Carnivale has suffered from Covid just like the Palio in Siena and so many other events all around the world. However, even though we are still under some Covid restrictions this year, it is 100% better than the last 2 years, when we were locked down. I could still travel to Venice! Woo hoo!

These wonderful miscellaneous sights just keep going and going in Venice. Just like the shopping!

One of the things I most enjoy about traveling around Italy is seeing how each town or city honors its war dead. Most people just stroll by, never noticing the memorials. I always see them.

It’s easy to get lost in Venice. But, you find interesting things to see and photograph down every Calle:

The food of Venice is spectacular:

I noticed this small restaurant in the Dosoduro sestieri and saw it was filled with locals and especially with gondoliers. I figured if it was good enough for them, it would more than suffice for me. I was not wrong. The lightly coated and fried seafood was exquisite.

The Fondaco dei Tedeschi is the name of a historic building in Venice, situated on the Grand Canal near the Rialto Bridge. It was the headquarters and restricted living quarters of the city’s German (Tedeschi) merchants. The word fondaco comes from the Arabic funduq (فُنْدُق), which refers to an inn-like establishment for traveling merchants. Tedeschi means Germans in Italian.

Nowadays, it is also the name of a posh department store in the center of Venice. The terrace on the rooftop is something special and I’ll be posting on it soon.

The first notable building constructed on this site was in 1228; the building was rebuilt between 1505 and 1508, after its destruction in a fire. The reconstruction produced a very functional four-floor building surrounding a grand courtyard. Its architecture is typical of the Italian Renaissance style.

Like the Fondaco dei Turchi, the Fondaco dei Tedeschi combined the functions of a palace, warehouse, market and restricted living quarters for its population, in this case mainly Germanic merchants from cities such as Nuremberg, Judenburg and Augsburg.

The ground floor was accessible by water and was used for storage, while the first floor was dedicated to offices and an upper area contained about 160 living quarters.

The German merchants arrived shortly after the building was originally constructed in the 13th century and stayed until the Napoleonic occupation. It was one of the city’s most powerful colonies of merchants, and consequently the fondaco became an important trading center for goods passing from the Orient on their way towards the Alps. The Venetian Republic took commission on the transactions of the fondaco. The German community worshipped at a nearby Catholic church, San Bartolomeo.

Around 1508, the façade on the Canal Grande was frescoed by Giorgione and Titian. Of that work, deteriorated by the salty and humid climate of the lagoon, only a few fragments survive, now housed in the Ca’D’Oro. The interior also featured outstanding artworks by Paolo Veronese, Titian and Jacopo Tintoretto, also mostly disappeared.

In the 20th century, the building served as the Venice headquarters of the Poste Italiane. In 2008, the building was sold to the Benetton Group and Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas planned a new shopping center to be made from the Renaissance building. Benetton promised to transfer 6 million Euro to the city budget in exchange for building permits handed over by the end of 2012. This caused protests among the groups campaigning for preservation of the Italy’s historical heritage. Today, the building houses a T Galleria duty-free store as part of the DFS Group.

I had my first chance to see this marvel of modernity and high end sales emporium last week. It is quite something.

As I walked around each of the 4 floors, organized around a central courtyard of open space, I was reminded of the Liberty store in London. Its as if Liberty had landed in the 21st century. I liked it!

And, my oh my, are the goods high end! All the major international designers have a boutique here. As good an illustration as any of the fancy stuff for sale is this gift box of Italian vinegar. I’ve seen artisinal vinegars for sale all over the peninsula: particularly in Modena and even Parma. But no where have I seen it presented in quite this way!

There’s an entire gallery on the ground floor dedicated to the selling of Murano glass. But, this isn’t your grandmother’s Murano glass: it’s modern and very, very high end.

There’s a lovely cafe in the center of the courtyard.

I was particularly taken with a group of artiginale candles that represent the Serenissima herself. I might have come home with a few of these lovelies.

My morning cappuccino:

Windowshopping:

Canal gazing:

Gondolier gazing:

Climbing up and then down the numerous ponti that cross the many small canals.

Reminders from other times:

More pretty window shopping:

Self reflection:

Reflections on men in uniforms:

Gazing into the waters of the lagoon:

Making connections:

Gazing upon sculptures in the walls:

Those are just some of the small pleasures I enjoy in Venezia!

I recently had the chance to go to the rooftop of the Fondaco Dei Tedeschi in Venice, to take in the panoramic views. Wow, wow, wow! Mamma Mia!

You must make a reservation for a 15 minute viewing slot, and it is well worth the trouble. I highly recommend it! Enjoy these views!

The Merchant of Venice is a perfume store found in Venice, Florence and other cities. Very pretty, people!

There are bridges, and then there are bridges. And, there is the Rialto.

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I was afforded a new view of this remarkably beautiful and historic bridge on my last visit: you can go to the rooftop terrace of the department store, Fondaco dei Tedeschi, and get a panoramic view of this mirage of a city. I’ll be writing a post soon about the store: watch this space.

Gliding under the Rialto is also a thrill, even while on a city bus (the vaporetto).

Life is good! Covid restrictions are loosened. This year I can travel! Let’s go to Venice!

My heart is always happy when I’m about to board a train in Italy bound for anywhere. I know adventures awaits!

I’ve made it to Venice and boarded the Vaporetto #1 outside the train station, bound for Piazza San Marco!

Below: my first view of Venice on land! Wow! What a February day!

Over the next days I’ll be posting about what I saw, did, heard and ate in this mirage-like city!

So much to see!

Here are snapshots from my recent week in Venice. Such a place!

Above: Let’s start with a pair of flat pink sandals I would have loved to buy!

Below, one of the 2 Fortuny stores I saw.

Store 1 in the sestieri of San Marco. Of course I went in and of course I bought myself a small souvenir.

Store 2, in the Dosoduro neighborhood:

Roses in bloom!

Below, the ceiling of my hotel room. I also had a view of the top of the Campanile in San Marco Square, but I forgot to take a picture. I must admit, whenever I was in my hotel room which was a stone’s throw from the piazza, I was in my bed resting if not sleeping. For, I ran myself ragged in Venice!

There is so much more to come! Watch this space!

You might think, as I tend to, that the gondoliers of Venice must be becoming a thing of the past.

Well, we’d both be very mistaken! I was in Venice for a week last week and there were more gondoliers per capita than other people! They were everywhere!

They were all over the Grand Canal!

And they were all over the small canals that run through this city of water!

Yes, they were on the water!

And, on the land!

Always as distinctively Venetian, always as beautiful upon the water! Although I didn’t hear a single one singing, as I enjoyed in the late 1980s when I was a guest of the Italian government, staying in the Hotel Danieli on the Grand Canal and these men floated under my window from morning til dawn, singing all the standards: “O sole mio!” etc. ad infinitum.