inexpensive they were, about half the price of what I see them in the US.  I bought a small bag’s worth for a healthy snack later in the day on the train. 

Piles of sun dried tomatoes are common in the Venetian fish market.

A few notes on practical matters before I end this post.  We visited Venice in early November well into the off-season.  Some may think this is not the time to visit Venice due to the cold, but I found it pleasant.  There was no snow on the ground, and a moderate jacket and jeans was all I needed to stay warm.  In contrast I feel like visiting in the summer might be overbearingly hot.  Plus on the weekdays the city was nicely not crazy busy. 

Happy on our first day in Venice on the the Grand Canal.

We arrived to Venice by plane and departed by bus.  The train station is located on the main island of Venice and is so easy to use; we bought our tickets seven minutes before the train departed from a kiosk and still made it on board without a problem.  The airport, while small is located on the mainland of the Venice municipality.  We found three options to get from the airport to the main island.  We could take a private water taxi for over one hundred euro, take a ferry for fifteen euro each, or take a bus for eight euro each.  We saved our money and took the bus.  The bus only makes two stops, the airport and the island and the airport pick up is right outside the doors of baggage claim. 

The streets of the island of Murano are much less busy than that of the main island of Venice.

As I already mentioned, the city does flood during the highest tides.  This did not happen during our visit.  When the city does flood, platforms are erected that are strategically stacked all around the city.  During flooding tides these platforms are set up to make walkways down some of the streets and up to major points of interest.  They don’t go up to every door however.  The rest of the time they lie in piles on the streets serving as benches for tired locals and tourists.  The platforms stand as a constant reminder that the city has a limited amount of time above water left.

Tourists rest on the piles of platforms which serve as walkways during the highest tides.

Venice is a maze.  I researched a few restaurants to eat at ahead of time.  I found none of them until I accidentally ran into one of the bars on our way out of the city in the morning.  Finding super popular areas like the Rialto Bridge or Saint Mark's Square are easy to find, but small restaurants and bars are not.  Be flexible when it comes to dinning, and above all make the most of your time in this marvelous city.