On Friday the 20th of September 2024, we got up early and walked from Camping Bella Italia along the Lake to Pescheria Train Station. We caught the train to Verona, where we switched to another train to Venice. After about a 2 hour journey the train pulls into Venice St Lucia Train Station.
We leave the station and stop to have our photos taken in front of the Grand Canal with Chiesa di San Simeon Piccolo beyond.
Chiesa di San Simeon Piccolo was founded in the 9th century by the Adoldi and Briosi families . The institution of the parish should date back to the 11th century , the period in which the first administrative structure of the city was defined, while the consecration certainly dates back to 21 June 1271. The original church was probably a basilica plan (with three naves ) and built parallel to the Grand Canal . This structure began to show signs of deterioration in the 16th century ,so much so that it was decided to completely rebuild it.
We check out the water taxi's but reading the signs it seems they are on strike today! So we decide to walk through the city.
We walk on and cross the Grand Canal by the Pont Degi Scalzi.
The Ponte degli Scalzi is, together with the Rialto Bridge , the Accademia Bridge and the Ponte della Costituzione , one of the four bridges that cross the Grand Canal in Venice . The bridge takes its name from the nearby church of Santa Maria di Nazareth , better known as the church of the Scalzi.
The work is called the station or railway bridge due to its proximity to the Venice Santa Lucia railway station .
We walk on through the narrow streets crossing the canal Rio Marin by the Ponte de la Bergama,
We continue along canals and back streets.
We reach The Scuola Grande San Giovanni Evangelista, a school in Venice , located in the San Polo district , near the church of San Giovanni Evangelista.
It is the oldest school founded among those still operating in the city.
Founded in 1261 , the Scuola San Giovanni Evangelista, one of the richest and most prestigious in Venice, was a brotherhood of "disciplined or flagellants", also called Battuti , who gathered around themselves the devotion for their patron saint , Saint John the Evangelist . Initially its headquarters were in Sant'Aponal , in 1301 (or perhaps in 1307) it moved to the area of the parish of San Stin , near the church of San Giovanni Evangelista , founded by the rich Badoer family and subjected to their patronage
Walking on we popped into a Venice mask shop.
Walking on we pass more canals and more bridges, all very pretty!
We cross Pont dei Frari and pass Basilica S.Maria Gloriosa dei Frari opposite.
The Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, commonly abbreviated to the Frari, is a church located in the Campo dei Frari at the heart of the San Polo district of Venice, Italy. It is the largest church in the city and it has the status of a minor basilica. The church is dedicated to the Assumption of Mary.
As we walk on we pass through a square where a woman was playing the Harry Potter theme on glasses.
We stop at a shop and buy some Cannoli to try. Cannoli is a Sicilian pastry consisting of a tube-shaped shell of fried pastry dough, filled with a sweet, creamy filling containing ricotta cheese. Its size ranges from 9 to 20 centimetres. In mainland Italy, it is commonly known as cannolo siciliano.
Walking on reach the ferry to take us across the Grand Canal again to reach the San Marco area of Venice. But there is a large queue and only one Gondola ferry making the crossing.
Venice formerly Venexia is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 126 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are linked by 472 bridges. The islands are in the shallow Venetian Lagoon, an enclosed bay lying between the mouths of the Po and the Piave rivers (more exactly between the Brenta and the Sile). In 2020, around 258,685 people resided in greater Venice or the Comune di Venezia, of whom around 51,000 live in the historical island city of Venice (centro storico) and the rest on the mainland (terraferma). Together with the cities of Padua and Treviso, Venice is included in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area (PATREVE), which is considered a statistical metropolitan area, with a total population of 2.6 million.
So we queue and we queue!
