The Venice Blog

Lady Clarke, Venetian ambassador of the Venice in Peril fund, probably has done more for the preservation of Venice than any other forestiere. Having had the opportunity to become acquainted with her charming and inspiring personality in March 2004, I wonder why Lady Clarke was not awarded much earlier with a title such as the XXVII prize “Veneziano dell’anno” 2006, awarded by the associazione Settemari. With her commitment to the city for more then twenty years, Lady Clarke is beyond doubt more Venetian than most of the fellow citizens that can call themselves Venetians.

As the CEO of ACTV SpA, the company running the water bus service in the lagoon of Venice as well as the metropolitan bus service in Mestre, recently announced, two and three new vaporetti will be acquired in 2007 and 2008 respectively, replacing the oldest ones in the ACTV fleet. The company’s dockyard near Sant’Elena will be entirely transferred to the Tronchetto, giving the opportunity of revitalizing the east side of the city. Another good news: from spring on, the frequency of Line n° 1, which runs from the Piazzale Roma via the Grand Canal and St. Mark’s to the Lido, will be reduced from 10 to seven minutes, which will hopefully lead to a stress-free ride on the most beautiful street in the world.

Some photos from today’s so-called Regata delle Befane, a traditional rowing along the Grand Canal with members of the Bucintoro rowing club dressed as befane - old women who bring, according to the tradition, gifts on the day of the Epiphany.

This 19th century house in the Piscina San Samuele (San Marco 3427, half way between Campo San Stefano and the Traghetto) was recently renovated. After the removal of the scaffold some days ago, it appears in a lurid red without any respect for important neighbours such as the gothic Querini and Pisani palaces. Note especially the insane treatment of the round arches painted all over, while only the middle pillars and the loggia cornice were left white. The fettlers’ work is sleazy, and the plaster already has first signs of decay.

As always, there are, apart from the owner of the house, three culprits: the architect (responsible for the choice of plaster and colour, and for the lack of supervision), the Soprintendenza, which is responsible for the preservation of monuments (for accepting the architects’ choice, and for the lack of supervision as well) and the City of Venice (for approving the architect’s project, and for the lack of obligatory restoration guidelines).

In the face of the ever-dimishing number of inhabitants of the historic centre of Venice approaching the critical mark of 60′000, deputy mayor Michele Vianello considers a financial aid for middle class families who are committed to a life within the alleys and canals. Since it is virtually impossible to acquire a decent home for a price of less then 5.000 € per square metre, Vianello proposed to not only help the proletariat with the so-called case popolare (social housing), but also those who gain less than 50.000 € a year and pay a monthly rent of up to 1.000 €. But as the interview in the Gazzettino newspaper of December, 19, reveals, Vianello’s ‘middle class’ mainly consists of water taxi drivers and motoscafisti, so helping the middle class does imply a further promotion of tourism. This is where the deputy mayor is going round in circles, since it is the acceleration of tourism beyond rationality that led to the current problems. It seems that the municipality wants to continue the administration of inherited nuisances and completely lacks a vision for Venice.

Last sunday, the Venice blog took advantage of the fine weather and took a gondola ride throuth the sestiere of San Polo, starting from the franciscan church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, via the Rio di San Polo and the Rio delle Do Torre and finally the Grand Canal. This route is to be preferred over Rialto-Rio S. Luca-Rio de la Fava-Rialto for the quality of the monuments and the lighting. I selected a gondolier, whose equipment was entirely black and  therefore historically “correct”. As is generally known,  the Venetian Senate prohibited  colourful gondolas as early as in 1562 to  fight the patricians’ ever growing pomposity, but nowadays, some gondoliers toady with gondolas having red and golden decoration.

Especially while gliding nearly soundless along the San Polo canal, I encountered new astonishing perspectives, since most of the buildings, such as the gothic Bernardo palace or Corner palace, have their main facade and entrance on a canal, so I  asked the gondolier to slow down on several occasions. A ride by boat is the only way to perceive Venetian architecture correctly. Finally turning into the Grand Canal near Ca’Pesaro was a great experience of a sudden vastness, with the palaces on the north bank, especially the so-called Ca’ d’Oro, were illuminated by the lutescent winter sun. Especially in the winter months, with the city being calm, a gondola ride is a outstanding esthetic experience, and entirely different from the daily use of the traghetto gondola across the Grand Canal.

On December, 11, the historic part of Venice finally got what other Terraferma cities have had for quite a time: paper, glass/metal and residual waste now have to be collected separately, and are disposed on different weekdays. So far, the new system flows smoothly. Furthermore, the administration announced the introduction of civil inspectors to hunt down a bunch of fellow citizens, who accumulate unsorted piles of rubbish in front of other peoples’ homes.

Once again, the tourist industry can celebrate a victory. Their propaganda machinery, in cooperation with international media, finally made the Italien lefty government put the planned tourist tax on hold. Guests would have contributed with up to five Euro a day, one per each hotel star, for the preservation of monuments and the maintenance of cities such as Rome, Florence and Venice. In reality, the introduction of a tourist tax in other cities and regions has never led to sinking numbers of guests.

While hoteliers’ associations and compliant blogs express their explicit and implicit relief, the City of Venice, which had already included 20 million Euro from the projected tourist tax in their 2007 budget, now has to take the sum from the ever-diminishing Venice residents — by bumping up the prices of waste disposal, i.e. of a facility, whose capacities are in large part absorbed by the 18 million tourists per year. More than a farce.

The mayor of Venice, Massimo Cacciari, initiated a internet photo album on the 1966 flood, called Album di Venezia. While certain technical aspects of the site may be disturbing, the photos are an excellent documentation.

Bill Weidner, who already built the $1.4 billion casino complex “The Venetian” in Las Vegas, a dumb Venice replica with copies of the Ca’d'Oro and other buildings as well as several thousand hotel rooms, is currently erecting a second copy of Venice in Macau. Now, the very same Bill Weidner, who recently was in the real Venice for great dispense, wants to “deepen the cultural exchange between China and Venice”, and establish a “Chinese House” in Venice. In fact its’all about making money out of tourism and a immense new market. But his attempt to buy the 16th century Fondaco dei Tedeschi near the Rialto has failed. Now Bill is looking for another house to buy. Knowing the price of everything, the value of nothing.