Zora da Venezia

Night shopping in San Marco sestiere...

Fondamenta

Midnight in green...

Sailors

A stroll, between friends, in the city...

Per Rialto

Loneliness in the city...

The Narrow House

The Narrow House, a funny artwork by Austrian artist Erwin Wurm, at Palazzo Cavalli Franchetti.

Campo Santo Stefano

Autumnal walk...

Back from the Islands

On the boat, back from Burano...

Basilica dei Santi Maria e Donato

Santi Maria e Donato, on the Island of Murano, is one of the oldest religious buildings in the lagoon. The foundation of the church dates back to the "saulniers" era, around the 7th century. The name of Santo Donato was added in 1125, after the saint's relics were brought back from Cephalonia. The church was restored by the American Committee Save Venice during the 1970s.

Sunset on the Canal

Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, others transform a yellow spot into the sun.
Pablo Picasso

Carabinieri

Morning in Burano...

Nothing since Thursday!?

Pierre must be busy. To keep you amused, I'm posting an image of an attractive capitello in Cannaregio. It is near to two churches dedicated to saints from the Old Testament, and on a fondamenta named for one of them. If you are not keen on puzzles, the answer follows in white: Capitello on Fondamenta San Giobbe, Cannaregio 579 - 579A

Delicious autumn!

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.
George Eliot

Oksana Mas' Eggs

Here is the material used for these hudge Oksana Mas "Mosaics". Those eggs are part of a work exposed in front of San Stae, on the Grand Canal. I must say that I had to carefully select the part I wanted to show you. Was I right or wrong I don't know, this being an artwork. Let's say it's just the photographer's choice. But the presence of a certain symbol, may be used in various ancient civilizations around the world, mainly in ancient India, but strongly associated in Europe with terrible ideologies of a recent past, disturbed me.

Oksana Mas

In Chiesa di San Fantin, near the Fenice, you can see until November 27, within the framework of the Bienale Arte 2011, this work, entitled "Post Vs Proto Renaissance" by Ukrainian Artist Oksana Mas.
I will show you tomorrow what kind of material has been used to make this large image.

St Martin

Last Friday (November 11) was in Venice St Martin's Day. Kids besiege shops making as much noise as possible shouting and knocking pans with iron spoons, asking for "Soldi, soldi...", while bakeries and pastry shops sell these oddly decorated cakes depicting St Martin and his horse.

When every leaf is a flower

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.
Albert Camus

Night walk

If I could not walk far and fast, I think I should just explode and perish.
Charles Dickens

Precious autumn sunshine

I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house. So I spend almost all the daylight hours in the open air.
Nathaniel Hawthorne

How do they do this?

This is really quite a crude mosaic - compared with many that you can see in Venice and elsewhere - and yet the face of Mary is so sweet. This capitello is on the side of a church in Castello. It is rather high up, and difficult to take a good photo through the grill. For more mosaics and more capitelli you should visit Churches in Venice (http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/annienc/), not to be confused with The Churches of Venice site, which is really good too (http://www.churchesofvenice.co.uk/).

Do you see what I see?

Sometimes this looks spooky, like the Munch 'Scream', and sometimes it looks quite comical. If it's not been painted over, you will find it in Castello if you follow the star.

Lest we forget

Since it is nearly Armistice Day, I thought I'd post this photo of a war memorial. It reads: "Anime Infantili Ravvivano la Fiamma d'Amore per gli Eroi" (Children's souls rekindle the flame of love for the heroes - I'm open to a better translation). You will find it near the church where the little dyer is buried.

Shortening the odds

Pierre may be busy for a few days, so I thought I'd show you how difficult it can sometimes be to get a photo without people getting in the way in Venice. I had that capitello on the right beautifully framed, when, all of a sudden, two people strolled into the shot. I took the photo anyway, just to show people the problems for a photographer in Venice. I would welcome any suitable quotes. Also the location, for some reason, has gone completely out of my head.

Wearing effect of time

O time! swift devourer of all created things!
Leonardo da Vinci Thoughts on Art and Life

Pali

These wooden stakes are a part of the very little tip of the iceberg. Venice was indeed built on a real underground forest of wooden poles which came from the Alps and the Balkans, and were meant to strengthen the fragile and swampy emerging grounds of the lagoon. Did you know that Santa Maria della Salute was built on 1.156.672 oak and larch trunks four meters long.

One autumn night

“One autumn night, five years before, they had been walking down the street when the leaves were falling, and they came to a place where there were no trees and the sidewalk was white with moonlight. They stopped here and turned toward each other. Now it was a cool night with that mysterious excitement in it which comes at the two changes of the year. The quiet lights in the houses were humming out into the darkness and there was a stir and bustle among the stars."
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Oarsmen

"Crew is life ... everything else is just details."

Going back home

Going back home, across the bridge.