The name is derived from the ancient Veneti people who inhabited the region by the 10th century BC. The city was historically the capital of the Republic of Venice for almost a millennium, from 810 to 1797. It was a major financial and maritime power during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and a staging area for the Crusades and the Battle of Lepanto, as well as an important centre of commerce—especially silk, grain, and spice, and of art from the 13th century to the end of the 17th. The city-state of Venice is considered to have been the first real international financial centre, emerging in the 9th century and reaching its greatest prominence in the 14th century. This made Venice a wealthy city throughout most of its history. For centuries Venice possessed numerous territories along the Adriatic Sea and within the Italian peninsula, leaving a significant impact on the architecture and culture that can still be seen today. The Venetian Arsenal is considered by several historians to be the first factory in history, and was the base of Venice's naval power. The sovereignty of Venice came to an end in 1797, at the hands of Napoleon. Subsequently, in 1866, the city became part of the Kingdom of Italy.
After what must have been nearly an hour queue, we board the Gondola to cross the Grand Canal.
Venice has been known as "La Dominante", "La Serenissima", "Queen of the Adriatic", "City of Water", "City of Masks", "City of Bridges", "The Floating City", and "City of Canals". The lagoon and the historic parts of the city within the lagoon were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, covering an area of 70,176.4 hectares (173,410 acres). Parts of Venice are renowned for the beauty of their settings, their architecture, and artwork. Venice is known for several important artistic movements – especially during the Renaissance period – and has played an important role in the history of instrumental and operatic music; it is the birthplace of Baroque composers Tomaso Albinoni and Antonio Vivaldi.
I paid the 8 euros toll and we are crossing the canal just as it starts to rain!
Well at least we got to ride a Gondola on the Grand Canal!
In the 21st century, Venice remains a very popular tourist destination, a major cultural centre, and has often been ranked one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It has been described by The Times as one of Europe's most romantic cities and by The New York Times as "undoubtedly the most beautiful city built by man". However, the city faces challenges including an excessive number of tourists, pollution, tide peaks and cruise ships sailing too close to buildings. In light of the fact that Venice and its lagoon are under constant threat in terms of their ecology and the safeguarding of the cultural heritage, Venice's UNESCO listing has been under constant examination by UNESCO.
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| The Grand Canal |
We leave the Gondola and we walk the back streets out into a square (Campo Santo Stefano) , George wants to find a football shop to buy a local football pendant. So we try and navigate our way with Google maps.
Expansive, lively square with restaurants, 2 churches & a statue of 1800s linguist Niccolò Tommaseo.
We fight our way through a packed street. My anxiety levels are high, really don't deal well with packed places like this. I apologise to my family if I was ill tempered but Christ this was awful!
We walk on and have no idea where we were, gave up on finding the football shop!
We walk on and find the Rialto Bridge (Ponte Di Rialto) or as George likes to call it Spiderman bridge as it apparently appeared in one of the films.
The Rialto Bridge is the oldest of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. Connecting the sestieri (districts) of San Marco and San Polo, it has been rebuilt several times since its first construction as a pontoon bridge in 1173, and is now a significant tourist attraction in the city.
The present stone bridge is a single span designed by Antonio da Ponte. Construction began in 1588 and was completed in 1591. It is similar to the wooden bridge it succeeded. Two ramps lead up to a central portico. On either side of the portico, the covered ramps carry rows of shops. The engineering of the bridge was considered so audacious that architect Vincenzo Scamozzi predicted future ruin. The bridge has defied its critics to become one of the architectural icons, and top tourist attractions, in Venice.
The Bridge appeared in the film Spiderman Far from Home!
We walk up onto the bridge to take photos of the Grand Canal below.
We walk back the way we came as I realised whilst looking for the football shop we had wandered a long way from St Marks Square that I wanted to see.
We fight our way back through the crowds, had enough of the crowds now. Must be hell in peak season.
We take some back streets to avoid the crowds, couldn't take anymore! We eventually reach St Marks Square.
In front of us was Saint Mark's Basilica.
The Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark, the cathedral church of the Patriarchate of Venice; it became the episcopal seat of the Patriarch of Venice in 1807, replacing the earlier cathedral of San Pietro di Castello. It is dedicated to and holds the relics of Saint Mark the Evangelist, the patron saint of the city.
The church is located on the eastern end of Saint Mark's Square, the former political and religious centre of the Republic of Venice, and is attached to the Doge's Palace. Prior to the fall of the republic in 1797, it was the chapel of the Doge and was subject to his jurisdiction, with the concurrence of the procurators of Saint Mark de supra for administrative and financial affairs.
