Let us eat, drink and be merry

San Nicolo dei Mendicoli. A place that I like, at the tip of the Dorsoduro, in the south of Venice. On one side of the campanile, under the large and ancient clock a slab dated from 1764 reads "Lethi Vive Memor Fugit Hora"...Live mindful of death , time is flowing.
So... Let us eat, drink and be merry!

The Venetian Gondolier

Here rest the weary oar! - soft airs
Breathe out in the o'erarching sky;
And Night! - sweet Night - serenely wears
A smile of peace; her noon is nigh.

Where the tall fir in quiet stands,
And waves, embracing the chaste shores,
Move o'er sea-shells and bright sands,-
Is heard the sound of dipping oars.

Swift o'er the wave the light bark springs,
Love's midnight hour draws lingering near:
And list! - his tuneful viol strings
The young Venetian Gondolier.

Lo! on the silver-mirrored deep,
On earth, and her embosomed lakes,
And where the silent rivers sweep,
From the thin cloud fair moonlight breaks

Soft music breathes around, and dies
On the calm bosom of the sea;
Whilst in her cell the novice sighs
Her vespers to her rosary.

At their dim altars bow fair forms,
In tender charity for those,
That, helpless left to life's rude storms,
Have never found this calm repose.

The bell swings to its midnight chime,
Relieved against the deep blue sky!-
Haste! - dip the oar again! - 'tis time
To seek Genevra's balcony.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

San Polo by Shell Sherree

From a reader and blogger in Brisbane, Australia... Thank you so much Shell Sherree, that's great. I'm honoured and chuffed!
Here is the original pic and here Shell Sherree's blog.

Painting the Town

Burano. The "Rainbow City" as used to say Jean Cocteau. I just let you imagine the amount of paint needed to keep Murano this way... and the colour of the pink shirt at the end of the work!

Image Alain Hamon - Destination Italie

Squero di San Trovaso

One of the lasts gondolas yards in Venice, near San Trovaso Church in the Dorsoduro.

Venice Carnival 2010

Time to prepare your masks, hats and 18th century costumes for next Venice Carnival, in just three month now, on February 6th to 14th...

Gesuiti

In the north of Venice, in a quiet part of busy Cannaregio, along the wide Fondamente Nove canal, you will discover Santa Maria Asunta, also known as the Church of the Gesuiti. A huge baroque building from the 17th century, with a facade by Giovanni Battista Fattoretto.

Saturday Evening at San Giacomo di Rialto

A nice place to end the week with a bunch of jolly good fellows...

Group Portrait with Accordion

You hear them arrive from far away. First it's a song in the background. Then the sound of an accordion. And then they come out on the Grand Canal. A whole party of six gondolas and their gondoliere, two musicians and some twenty tourists. Difficult to go "incognito" in Venice with such a team.

Walk

“Few people know how to take a walk. The qualifications are endurance, plain clothes, old shoes, an eye for nature, good humor, vast curiosity, good speech, good silence and nothing too much.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sestiere di San-Polo

Morning peace and quiet in San-Polo.

On the Grand Canal

How pleasant it must be to visit this City in one's own boat..

Ca d'Oro

One more picture of the most famous palace on the Grand Canal, the Ca d'Oro (Gilded House). It was built in the 15e century, along of the Grand Canal, of which it is one of the jewels. Its loggias are fabulous flamboyant Gothic laces.

Calcio

A little calcio game after school... What a great pleasure for kids, in Italy as anywere else in the world...

Picture Exhibition at Palazzo Zenobio

Until November 22nd, a picture exibition at Palazzo Zenobio, a baroque palace, Fondamenta del Soccorso in the Dorsoduro.

Le Passanti

"A quella quasi da immaginare
tanto di fretta l'hai vista passare
dal balcone a un segreto più in là
e ti piace ricordarne il sorriso
che non ti ha fatto e che tu le hai deciso
in un vuoto di felicità." (Listen to the song in Italian)

"To the one whom you saw appear
For a second at her window
And who, sharp, vanishes
But whose svelte silhouette
Is so graceful and slender
That you stand in a glow from it."

Antoine Pol - Les Passantes
Italian Translation Fabrizio De André
English Translation David-Barfield

San Nicolo dei Mendicoli

That's not the first time that I show you this old little church situated in the extreme west of the Dorsoduro. I don't go so often to tis remote part of Venice, but each time I'm there I enjoy the quiteness of the neighborhood. San Nicolo dei Mendicoli is one of the oldest churches in Venice, built in the 12th century, and later renovated, in 1361 and 1580.

After the Market

La Pescheria, the fish market, so quiet and deserted after the morning hustle and bustle...

Fruit and vegetable merchant

On the way from San Barnaba church to the campo Santa Marguerita, in the Dorsoduro, you can buy some fresh fruits and vegetables at this nice and traditional little barge. Between two custommers, the shopkeeper spends some time pruning artichokes, a very sought-after delicacy in Italy.

San Giovanni Evangelista

Not far from the campo dei Frari, slightly going towards the north, in San Polo Sestiere, here is the Scuola San Giovanni Evangelista. On its little campo, this finely chiselled great door has been made by the Renaissance sculptor and architect Pietro Lombardo in 1478.

Baby, out in the street I just feel all right

When Im out in the street
I walk the way I wanna walk
When Im out in the street
I talk the way I wanna talk
When Im out in the street
When Im out in the street

When Im out in the street, girl
Well, I never feel alone
When Im out in the street, girl
In the crowd I feel at home
Baby, out in the street I dont feel sad or blue

Bruce Springsteen

Palazzo Zen

Situated near the Gesuati, in the Cannaregio Sestiere, this large palace was built from 1537 by Francesco and Sebastiano Zen. On the facade, a stone tablet remembers two forerunners of this aristocratic family, Nicolo and Antonio Zeno who, around the year 1400, are said to have sail up to the northern Atlantic Ocean (and some say up to North America). A beautiful story wich is nowdays considered as a mere legend by most historians...

Time to bail out...

There is what happens when one doesn't take care of his belongings!
At least the rats have deserted, for sure...

Behind San Giacomo dell Orio

In the heart of San Polo Sestiere, in the middle of a network of straight and quiet streets, San Giacomo dell Orio is one of the oldest churches in Venice.

Morning Paper

In Venice as in evry city in the world, people commute twice a day and make the most of this time spent in public transports by reading the daily papers.

Roundabout Way

Coming back, at night, from some great dinner at Marie and Alain's home, I love to follow a roundabout way and spend some minutes dreaming over this green mirror on the back of the Teatro la Fenice...

From a Window in Ca Zanardi

17th century palace, Ca Zanardi is today a nice and cosy guest house in the Cannaregio sestiere.

Riva del Vin

This bank of the Grand Canal, close to the Rialto Bridge, used to be the place where the wine docks where situated. It's today a lovely place to have dinner at night.

Santa Maria della Salute

In the aftermath of a terrible bubonic plague epidemic, the Republic of Venice decided that a votive church would be built. Choosen to work on this project the young architect Baldassare Longhena will dedicate fifty years of his life to this masterpice, from 1631 to his death in 1682.

Boy with Frog (2)

Another image of the Boy with Frog, at the Punta della Dogana...

Rialto

On the central steps of the Rialto bridge...