Need for Speed

An exhilarating speed boat ride across the lagoon...

Sotto, sopra...

Sometimes over the water, sometimes under the houses, here goes your way in Venice...

A ray of sunlight

The sun has not caught me in bed in fifty years.
Thomas Jefferson

Pilot on the Lagoon

Various kinds of boats, of different sizes, are used to sail all over the lagoon from an island to the other.

Salame di Cioccolato

Weakness for sweet things in camouflage...

Venice

In Venice the red,
Never a boat thats sped,
No fisher on the mere,
No lantern near.

Seated alone on shore,
The Lion grand lifts
Over Horizon without flaw,
His bronzed paw.

Around him,
Ranged in groups,
Great vessels and shallops,
Like herons all adoze
In silent rows,

On smoking waves reclined
And oer the mist entwined,
Their standards, hovering
In airy ring.

The moon that groweth pale,
Her fading brow doth veil,
A cloud all starry lined
Half hidden behind.
Alfred de Musset (1710-1857)

Hotel des Bains

The famous Hotel des Bains (Death in Venice) is undergoing renovation to be sold by apartments. This is the only picture I could catch owing to the high fence enclosing the site.

Sailing

I am sailing, I am sailing,
home again 'cross the sea.
I am sailing, stormy waters,
to be near you, to be free.
Rod Stewart

Colori Ferramenta

Another one of the old shops surviving in Venice... How long will it last?

Cherub

One of the numerous members of the cherub family, chubby little angels so depicted in Venetian architecture.

Dawn

Dawn: When men of reason go to bed.
Ambrose Bierce

Errands

In the center of Venice, around Piazza San Marco and most of San Marco Sestiere is the territory of luxury shops, garments, shoes, jewellery, art galleries... But in some other parts of the city, you can still find corner shops where the "last of the Venetians" can go on their daily errands.

Glasses

Glasses, waiting for a patron to order a spritz...

Rialto Bridge

The Rialto bridge from inside... for a change.

Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose

In this city widely considered as one of the most romantic cities in the world, in this honeymooners city, roses merchants know there is business to do. Sometimes funny and smiling, always insistent, they spot the couples of tourists and start chatting them up. Amazing salesmen...

On the Sly

Unlike Rome, where you can take pictures in all the most beautiful churches and famous museums, even St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museums (Sistine Chapel being the only exception) Venice is not very "photographers friendly". No pictures inside the Basilica, nor in the Doge's Palace, or in the museums, or in most of the chuches... I perfectly understand the flashlight to be prohibited. Dangerous for the artworks and unpleasant for your fellows visitors. But in Venice the photographer is hunted. The paradox is that almost everybody can make a picture with a telephone or with a compact camera without being seen. And obviously they don't hesitate to do it. But whent you own a noisy "reflex camera" it's almost impossible to go unnoticed. But sometimes I try my luck, shooting without aiming when there is no guard around. It never gives a great result, and you can be scolded by the guard. But well, "A vaincre sans péril, on triomphe sans gloire" would say this old Corneille.

Servizio Gondole

When you are coming from the other end of the world, even a cold and endless drizzle won't keep you from riding a gondola...

Let it rain...

The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Night Chat

How nice is it to stand on a bridge and have a casual chat, while smoking the cigarette prohibited inside, and then return to the warm hubbub of the trattoria...

Ariving in Venice

Hi my dear friends and VDP visitors. I'm back and going to take over for a while, untill our friend Bert (whom I want to thank warmly for having dealt with VDP with so much talent) takes the helm again! To tell the truth, Bert's photos and words have been found copied onto another site without authorisation, and so we are trying to stop it happening, which is why I have taken over the helm and will put on the pictures from now on this clumsy "watermark".

This ain't 'alf 'eavy!

This is the tomb of Petro Mauroceno, according to the inscription. He died in 1683, aged 72. The sculptor of this tomb, and that of Petro's brother Giorgio facing it, was Giusto Le Court, who died in 1679. This may seem a little odd, but if you can enlarge the inscription you will see that spaces were left for the year of Petro's death and his age, and these were filled in later.

Just lie back and think of Venice

This is the ceiling of the apse of the church of San Clemente. I don't know who painted it or when.
Please note: it's 'lie back' not 'lay back'.

It's time I posted some of the pictures I took on San Clemente. There's no point making them 'mystery photos', as I doubt that many of you will have visited the island - tell me if I'm wrong.
There are two large tombs, one on either side of the nave. They are the tombs of Petro (sic) and Giorgio Mauroceno (Morosini). Each monument has a pair of Atlantes supporting a sarcophagus. This image shows the head of one of the Atlantes on Giorgio's tomb. There is an inscription on each tomb, but they're in Latin. All I can tell you is that Giorgio died in 1676.

Details, details. Don't bother me with details.

I don't think I've seen the film "Layer Cake", and I'm pretty sure I've not heard the song "Shelter Me", so I have no idea where I've heard this before. But I really wanted to say the opposite. Do bother with the details. Somebody may recognise the back gate of the palazzo from the top photo.

It's nice here, isn't it?

I have no doubt that this couple make this photo better, though I could wish that they hadn't had so many bags with them. The church is dedicated to a saint who is invoked against the plague.

All the lonely people, where do they all come from?

Thanks to Alexa, I can now reveal the wide-angle shot of Venice as Justice. You see, I think most people would be looking down, so that they did not trip on the steps. Also, they would be trying not to bump into the hundreds of people going in the opposite direction. You can see the campanile of San Giovanni Elemosinario against the sky. This photo was taken at about 7:20 in July 2009.

Ecce leo

I wanted to complete my trilogy of lions with closed books (or with books that might be closed, or with things that might be books) yesterday, but I couldn't find this photo. But now I have and here it is! I would like to share with you a quote from the Cadogan City Guide to Venice (1991): "The most ridiculous lion ... is the bellicose Venetian feline over the gateway, ...whose parents must have been a winged poodle and a warthog."
The statue of the lion is attributed to (or should that be 'blamed on'?) Bartomeo Bon according to one of my books.
You should have no trouble finding it.

A meeting place

This is the place mentioned a little while ago where the sestieri of Santa Croce, San Polo and Dorsoduro meet, though Dorsoduro is off to the left. You may have seen it in Don't Look Now and Brideshead Revisited (the TV series).

Is your pen really mightier than this?

This image show Venice as 'Justice' - a frequent theme. It isn't hard to find this one. It's in plain view, and most visitors will probably pass it, but they may not notice it.

Have you ever been this startled?

I thought I would show you another image of St Mark's lion with a closed book - definitely a closed book this time. Well, I think it's a book. It's hard to tell what it is. What is it, if it's not a book? To see this lion you have to get into the building next to the Frari, the State Archives. I was able to do this in July 2009, when there was a Biennale exhibit in there. I don't think this was originally where it is now, but I don't know much about it.

Get your own book! This one's mine.

A fairly rare example of the lion of St Mark with a paw resting on a closed book. I have read that the book was depicted closed when Venice was at war. It would not seem right to say "Pax tibi ..." when you are at war. Since Venice was at war quite a lot, the closed book should not be so rare. When the lion is depicted within a circle, it is known as "leone in moleca". "Moleca" (also seen as "mo'eca") is Venetian for "crab". This one can be found in Cannaregio, in a street with an appropriately feline name.

Corner-stone

This is in Cannaregio, near to San Marcuola. I don't know what it is or why it's here, but it seems to be a convenience for dogs now. At least the date seems certain. I'm just guessing, but perhaps it marks a plague pit. Your guess may be as good as mine, but if you actually know the answer, please tell me.