On the Canal(s)

Part 13:  On the Canal(s) 

The Grand Canal winds like a spine through the fish-shaped islands that form Venice.  It is two miles long, 150 feet wide and 15 feet deep.  There are two smaller canals and 45 smaller “rii” (rivers) that flow into the Grand Canal.  Plying the canals are vaporetti (water taxis) police and government boats, work boats, personal transportation and fishing boats, small luxury boats and the romantic and colorful gondole.  Luxurious pallazzi line the Grand Canal, smaller homes and shopping areas line the smaller canals and rivers.  Real estate on the Grand Canal can cost as much as $100,000 a square  foot.  Flooding and rising water levels have led to a polyglot of elegance and decay. 

The Grand Canal from Rialto Bridge

The Palazzo Corner 

 

The Palazzo dates from the late 16^th century.  In 1817 the Corner family sold it to the Austrian Empire.  Today it is the seat of the province of Venice.

The Accademia Bridge 

At its southern end is the Gallerie dell ‘Accademia, the best art museum in Venice.  It displays Venetian art from the Middle Ages through the 18^th century.  Our group toured the Accademia, but no photography is allowed. 

Our guide Laura gave us a marvelous tour and lecture.  Using the paintings in the Accademia  she wove together the development of art from the start of the 14^th  century to the end of the 15^th, the high point of the Renaissance in Florence.  Some of her points:  icons (thought to have miraculous powers) were no longer emphasized in religious paintings; saints were less likely to be portrayed with halos; paintings were given shadows and depth, and colors were subdued – all  placing saints more in the real world than in a far off heaven.  Some of the painters we saw:  Ghirlandaio, Giorgione (The Tempest), Mantegna, Tintoretto, Titian, and Veronese. There was special exhibit of Leonardo’s sketches and notebooks for several of his works.  Here is the Wikipedia link:
              
                                             http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallerie_dell%27Accademia

The Palazzo Barbaro

The Palazzo is now the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti.  In the late 19 century the Stuart family (American) bought, moved into and restored this palace.  Their actions were instrumental in attracting other foreign investors to Venice and re-establishing it as an international center of art and culture.

Gondole

In the 17^th and 18^th century there were eight to ten thousand gondolas, Today there are about 400. The profession is controlled by a guild which issues a limited number of licenses after training , apprenticeship, and testing on Venetian history, landmarks, foreign language skills,  and ability to maneuver the gondola  through the smaller canals.

It’s traditionally been an all-male profession.  But recently a woman was licensed, and is only waiting for her father to retire so she can assume his position.

A small canal - Rio

Basilica of San Giorgio Maggiore,

The Basilica, built in the late 16^th century, is on a small island across the lagoon from St. Marks.

 La Salute Church

 The Church (officially the Church of St Mary of Good Health) was built after a plague killed a third of the population in 1630.

An Array of Boats

Workboat

Small Water Bus

Emergency Boat

Luxury Boat

Is Venice Dying?

 In 1951, 174,000 people lived in Venice; today only 60,000, and 25% are 65 or older.  Rick Steves points out the difficulty of living there:  apartments are small and expensive;  humidity and flooding make basic maintenance a pain (The first floors of many buildings have been abandoned because they are too expensive to maintain); home improvement requires miles of red tape to assure the historical ambience is maintained; everything has to be shipped from the mainland; running basic errands means lots of walking and carting over arched bridges.

 The city loses 1000 people every year in spite of the government subsidizing housing.  But the economy thrives thanks to tourism (150,000 visitors every day) and rich foreigners buying second homes.  City planners worry that in a few decades Venice will not be a city but a cultural theme park, a decaying Disneyland for adults.