The present structure is the third church, begun probably in 1063 to express Venice's growing civic consciousness and pride. Like the two earlier churches, its model was the sixth-century Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople, although accommodations were made to adapt the design to the limitations of the physical site and to meet the specific needs of Venetian state ceremonies. Middle-Byzantine, Romanesque, and Islamic influences are also evident, and Gothic elements were later incorporated. To convey the republic's wealth and power, the original brick façades and interior walls were embellished over time with precious stones and rare marbles, primarily in the thirteenth century. Many of the columns, reliefs, and sculptures were spoils stripped from the churches, palaces, and public monuments of Constantinople as a result of the Venetian participation in the Fourth Crusade. Among the plundered artefacts brought back to Venice were the four ancient bronze horses that were placed prominently over the entry.
The interior of the domes, the vaults, and the upper walls were slowly covered with gold-ground mosaics depicting saints, prophets, and biblical scenes. Many of these mosaics were later retouched or remade as artistic tastes changed and damaged mosaics had to be replaced, such that the mosaics represent eight hundred years of artistic styles. Some of them derive from traditional Byzantine representations and are masterworks of Medieval art; others are based on preparatory drawings made by prominent Renaissance artists from Venice and Florence, including Paolo Veronese, Tintoretto, Titian, Paolo Uccello, and Andrea del Castagno.
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| St Mark's Campanile |
The Square was flooded, people queuing on gangways and the place was heaving. We tried to walk around a bit but too busy and people were walking through in wellies!
Between autumn and early spring, the city is often threatened by flood tides pushing in from the Adriatic. Six hundred years ago, Venetians protected themselves from land-based attacks by diverting all the major rivers flowing into the lagoon and thus preventing sediment from filling the area around the city. This created an ever-deeper lagoon environment. Additionally, the lowest part of Venice, St Mark's Basilica, is only 64 centimetres (25 in) above sea level, and one of the most flood-prone parts of the city.
St Mark's Campanile is the bell tower of St Mark's Basilica in Venice, Italy. The current campanile is a reconstruction completed in 1912, the previous tower having collapsed in 1902. At 98.6 metres (323 ft) in height, it is the tallest structure in Venice and is colloquially termed "el paròn de casa" (the master of the house). It is one of the most recognizable symbols of the city.
Located in Saint Mark's Square near the mouth of the Grand Canal, the campanile was initially intended as a watchtower to sight approaching ships and protect the entry to the city. It also served as a landmark to guide Venetian ships safely into harbour. Construction began in the early tenth century and continued sporadically over time as the tower was slowly raised in height. A belfry and a spire were first added in the twelfth century. In the fourteenth century the spire was gilded, making the tower visible to distant ships in the Adriatic. The campanile reached its full height in 1514 when the belfry and spire were completely rebuilt on the basis of an earlier Renaissance design by Giorgio Spavento. Historically, the bells served to regulate the civic and religious life of Venice, marking the beginning, pauses, and end of the work day; the convocation of government assemblies; and public executions.
The campanile stands alone in the square, near the front of St Mark's Basilica. It has a simple form, recalling its early defensive function, the bulk of which is a square brick shaft with lesenes, 12 metres (39 ft) wide on each side and 50 metres (160 ft) tall. The belfry is topped by an attic with effigies of the Lion of St Mark and allegorical figures of Venice as Justice. The tower is capped by a pyramidal spire at the top of which there is a golden weather vane in the form of the archangel Gabriel.
We leave St Marks Square and make our way back towards the Train Station crossing back over the Rialto bridge and stopping in the Rialto Market.
We eventually find a restaurant and stop for dinner and a drink. we're all hungry and tired!
I think George was expecting a pizza with chips, not a chips pizza!
We get the train back to Verona, but our train was delayed. We were expecting the connecting train to have left by the time we got there. As we pulled into Verona, the train was still there, so we ran fighting our way through the rest of the people and make it onto the train. Then we sat there for sometime as everyone else boarded. Clearly they held the train for the connecting train.
Relieved we arrive back at Pescheria and walk back to camp. It was nice to say we have visited Venice, but it was way too busy for me!